A Long Haul

The working hours here are a little tough on us. Starting at 09:30 is fine, but waiting until 14:00 for lunch and then coming back and staying in the office every day until 19:00 is a new experience for us. Especially for the last week which really has not contained much work for us as we wait for the deal to get signed. Today, Friday, is a little better as we get out of here at 15:00, but it also means no lunch hour at all... it's touch and go whether we make it to quitting time or die of hunger.

Food has been mixed and options other than Spanish fare are limited. I've not seen a single Chinese or Indian resturant and even the 'Irish Pub' didn't have anything resembling Anglo food. Not that we're complaining, the local tapas bars are awesome and we've had great Spanish food mostly. It's really just a few places around the office that have disappointed, average cafeteria food served in restaurants. But of course that can happen anywhere and it's not like we paid more than 15Euro (about $27AUD) each including a pint of beer for 2 courses. On the plus side AJ found a bottle of red wine for 1Euro and it was actually pretty good, so not everything here is expensive and not everything cheap is nasty.

AJ has a buddy in town for a few nights so we plan to go out tonight with Riyaz and continue the good work he and AJ started last night (they got back in around 3am, Jay and I aren't young enough to do that crap anymore). With tomorrow planned for recovery and probably some more exploration we will get out of Madrid on Sunday and go here to see a 15th century castle that featured in the 50's movie El Cid, sweet.

Andy, out.