Run-Around Monday

Monday, 23 February, 2015:

Life started out simply today, as I was up early with a purpose. The tickets for Murcia's first bull fight of 2015, scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on 22 March, went on sale at 10:00 a.m. today at the Club Taurino de Murcia.

I was told to arrive early as they would be selling faster than café con leches on a frosty December morning. Thus, I left La Hacienda in plenty of time to arrive at the Club at 9:00 a.m. prepared to battle the lines of Fiesta Brava aficionados for two good tickets on the shady side of the arena.

Along my half hour walk to the club I did see things of interest.

 Desayuno al Sol

 Smoke Break

Wings Over Murcia

Jesus holding the Lombardi Trophy

Must be from the year that the Saints won the Super Bowl.

 Old Green

 It's not the size of the Cross . . .

 Club Taurino de Murcia

Finally, I arrived but where were the hordes of ticket buyers?

As I bought my café con leche and tortilla Española to while away the wait, I asked if they were selling tickets to the bullfight today. The man simply said, "Si!"

He informed me that the tickets had not arrived yet but when they did, he would be selling them at the bar.

So, I sat to read the morning La Opinion and La Verdad newspapers to catch up on all of the weekend's doings on the Iberian peninsula.

HOLY CRAP!!!

Malaga beat Barça 1-0! How in the hell did that happen? Real Madrid is back up by four points in the standings after beating Elche 2-0 last night.

At about 9:05, I received an e-mail from the U.S. Postal Service saying that Box #4, the final box of used football helmets and shoulder pads donated by high schools in Ventura County, had finally arrived after two weeks having finally cleared Spanish Customs. Box #4 had arrived at the Murcia Post Office at 7:11 a.m. this morning ready for delivery to La Hacienda.

Dilemma.

This news meant that Box #4 could arrive at any time at La Hacienda but that I would have to be there in person to sign for it. We desperately need that equipment for the Cobras!

On the other hand, I did not want to leave without buying my tickets to the bull fights and the tickets had still not arrived.

At 10:00 a.m., when the tickets were supposed to go on sale to the throng of aficionados storming the Club, I noted that I was one of only four customers in the café where the tickets would be sold.

No one else looked anxious and all seemed to be there solely to enjoy a mid-morning café and snack.

Time marched on . . .

Finally, at 10:45 a.m., I again asked at the bar about the tickets and the response was, "I don't know when they will get here exactly, but they should arrive some time today."

At this point I opted to head back to La Hacienda to, hopefully, intercept Box #4 rather than wait an indefinite amount of time at the Club Taurino and miss the postman as I did not know if in Spain they always rang twice. Plus, even I have my limits as to how many café con leches and tortilla Españolas I can consume in a morning.

Although that limit is quite high.

After spending all afternoon at La Hacienda awaiting the arrival of Box #4, I was able to watch more Barcelona Búfals game video, another tough game for us is in store on Sunday.

Roberto Durán picked me up from La Hacienda at 6:00 p.m. as usual to head to our two practices at our Guadalupe practice facility. Box #4 had not yet arrived.

I got another e-mail from the U.S. Postal Service tracking center informing me that no one was home at 8:58 p.m. when the Spanish Correos tried to deliver it. They will try to deliver it again tomorrow I'm told.

So another day on La Hacienda lock down mode.

DIOS MÍO, how I love this country!!!

As for our two practices tonight, we had the best turnout of the year for our Juniors with 18 players in attendance, we usually only have 10 or 11.

The Senior team also had a good turnout and a spirited, offense oriented practice.

 More Days until . . .

. . . the Little One lands in Madrid