Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
Calle de Pinar, 21
28006 MADRID

                       Letter from Madrid
                       ==================

Tuesday, 16th January
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having  arrived  yesterday  afternoon  and settled into a Hall of
Residence in which Lorca once lived, I prepare myself for a  'dry
run'  of  the  journey  to the campus of Somosaguas.  Salvador, a
Complutense student who spent a year at Leicester Polytechnic, is
my guide and mentor and we meet at 8.15 for a  journey  which  is
due  to  take  one  hour.   We walk to the nearest Metro station,
catch a metro to Ciudad Universitaria and  then  cross  the  main
university  campus  to  catch  a bus for a journey of some thirty
minutes to the (seemingly distant) campus of Somosaguas. I  spend
the  morning in the Computing Laboratory getting to grips with an
operating system (DOS 4.1) which I do not know and a menu  system
which   is   idiosyncratic,   limited   and   unhelpful.    Sigh!
Eventually,  I  find  a  way  of getting through to the operating
system by exploiting some of the facilities in Word  Perfect  but
it  is  hardly  ideal  for  completely  inexperienced students. I
retrace my steps  and  feel  pleased  that  I  caught  the  right
combination  of  buses,  metros etc.  unaided and now busy myself
preparing material for the morning.  This hadn't been done before
because I needed to know the exact configuration of hardware  and
software before knowing exactly the material to prepare. Salvador
and  I  had previously discussed the shape of the program so I am
to start off with elementary introductions  to  MS-DOS,  a  crash
course in Word Perfect, which I do not know (yet!) to be followed
by  more advanced courses in Graphics, Databases and perhaps some
statistical analysis for the keener ones.  In the late afternoon,
I meet Ross, the Leicester Polytechnic  student  who  is  at  the
Complutense on exchange and we swap notes whilst having a beer. I
buy  myself  a  clock  radio  which  I  have  suddenly decided is
essential to wake me up in the morning and remind me of the  time
when  I wake up at strange times in the night. I have dinner with
an English post-doctoral neuroscientist  and  two  Dutch-American
theoretical  physicists.  We trade jokes about the Americans, the
British and Margaret Thatcher.

Wednesday, 17th January
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My  first  day  of teaching in Spanish - and I'm terrified at the
thought of it.  I leave the  Residencia  at  7.15  in  the  pitch
darkness  and  have  my  first 'bad moment' when I take the wrong
exit from the Metro in  the  dark  and  cannot  see  any  of  the
buildings  because everywhere is so black! I carefully retrace my
steps and eventually get to the Somosaguas campus  in  plenty  of
time.   First  we have to negotiate getting the laboratory opened
up and then, even worse, negotiate for the use  of  THE  overhead
projector  without  which  I would be absolutely stuck.  After an
efusive introduction from my host Professor and  a  warning  from
him that all students must attend PROMPTLY at 9.00 sharp, I start
to  teach.   My  strategy  was  to  have  simple  definitions  of
elementary concepts on a transparency which I  would  then  'talk
over' and then get on with some practical work after a half hour.
As  I start to teach in Spanish, a strange air of authority seems
to come over me and I scarcely recognize my own voice.   After  a
couple  of  hours of teaching in which exposition was followed by
practical work, I feel pleased with the results.   I  repeat  the
long journey home and have lunch,after which I attempt to find my
bearings  by  walking  in  every direction around the Residencia.
Eventually, I discover a supermarket in the last direction that I
tried.  Tired by now, I  buy  some  breakfast  cereal  and  basic
provisions  as I have to leave the Residencia before breakfast is
served but have the bonus of finding a textbook on  Word  Perfect
5.0  which is amazingly good and cheap at #5-50 for 300 pages.  I
also buy a dBASEIII+ in Spanish  which,  although  expensive,  is
useful  as  it  is  a  translation  of  a  book which I know well
and,incidentally, helps to translate many terms  which  are  also
useful in terms of the operating system.

Thursday, 18th January
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There appears to be an overload on the power  circuits"  is  not
the  kind  of  expression  that  one  learns  in a night-class in
Spanish.  However, I needed to know how to say it  because  as  I
was  preparing  my  laboratory by turning all of the machines on,
machine number 15 or so out of the 25 in  the  laboratory  caused
all  of  the  circuits to blow.  After a period of time we put it
right and the first  class  proceeded  satisfactorily.   My  next
class  was  constantly  interrupted with power failures and after
several abortive attempts I abandoned the class, having first run
through  my  (small)  repetoire  of  repeatable  (  and  not   so
repeatable)  jokes  in  Spanish.  Through the use of an idiomatic
expression, I learned that three of the  students  were  Mexicans
and  having  recently  spent  Christmas in Mexico ( to improve my
Spanish) we joined the rest of the university who seem to have  a
universal coffee/breakfast break from 11 until 12.  I ask them if
they  had experienced any racism in Madrid and they describe some
of the feelings of ambivalence that they have  identified  whilst
here.   We  draw  each  other  maps  of  our respective countries
explaining where we come from and and engaging in discussions  of
the  geographical/economic/social  structure  of  our  respective
societies, a task  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  we  are  all
students  of  public  administration.  After lunch, a much needed
nap as I seem to have been burning the candle at  both  ends  and
then I awake with a growing feeling of dismay when I realise that
that  there  is  a  power  failure  in  the  Residencia!  Feeling
slightly panicked that  I  would  not  be  able  to  prepare  any
material for the following day, not to mention being able to find
anything  I  needed  in my room, I run out to the only accessible
supermarket where I buy a torch and spare  batteries  at  a  most
inflated price!  My spirits revive when I discover that Sod's law
occasionally  works  in  one's favour ( the lights were on when I
returned) and I receive both a call from home and a  few  minutes
later  from  a colleague for whom I am acting at 'contact man' to
arrange further exchanges and,hopefully,joint programmes.

Friday,19th January
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How remarkable - a day's teaching with no mishaps!   The  climate
here  in  Madrid has been practically the same all week and today
is no exception.  There is not a cloud in the clear blue sky  and
the  day  starts  off cold and remains cool at about 5C. all day.
However the coolness is due to the  clear  mountain  air  rolling
down  from  the  sierras and the result is a beautiful 'dry' cold
which I personally find quite refreshing.  I  hear  students  and
others complaining about the cold and surprise them all by saying
how  much  I  enjoy  it!   When  I  explain about the differences
between the 'dry' cold of Madrid and the 'wet' cold  of  England,
people  are  inclined  to  agree with me that Madrid's climate is
preferable.  In the afternoon, I receive a  long  telephone  call
from Salvador who is concerned that I am settling in all right. I
attempt to reward him by explaining about the marvellously priced
book  that  I  have  discovered and try to buy it for him only to
discover that one  of  my  students  to  whom  I  had  previously
recommended  it  seems  to have purchased the one remaining copy.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is  the  weekend  and  I  am  longing  for  a
'lie-in' as never before.  I have come to the conclusion that two
hours  travelling a day is both solitary and wasteful and resolve
to avoid situations where I cannot be in  the  office  within  15
minutes  of home if humanly possible.  As I review the end of the
first few days here, I contemplate how  differently  the  day  is
'cut'  into  pieces.   Typically rising at six I get myself going
with  Coke  whilst  putting   the   finishing   touches   to   my
transparencies.   I  generally  leave  the  University  campus at
Somosaguas around midday knowing that there is an hour's  journey
ahead  of  me  but  I  will have lunch starting at 2.30 typically
followed by a walk in various directions in search of such things
as  kiosks  that  sell  the  tickets  in  tens  for  the   buses.
(Incidentally, whilst many goods e.g. my bottles of Coke are very
expensive  here,  transport is actually quite cheap.  Tickets are
bought in tens for both the Metro and the buses and a  ticket  of
ten  costs  410  pesetas - around 23 pence for each journey which
will take you as far on the Underground or the buses as you  wish
to  travel)  Then the hard and frustrating part of the day starts
at about 5.00pm as  I  start  to  prepare  my  material  for  the
following  day  and  it tends to be a laborious process.  Firstly
the material is difficult to prepare in another language and then
there  is  the  problem  of  how  to  translate   the   technical
terminology.    A  few  students know some English words but I am
here to teach them in their native language and that is what they
have a right to expect.  The  process  of  preparation  continues
with  occasional  frantic  tunings  of the radio dial to find any
non-popular music.  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the
Spanish  talk  a  lot!   I  can  typically find at leat 6-8 radio
channels containing spoken Spanish  which  seems  a  lot  to  me.
Eventually,  we  start  to  have  dinner (starting at 9.30 in the
evening) and another day draws to a close.  I suspect that  I  am
working  reasonably  hard  when  I count up my hours of teaching,
preparation,  travelling  and  generally  meeting  people  (Thank
goodness for the visiting cards which help to break the ice)

Saturday,20th January
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, I have a proper breakfast for the second time so far and a
bit  of  a lie-in.  I ponder the events of the night before when,
for a reason which  seems  to  defy  all  of  the  predicates  of
ecological  theory it appears that the street immediately outside
the Residencia is the 'pick-up' point for all  the  transvestites
in Madrid.  The police move them on, occasionally, but not with a
heavy hand as in their opinion the transvestites are 'providing a
necessary  social  service!'  Mariano  Baena,  the  Head  of  the
Department and his son, Pablo, are taking me to Avila for the day
as I had already seen Toledo and Segovia on my previous visit and
Avila was next on the list.  If  Madrid  is  cold,  then  walking
around  in  Avila  is  like walking in a fridge and for the first
time I was pleased to have on my anorak.  Avila is claimed to  be
the  finest  example  of  a walled city of its type and the walls
were  certainly  very  impressive.   Another  claim  to  fame  is
obviously  the  various  resting  places of Saint Teresa and I am
shown two convents/museums in which she had lived.  Also included
in the tour was the principal Cathedral in Avila which  impresses
because  of  the subtlelty of the stonework within and I also see
the Basilica de San Vicente.   The day was punctuated by  a  most
excellent lunch of local specialities ( for example a thick beans
and bacon soup which was delicious in the cold weather) As we eat
and drink a glass of wine, I start to relax for the first time in
days  and  I  notice  that  my  Spanish suddenly seems a lot more
fluent.   I  wonder  to myself whether you have to have the right
conditions before you  can  really  start  to  flow!   Pablo  and
Mariano  are  very  good  to me by speaking slowly and distinctly
and this is a great aid to my comprehension.  We talk  mainly  of
politics in various places, of student life and student interests
both here in Spain and so on.  Finally, we make the return of 112
km.  to  Madrid to be greeted by a tremendous traffic jam - well,
it is Saturday night and the Madridle¤os evidently aim to pack as
much into their weekend as they can.

Sunday,21st January 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I actually get some much needed sleep until about 8.30  and  then
have  a  leisurely  and  extended  breakfast  talking mainly to a
Catalan literature specialist who  had  spent  several  years  in
Manchester,  Salford  and  then Sheffield.  We talk about life in
England compared with Spain and then I get down to work.  I  know
that  I  have  to  grips  with  teaching  the   fundamentals   of
WordPerfect  tomoroow or the day after and it is a package that I
do not know well.  Rather than writing an OHP, I set  myself  the
task  of  writing  all  that  is  necessary  on  one  side of A4.
Immediately I run into difficulties as there appears to  be  some
slight  inconsistencies  between  the  Spanish  and  the  English
versions of the books  which  describe  WordPerfect  and  I  soon
discover  that obviously I need to redefine the keyboard in order
to  accept  Spanish  characters.   After  consulting  one  of  my
encyclopaedic  English  texts,  I find a way in which this can be
done - moreover, the software is so good that whatever  you  have
done  becomes  the  'default'  with  no  further ado which I find
excellent.  Progress is painfully slow and by  lunchtime,  I  had
written  only  a paragraph or so.  At lunchtime, Gary the English
neuroscientist and I groan when we are served fish for the fourth
meal in succession - it is not a complaint against fish in itself
but its  frequency.   As  the  fish  have  ranged  from  huge  to
miniscule, we speculate whether a trawler with a dragnet has sold
its  entire catch to the Residencia who are now working their way
through different varieties.  Progress on my  work  is  a  little
better  in the late afternoon and starts to accelerate as some of
the more difficult bits fall into place.   I  decide  to  prepare
some  OHP's  to  make up for some of the deficiencies of the last
day or so when things got disrupted in the laboratory with  power
cuts.   After dinner in the evening, I have a conversation with a
most erudite professor of  History,  a  Chilean,  with  the  most
perfect  Oxford  English.   When  I  enquire  about  the  current
political situation in Chile and the subject of Allende comes  up
for  discussion,  I  am  informed  that his downfall was due to a
total feeling of revulsion by all  sections  of  Chilean  society
from the industrial workers to the intelligentsia and had nothing
whatsoever  to  do  with  the  CIA.  I say 'Very interesting!' on
several occasions and hope that  my  exceptionally  well-informed
professor  does  not detect any hint of disbelief in my face.  We
talk of the various economic/political/social characteristics  of
various  Latin American societies ( e.g. the police in Mexico are
totally corrupt, those in Peru even more  so,  whilst,  for  some
strange  reason,  the police in Chile are totally unblemished and
would sent you to gaol for even being offered a bribe)

Monday, 22nd January 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the last 'day' in my letter as by late this afternoon,  I
will  have  been  in  Spain  for  exactly  a  week.  I get to the
university in plenty of time and think to myself how quickly  one
gets  into  a  routine.   Whereas for the first day or so of last
week I was checking signs, directions, exits from  stations  etc.
now  I  do it with my eyes shut practically.  Having installed my
software on the machines and then worked out that 7 out of 24 are
not working for a variety of reasons, I proceed with the OHP  and
the  practical  work  starts  well.   Then  -  a power cut in the
laboratory!  This totally ruins the rest of that session and  the
following  one  and  I spend the time either showing students the
software on the portable which  I  have  taken  with  me  to  the
university  or  else,  since my visit to Avila, explaining to the
Spanish students about the recent British film which  offered  an
erotic interpretation of the life of Saint Teresa and asking them
to  comment.  We  have some interesting conversations and I sense
that  the  Spanish  students  are  bored  with  Avila   and   its
connotations.   Upon my return to the Residencia my first attempt
to open a bank account in a type of  'campus  style'  bank  is  a
total  failure and I am advised to try in a large 'Avenida' which
is at least a mile or so away on foot.  I  decide  to  extend  my
journey  by  tube  tomorrow  and  see  if that brings me any more
success.    There   are   also   posters   calling    upon    all
'Investigators,technicians,auxillary    staff,    administrators,
general  workers,short-term  contract  workers  and   scholarship
holders'  to take part in a huge strike and demonstration for two
days this week 'for increased salaries for all' When  I  enquired
over  lunch  what  the  effects were likely to be, I was informed
'Nothing - this is Spain!' but I  thought  it  might  be  a  good
opportunity to take some photos if nothing else.   The  day  ends
with about four hours of 'solid graft' preparing material for the
morning  - what WOULD I have done without this marvellous Toshiba
portable.  Apart  from  anything  else,  it  can  be  used  as  a
demonstration tool in the laboratory when the power fails!


Tuesday, 23rd January,1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My  teaching  goes  without  a  hitch which is quite unusual!  After I
finish at 11.15 I have a good coffee break with the students, although
the cafeteria area is always incredibly crowded and noisy and there is
never  anywhere  to  sit.   We  laugh  and  joke  a  lot   about   the
characteristics of various teachers and, like students the world over,
they  are  exceptionally good mimics.  We amuse each these and similar
jokes, for example the different accents in both Spain and England.  I
give them a dose of broad Yorkshire and they fall about laughing which
is good for the soul.  I am introduced by  Salvador  to  the  man  who
'runs'  the computing laboratory.  At first, I thought that this might
be rather a delicate or difficult meeting becase I would like  to  put
some  of  my  software  on  the system and there is a great problem of
proper access to DOS and the like.   However,  it  seems  that  he  is
affable  enough  and  we talk for a few minutes before we both have to
dash off and do other things.  I have arranged to meet with  him  next
week  when  I  am  going to take in the portable and we can discuss if
there is any software that  we  would  like  to  exchange.   My  major
venture of the day was to organise the opening of a bank account. When
I  had previously asked about the locations of the nearest bank, I was
directed towards a very broad highway [Paseo de la  Castellano]  which
contained the headquarters of various banks and would not have had the
facilities  to  open  a short term account for some eight weeks or so.
However, I had noticed in the corridor  leading  to  my  room  in  the
Residencia  several  defunct  telephone  books so I 'liberated' one of
these on a short term basis and found  a  branch  of  Barclays  within
walking  distance  (actually  some 15 minutes) Upon my return from the
Complutense, I find the bank and eventually get seen and treated  with
a  great  deal of efficiency.  All I have to do is to sit and wait for
my cheque book to arrive, which is promised in about a  week.  I  also
decide  to  get  a roll of film developed because on it there are many
pictures of the family in Mexico and a few of my  immediate  locations
that  I  have  taken to finish off the film and which I intend to send
home.  After lunch, I go to pick up the films which are  of  excellent
quality  but  nearly  die  when  I see the price (nearly 14-00 English
pounds) The rest of the afternoon is taken up  with  some  very  solid
preparation, because I am now in a pattern of preparing material which
is  actually  for  the  next  three  days  ahead.   After  writing the
material, the following day it has to  be  printed  out  so  that  the
technician  can  photocopy  it  (incidentally, I must be costing their
department a  small  fortune  in  photocoping  bills!)  When  this  is
prepared  ( generally by the end of the morning) I can then pick it up
and give it to the students at the end of the following  day  so  that
they can work on it the following day, yet again.   I don't know where
I  would  be  without this marvellous little Spanish book which is the
'Push this button and then push that button' variety. Actually, it  is
exactly  what  is needed under the circumstances as I am relieved from
doing any lecturing (which is not appropriate now that I have finished
MS-DOS). Instead I devote my time going round to individual  problems.
Most  of the time the students gabblle away extraordinarily fast - for
my part, I answer the questions that I feel  they  'might'  be  asking
rather than actually are.

Wednesday, 24th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I  meet  a  female  colleague  in the department who has a computer at
home.  She is extraordinarly friendly and we chat for half an hour  or
so  in  which  I  am growing increasingly faint for lack of something!
Mariano and Pedro (the technician) are going mad looking for me but  I
am  eventually  'retrieved'  and  there are frantic attempts to try to
reach Narciso Pizarro at his company to arrange  a  lunch  but  to  no
avail.  I chat to Gustavo (Doctorate student, of whom there seem to be
quite  a  few in my classes) and another lecturer whose name I did not
catch and they eventually give me a lift into town (Cuatro Caminos) to
a point only two metro stops away from the Residencia.  I  attempt  to
get  to  the  Correo branch office which is just round the corner from
the Residencia and am two minutes too late.  My guide to Madrid  tells
me  that  all  of the Correos typically shut at 2.00 and my pattern of
working is such that it will be a very hit-and-miss  afair  whether  I
ever  manage  to  get  to  a  Correo  at all.  I decide to go the main
Direccion General de Correos in  order  to  post  several  letters  to
family both in England and also in Mexico - surprisingly, I dashed off
a  one  page  letter  in  Spanish  to the Mexican familty in about two
minutes by not bothering too much with grammar but only by writing  as
I  speak.  The  guide  to  Madrid  describes the principal Correo as a
building which looks like a Cathedral and  they  are  not  wrong.   Of
couse, no one there would actually sell me any stamps so I am directed
to  a  'buzon' which appeared, from the instructions that I was given,
to be the kiosk that sells stamps, not the post boxes  themselves.   I
purchase  the  stamps,  post  the letters and say a silent prayer that
they will not go by sea-mail or the equivalent.  Returning via VIPS, I
buy three more cheap but reasonably written books in  DBASE  III  (two
copies)  and  LOTUS,  feeling  they  might be very useful for the more
specialised options I am to take in  a  week  or  so.  I  receive  two
telephone  calls,  one  from  Salvador  and another from my mother who
tells me some of the news about the weather  in  England  i.e.  it  is
snowing.   I  then continue with a fairly gruelling work-schedule, not
finishing until after mid-night. This does sould all too  familiar!  I
feel  that I need to keep up the pace of preparation because otherwise
all of the good work of the last few days in getting a little ahead of
myself will disappear. It looks as though I  will  immediately  repeat
the  'Basic  course'  for  another  cohort  of 2 x 20 students ( which
should be very easy now that all of the basic preparation is  done)  I
have  dinner,  as  usual, with Gary (the Mancunian neuroscientist) and
the Dutch physicists.

Thursday, 25th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today was a most interesting day.   I  ought  to  explain  first  that
yesterday I had bought two books in dBASEIII+ - one for myself and one
as  a  present.  Besides being cheap,(less than 6 pounds), these books
are exceptionally useful in  that  they  gave  the  commands  in  both
languages  which thus aids the transition from one version to another.
I made a present of the  book  to  Pedro,  together  with  some  other
software.  This  is  was  very  highly  appreciated and suddenly Pedro
cannot do too much for me, which seems to be a very useful exchange of
services.  After I had finished my work session, I see  Mariano  Baena
concerning  the  documentation  that  is required to attempt to secure
some kind of salary.  I spend  a  good  half  hour  with  the  Mexican
doctorral  student  (Arturo?)  and then, because Mariano is busy until
2.00pm, I busy myself in the laboratory studing the  possibilities  of
MS-DOS  version  4.01. This was certainly very useful to me because it
was the first time that I had the opportunity of sitting down  without
immediate  work presures to try to get more information.  I discovered
how to format some of the students'  rogue  disks  which  was  a  step
forward.   At  2pm,  Mariano and I drive to Narciso's software company
which is very impressive i.e.  10-20  programmers.   We  have  a  most
interesting and businesslike lunch in which we discuss the forthcoming
visit   of   Simon   Rogerson   and   examine   the  possibilities  of
collaboration.  A consensus appears to be  that  the  concept  of  the
degree  is  very  sound but there are many practical problems relating
more to entrenched interests rather than the logic of  the  proposals.
Luch  consists  of  beer  and  tapas  starters,  soup  and veal with a
magnificent rioja and then most  tasty  little  sweetmeats.   Mariano,
unfortunately,  has  to catch a flight to Barcelona and then on to his
flat where there has been a burglary - he was going for a  long  week-
end to assess the extent of the damage.  In the meanwhile, Narciso and
I  drink  several  Scotches and have extremely interesting discussions
over a whole range of subjects.   Narciso  gives  me  details  of  the
specific skills  that  he   is  looking  for  (programmers  in  C,Unix
communications,80286 machine-code  graphic  applications)  and  he  is
willing  to  pay high salaries for the right people.  He has already a
girl from Bristol Polyetchnic coming for  a  six  month  placement  in
February  but  I  indicate  that  we  may have the people  he needs in
Leicester.  Narciso and I agree to meet in over a week's time  when  I
can  show  him  the  TurboStats  suite ( which he may be interested in
marketing for me in Spain) In the meanwhile, he is going to Milan  and
London and could see students then.  I phone Meg excitedly and ask her
to  phone  me back for a longer discussion which she does at 9.00.  We
talk in Spanish for a little and then lapse back into English.  Meg is
going to speak with Trevor  Rushton  because  if  we  have  interested
people then I need to act as a 'middleman' which, after all, is one of
my  roles  whilst  here.   I  write  most  of  my last remaining 'big'
worksheet having had a most excellent afternoon - but I have  left  my
file  in  Narcisdo's office.  I suppose it will be safe.  Meg tells me
that the flight is confirmed out here and now I  shall  have  to  busy
myself  with  the preparations for her visit in three weeks time.  The
weather here is on the change - for the  worse.   The  brilliant  blue
skies  have  gone  to  be replaced by a lot of heavy cloud and the air
feels damp and cold - just like England, in fact!  I  have  a  sinking
feeling  that  the  weather system like this will probably stay around
for a week or so.

Friday,26th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is quite a gruelling day.  Firstly, I work solidly for  an  hour
putting the finishing touches to the last of the big lectures and then
I  am  in  the lab. without a break from 9-12.  Fortunately, I had the
presence of  mind  to  keep  a  spare  bar  of  chocolate  by  me  for
emergencies  (  which  I  surreptiously ate) as otherwise I would have
keeled over at about 12.00.  I am  button-holed  by  a  girl  who  was
sought  me  out  who  APPEARS  to  need some help in the theory of the
design of surveys etc.  We attempt to discuss it over a coffee  but  I
am  afraid  that  I  scarcely  understood  a  word  of what she said (
although my comprehension of some of the girls' language is increasing
slowly)  I  take  her  off  to  the  departmental   staffroom   where,
fortunately,  we meet again with Gustavo to whom I explain the problem
and who is able to recommend appropriate references to read and people
to see.  I have lunch with the Chilean professor  of  history  and  he
tells me that he has acquired a computer and is interested in building
up  a  historical  database of power relationships in Chile.  I sketch
out the outlines of Mariano's research and say that I will act  a  go-
between between himself and Mariano in case they are interested in any
academic  collaboration.   I then decide to go in search of a 'proper'
supermarket in search of certain essentials such as soap!  Eventually,
I find the kind of supermarket for which I have been searching for the
best part of two weeks and it is almost  impossible  to  describe  the
feelings of seeing 'normal' donmestic food and the necessities of life
as  what  you might term 'normal prices' I resist the temptation to go
wild but do buy myself a little  fruit  to  help  to  bridge  the  gap
between  2.00  (  when we have lunch) and 9.30 or later ( often 10.00)
when we eat dinner.  The weather here is definitely taking a turn  for
the worse and it all reminds me somewhat of England.  In my excursions
out  this  afternoon,  I  was  musing  about  the state of the traffic
systems in Madrid.  They tend to have one-way  systems  with  four  or
five  lanes  of  traffic  across extremely broad highways.  The Madrid
motorist regards this as Spain's answer to Monte Carlo and the  desire
to  get  up 120 km an hour and stay at that speed seems immense.  From
the point of view of the  pedestrian,  of  course,  one  has  to  have
recourse  to the traffic light controlled crossings but even these are
interesting.  Theoretically, and largely in practice, one has right of
way but the traditional Madridleno driver would be regarded as chicken
if he/she didn't approach the crossing at about 100 kph and  break  at
the  very  last  moment with the bonnet of the car a few feet over the
edge of the (admittedly wide) crossings.  It does tend to  test  one's
nerve  rather!   I  am looking forward intensely tomorrow to firstly a
lie-in (naturally) and then a cup of tea which I will be in a position
to ask for when I have a proper 'sit-down' breakfast.  As  the  dining
room opens at about 7.30 and I have to leave at 7.30, then my strategy
is usually to sneak into the dining room, steal some breads etc. which
I  wrap  in  napkins  and eat on my way to the Metro. If I'm lucky, of
course, I manage to drink a quick cup of coffee but I have  occasional
altercations  with  a  'little  ray  of  sunshine'  who  regards me as
abnormal for not starting work at 10.00 as everyone  else  appears  to
do.   I  have no plans for tomorrow and there is an 'engagement' in my
diary to spend the whole of Sunday with Ross.

Saturday, 27th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the morning, despite a 'lie-in' for an hour I feel incredibly tired
and 'knocked-out' and come to the conclusion that all of the  work  of
the  last  two  weeks is begining to take its toll.  After a leisurely
breakfast with Sir Edward Carr (eminent British historian) I decide to
explore the parts of old Madrid, near to the Plaza Mayor. The  weather
is  wet  and  gloomy  and my spirits sink when I trudge around streets
getting a little lost  and  then  the  heavans  opened!   I  was  very
thankful  for  an  anorak  with a hood!  I navigate my way back to Sol
only to discover that all I needed to do was to cut down a  sidestreet
and  then  made my way into a department store near to El Corte Ingl‚s
where I buy some Tipp-ex (to correct some of my masters) and  a  screw
for the wall upon which to hang my washing over the radiator ( it only
sounds a trivial thing but it is amazing what a difference it can make
to  one's  daily  life)  I  also decide that I need to buy needles and
thread for running repairs to my leather jacket  but  cannot  remember
the  appropriate  words/verbs  so  decide  to  make  it  home  to  the
Residencia for lunch.  Afterwards I resolve to go back and try to  buy
the  things  that  I  need  and actually succeed in locating the right
department and the right sections within them to effect my  purchases.
I  buy  a  thimble,  needle  and  thread,  browse in the 'Informatica'
section of the book department ( which, in 'El Corte Ingl‚s'  is  very
extensive)  and then return home to do my sewing.  I have decided that
Saturday is a good day to do all of  these  normal  'domestic'  things
that  normally  one  doesn't have time for in the rest of the week.  I
get a phone call from Meg which I wasn't  expecting  which  is  always
good  news and then after dinner, Gary and I decide to have some beers
as it is Gary's last Saturday night in Madrid. We go by bus to an area
near Plaza de Colon which is teeming with bars and mainly young people
are spilling out of them they are so busy.  We progress  from  bar  to
bar,  sampling a Guinness in the first (delicious!) and other types of
beer in others.  Gary's Spanish is practically non-existent but he did
ask for 'Dos cervesas!" Gary has bought  some  tickets  for  the  Real
Madrid  tomorrow  but  the  time  of  the  match is not printed on the
tickets so our opening line of conversation  with  young  people  goes
like  this  "Excuse  me, but are you a football fan and if so, can you
tell me when the Real Madrid match starts tomorrow?" It might  not  be
the  most  startling  line  in conversation but is a little bit better
than "Do you come here often?"  Gary  and  I  find  the  young  people
friendly  and  likeable.   We  are  slightly  embarrassed when a yound
couple in the bar in front  of  us  seem  to  spend  the  whole  night
caressing  each  others  genitals  in  public ( they were clothed!) It
might be the same in London.for all I know,and as I do not go to young
people's  pubs  in  London  on a Saturday evening I don't know whether
that type of behaviour is normal or not.  We are slightly  disoriented
when  we come out of the bar and ask the way and find the young people
very willing to be friendly and  speak  to  us  in  English,  although
naturally  we always start off conversations in Spanish.  It is twenty
to two and POURING DOWN! Gary thinks there is an all night bus  but  I
am  sceptical and we decide eventually to walk home as it is only just
over a mile. We have a 'meal' of  Cruesli  (  my  emergency  breakfast
supplies)  back  in  my  room  in  the Residencia and we get to bed at
2.30am.

Sunday,28th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I meet Ross, (Leicester Poly Public Administration student) just after
10.00 at Metropolitano metro and we find  a  breakfast  bar  where  we
have a long chat about all of the events of the last week or so over a
drink  of Coke.  Then we decide to go and see the Velasquez exhibition
at the Prado but when we get there (a) it is raining and (b) the queue
is 400 yards long at least.  We decide to go at another  time  in  the
week  rather  than  at  the  weekend  and then wander back back to Sol
where we have a really long and leisurely lunch (Ross  of  fried  eggs
and  bacon,  myself  a  pizza)  and  we swap stories of our respective
injuries in the past (Ross and  his  arm,  me  and  my  knees  in  the
accident  at  the  Polytechnic  in  1973)  After  lunch  we come to my
Residencia and Ross reads  these  'Cartas  de  Madrid',  looks  at  my
photographs and then calls up Salvador by 'phone.  We meet Salvador in
a  cafe near to Bilbao (Metro!) and have another drink before going in
search  of  bars  that  might  sell  Guinness.   On  route,   Salvador
introduces  us to a strange Spanish? Madrile¤o? way of drinking cider.
First we buy a bottle which is cheap enough ( about  one  pound)  Then
the  barman  gives  us  a  bowl  which  we put on the floor.  Salvador
attempts to pour about three inches of cider into  a  glass  which  he
holds  at  an  acute  angle  below  his  waist whilst pouring from the
bottle at about head height.  I think that the theory behind all  this
is  that  pouring  the cider though the air like this and then hitting
the glass gives it an extra flavour and froth!  Salvador does not pour
very well and a third of the bottle ends up  in  the  bucket,  another
third on the floor and we actually manage to drink the remaining third
(between us) We then find yet another bar, empty at this time as it is
only  about  6.00pm  in  the  evening in which we drink and chat about
films, the meaning of life etc.   Salvador  has  work  to  do  in  the
evening  and  Ross and I are feeling pretty tired, me in particular (I
suspect the late night of last night is finally catching up  with  me)
We  make  our  way back to our respective Residencias to have an early
night.  Tomorrow is a feast-day (actually,  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquinas
who is the patron saint of academics) Whilst the feast-day is actually
today,  Sunday,  the Spanish very sensibly transfer the holiday to the
following day, and I, for one, am heartily glad that they do.   Dinner
is  a rare occasion when the English outnumber others - it consists of
Sir  Edward  Carr,Gary  (neuroscientist)  and  myself  and  then  Tiny
(Dutch-American   physicist)   and      Victor,   a   charming  Soviet
mathematician.   We  talk  about  the  storms  in  England   and   the
devastation  that  they  have caused.  Gary and I explain that we have
decided that to measure the prevalence of fish meals that are provided
in the Residencia (which we estimate to be  about  70%  of  the  total
meals  provided)  we are going to construct a 'coef-fish-hunt' as from
tonight.  Sir Edwards  indicates  that  he  has  been  coming  to  the
Residencia  for  the  last  twenty  years  and  absolutely nothing has
changed here, including the  staff.   We  groan,  silently.   However,
tonight was certainly an interesting meal.  The first course consisted
of  a  mountain of peas ( with a few miniscule pieces of bacon) whilst
the second consisted of fried eggs, chips  and  a  specialised  tomato
sauce.  If  I  tell  you that we considered that one of the best meals
that we have had in the last two weeks, then you guess at the  quality
of the rest!

Monday,29th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Never  have  I been so glad to have a holiday!  I actually slept until
8.30 which is something of a record and feel a lot better for  it.   I
have  a most interesting breakfast with a lady from Argentina who is a
specialist in Latin American literature.  I find  her  quite  easy  to
understand  and  we chat about Martin (my son's) experiences in Mexico
and then moan to each other about the terrible legacies of colonism in
various parts (e.g. the Malvinas) and its modern  day  equivalents  in
the  way  that  the banks exercise an insidious control.  She tells me
that Menem is making a mess of things in Argentina at the  moment  and
they  are  getting another bout of hyper-inflation.  After breakfast I
do some writing and then decide to  sally  forth  to  my  newly  found
supermarket  to  buy things that I do not desperately need in order to
split a 5,000 peseta note (It is not the kind of thing that I like  to
do  in bars.  A few nights ago when Gary and I went out for a drink, I
was short-changed.  After protesting I got some  money  back  but  not
enough  and  so  feel  a  little  wary  after  that.   Gary  tells  me
subsequently that he has heard that some bars in  the  area  charge  a
premium  on  all of their drinks because of the easy proximity of call
girls, although I must say that I didn't notice anway, not that I  was
looking!)  I  buy some stamps for England and Mexico and then, because
the Correo is open on the campus,  post  a  letter  to  my  mother  in
England  for  which  I  was  charted 195 pesetas ( but it was Urgente)
Knowing that previously a similar letter to England only has 45 peseta
stamps on it,  I  decide  to  post  yet  another  letter  to  England,
identical  with the first two in weight for which I now get charged 95
pesetas.  This is all a little confusing!  I get a  telephone  message
from  Narciso  which  I  return  ( my Spanish on the 'phone is not too
bad!) and we discuss arrangements for Narciso's  trip  to  England  on
Friday.   After  lunch,  I  decide almost on the spur of the moment to
investigate the possibilities  of  intermediate  Spanish  classes  for
myself  on  the  strength  of an advertisement that I have seen on the
Metro.  Gary and I locate the organisation, very near Sol, and I  find
the  course  costs  about  ś40-00  for  daily lessons of an hour for a
month.  I think that is probably good value and after  some  prompting
from Gary and a coffee to think it over I decide and pay my fees. Upon
my  return  to  the  Residencia  I  work on some graphics and database
problems  which  I  need  to  get  the  shape  of  the  more  advanced
'Informatica'  course  clear  in  my  mind  and  then after dinner the
cultural highlight of the evening.  This is the first  public  showing
of  a  film  entitled "Simultaneous version with original translation"
and a lot of the cultural elite of Madrid seem to have crowded into  a
salon  in the Residencia to witness the event.  There is much applause
before the film itself, then the film ( which is a film within a  film
about  a  film!)  and  even  more applause after!  Gary and I exchange
comments!  Then another brief telephone call from Meg to try to tie up
details of the Leicester Polytechnic students who might be  offered  a
placement  with  Alpha-Beta - these things are always messy to arrange
and this is no exception.

Tuesday, 30th January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today  was  one of those 'hard slogs' of a day, as I supposed it would
be, battling with the dark and the rush-hour traffic after a three-day
week-end.  I was thinking to myself as I walked  along  to  the  Metro
this  morning  that  I am on my own an incredible amount.  This is NOT
the same as being lonely but just an empirical statement about how the
day is spent.  Getting up at six and getting to bed finally  at  about
midnight,  I  have an 18-hour day in which, typically, I am completely
alone for at least 12 hours of that every day i.e. my journey to work,
shopping trips to post letters or buy tickets for buses,  the  time  I
spend  in  preparation  etc.   I find myself talking to myself quite a
lot, first in Spanish and then in English.  I don't mean talking  'out
loud' but just having conversations with oneself the whole time.  When
I  talked  to  Ross  at  the  weekend,  his  experiences  were  nearly
identical so it must be a case of common responses to similar sets  of
circumstances.   After  my  teaching  was  completed, it was suggested
that I might like to sit in on a post-graduate seminar  at  1.30  when
the  organisation  of  work and so on in the department was discussed.
After a break, I worked in the lab until 1.30 and the meeting went  on
until  2.30, but I must confess that I understood hardly a word of it!
I have arranged to meet a doctoral student  tomorrow  to  discuss  the
sharing  software  and  that might be quite interesting.  Mariano gave
me a lift back to the Residencia but, of course, by that  time  I  had
completely  missed  the meal so had to go out to buy milk etc. to give
myself a bit of nourishment until 9.00pm.  I take the  opportunity  to
post  some  letters, guessing on the basis of my experiences yesterday
what they are likely to cost and  also  get  in  a  double  supply  of
'BONOBUS' tickets, to ensure that I do not run out.  Then a session of
work  in  which  I  work  out  the  overall shape of the more advanced
course and the distribution of topics from Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE  III+
The  Lotus  program  here  at the Complutense is in Spanish whilst the
dBASE is in English - I am not sure which will be  more  difficult  to
teach.   After  dinner  I  go  out  for a drink with Gary to our local
where we  get  greeted  like  long  lost  friends  and  certainly  not
overcharged!  Gary  is  very  frustrated  in  his  work at this moment
because  he  is  desperately  trying  to   get   written   the   paper
incorporating  his results and his Spanish colleagues do not appear to
have the same timescale/level of urgency and  one  of  them  does  not
appear  to  agree with the rest of the team what should even go in the
paper. We all have our problems, I suppose!  Meg 'phones very late for
news of the students and I give her the address where Narciso  Pizarro
is staying in London - we have four (male) students for him to see and
I  hope  that  they come up to his requirements, after the selling job
that I have done for the Poly!

Wednesday, 31st January, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My teaching of the final day of Word perfect ends  with  a  power  cut
when  the  second  class  of  the day still had twenty minutes to run.
Nobody makes much effort to resolve it so we decide to call it a  day.
I  go  in  search  of  Rocˇo  (doctoral  student)  who  wishes to have
discussions regarding the software/materials that are needed  for  the
completion  of  her thesis.  We have a long discussion about how/where
we are going to meet to organise our software exchanges and  meanwhile
I  have  a discussion with Laura (Complutense student who spent a year
at Leicester Poly.) to give me some advice on how to organise week-end
accommodation for Meg when she comes in a couple of weeks time.  Rocˇo
gives  me  a  lift  into  Madrid in her most antiquated little Seat, a
journey which combined with the tube journey   actually takes me a lot
longer than if I had done it under my own steam.  After lunch with  an
English  biochemist,  I  go  down  to the centre of town attempting to
solve several problems simultaneously.   Firstly, I want to  get  used
to using the buses as well as the Metros because the buses down to Sol
(symbolic  centre  of  Madrid)  are  actually more convenient than the
tube. The navigation proves easy and I make my way  to  Sol  and  then
navigate  my  way  to  the place where my night classes in Spanish are
due to commence the following Monday evening.  I am  not  particularly
looking forward to it and wonder if I am putting myself under too much
pressure.   However,  we shall see.  I also buy a screwdriver (to help
me reconfigure apparatus in the laboratory!) and  find  some  coloured
floppies  that  actually  work  out  cheaper  than  in England.  I had
intended to attempt to book tickets for the Opera ("La Traviata")  but
the  weather  looks threatening and I catch the bus.  The heavans open
with a mixture of sleet and the volume of water one  expects  in  June
showers  in  England - I have never seen anything like it!  In the six
minutes walk from the bus-stop to the  Residencia,  I  get  absolutely
soaked to the skin and immediately strip everything off and have a hot
shower  to  ward off the flu or worse!  I then doze a little and start
preparing work on my LOTUS 1-2-3 lectures which form the start  of  my
more advanced course in ten days time. Meg phones very quickly for one
or  two  minutes to check dates because the people at Seville are VERY
interested in me going there for a few days at  the  end  of  my  stay
here  if  it  is  possible  to organise ( and does not offend anyone!)
After dinner, there are obscure  conversations  between  Teeny  (Dutch
physicist),  Victor  (Russian  mathematician), a newly arrived drunken
and fairly aggressive Chilean ( some type  of  neuroscientist),  Gary,
myself  and  the  English  biochemist.  I set the assembly the task of
showing the  correct  mathematical  proof  for  the  fact  that  on  a
'normal'  bus  toute,  where  there  should be, say, one bus every ten
minutes in both directions why there should apparently always  be  one
in  the  opposite  direction  before  there is one in one's direction.
Teeny gets half way there and I promise him one half of  a  bottle  of
wine.   He attempts to convince us that half a full bottle is the same
as half an empty but the equivocation in the argument is self-evident.
The Residencia is a little like that - we are say to ourselves that we
have nice homes, nice families, nice kids so what  are  we  all  doing
here?

Thursday, 1st February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the first day of the new course and I dust off my introduction
from  ten days ago and repeat it, this time feeling a little more self
confident and with a few more jokes in  Spanish.  I  tell  them  (  in
Spanish!)  that  computing  is  like sex - the theory is essential but
that they only really learn with much practice!   (They  all  seem  to
know what I mean!) After the teaching, Salvador sees me and is worried
that the right students have not signed up at the right times and this
may  be  creating  problems.  I ask for THE overhead projector for the
next five days and this is going to create problems .. tomorrow is all
right but Monday to Wednesday look unsure.  I tell them if if it's not
available, then we are  going  to  do  lots  of  photocopies  for  the
students in lieu of the transparencies.  It's available, but there are
forms  for  Pedro  to  fill in and some negotiations to take place.  I
also need to have my Word Perfect lectures reprographed  and  I  think
that  this  is  going  to  be  organised,  but  in such a way that the
students PAY for their copies.  I suppose  it  makes  them  appreciate
them so much more, rather than taken for granted as in England.  On my
way  home,  I  actually manage to get to the Correo before it closes (
earlier than the official time  of  2.00  in  any  case)  and  post  a
complete  copy  of  'Letters  from  Madrid I & II' to the Director (of
Leicester Polytechnic) and also spare copies of the  first  letter  to
various  relatives  (  on the basis of the fact that the first one had
incorrect postage and will almost certainly  fail  to  arrive!)  I  am
charged  90  pesetas  rather  than 95 pesetas this time and again hope
that the letters will actually arrive.  Yesterday, I received a letter
from Martin (my son at Sheffield University) which only took five days
to arrive but it does appear that mail from  Spain  to  England  takes
considerably  longer.   After  lunch,  I  decide  to  go to the Teatro
Liricio Nacional  la  Zarzuela  in  order  to  book  tickets  for  'La
Traviata'  in  two  weeks time.  Like England, all of the tickets were
sold a long time ago, but again, like England, why do  thety  continue
to  advertise  it  in  the  newspapers?   I  walk to Sol, buy myself a
screwdriver ( necessary to reconfigure the hardware in the  laboratory
e.g. to make sure that a printer that works is connected to a computer
that  works!)and then browse in the 'Informatica' Section in 'El Corte
Ingl‚s' Upon my return to the Residencia, I work on Lotus for an  hour
or  so  and then receive THE vital letter with salary details from the
Polytechnic which Mariano needs to process further my application  for
funds  here. Whilst in the bath, I get a call from Narciso's secretary
to say that he has arrived in London  and  wants  to  know  about  out
students.   As  it  is 8.00pm London time, I explain that the students
should be contacting him about now ( four of them)  to  arrange  their
interviews with him in the morning.  Teeny, Gary and Daniel, the newly
arrived  Chilean,  go  out  to our local bar where we discuss science,
politics, geography etc. until the 'madrugada' - this is because  Gary
leaves  on  Saturday  and  there is a strong possibility that his very
last night here will be spent in an office party at his laboratory  so
we decide to have our farewell drink this evening.

Friday,2nd February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I  get  into  the Complutense very early this morning and prepare some
software for Rocˇo.  The classes go well with lots of jokes  etc.  and
the  class ends with a traditional power cut ( of a minute only) which
fortunately took place  just  after  the  class  officially  finished.
Then  I  chat with Laura in Mariano's office and I give him the letter
from England, explaining all the circumstances.  Mariano  has  invited
me  to  see  a Cathedral in a small town near to Madrid and then for a
tour of ancient Madrid. I explain that I am going to the airport  with
Gary as a dry-run for both Meg and for Simon (Rogerson) and we agree a
time  and  a  place  to  meet at the airport.  After lunch, there is a
rendez-vous with Rocˇo (doctoral student) as arranged so that  we  can
exchange software.  She takes me to her house and introduces me to her
parents.  After  that  we spend most of the afternoon/early evening on
her computer ( an IBM clone with both 5¬" and 3«"  diskdrives)  and  I
show  her  how  to use Word Perfect, dBASE III+ and Lotus.  Explaining
that I haven't had a cup of tea in weeks, Rocˇo takes pity on  me  and
makes  me  pot  after pot of tea - I have about seven cups and far too
many biscuits for my own good.  The flat of her parents is exquisitely
furnished but the overall effect is extremely dark and claustrophic. I
know now why the Spanish like to live their lives in streets and  bars
-  they  must go out of their minds living in houses so small and with
so little light, but I suppose that I shouldn't impose my own cultural
preferences!  We have a quick beer and then Rocˇo drives  me  back  to
Plaza  Argentina  and  I have my evening meal.  Teeny, Daniel and I go
out for a drink via Vips and our usual bar is  frequented  by  teeming
hordes  as  it  is Friday night.  I am propositioned by a local 'girl'
with the following gems (i)"Would you like to smell my rose?" (awfully
tatty and odourless) and then (ii) "I am a failed  pyschology  student
from  Somosaguas  who needs with her statistics - can you help ?" [How
did she know?] Naturally this is an offer which is  all  too  easy  to
refuse,  particularly  as her pimp is standing a few feet away but the
others have a good laugh at my expense!  It all adds  to  life's  rich
pattern. I am informed (reliably?) that Madrid is the most over-whored
city  in Europe and whilst I cannot check on the accuracy of this even
'El Pais' ('The Times' of Spain) carries columns of advertisements for
various services and sexes under the heading of RELAX (!) and  all  of
the  'contactos'indicate  that  will accept credit cards.  In a way, I
suppose that I find this candour refreshing but  with  the  number  of
male,female,  transvestite  and  probably addicted individuals in this
game, I can think of no offer on earth which is easier to refuse.


Saturday, 3rd February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a proper breakfast, I bid my farewell to  Gary  who  is  leaving
today  and  then make my way to the airport.  This involves catching a
bus to Plaza Colon and then catching a special service ( costing  just
over  ś1-00!  ) to the airport.  I leave the Residencia at 9.25 and am
amazed to be actually at the airport by  exactly  10.00am  -  what  an
efficient  service!   There were only three or four people on a luxury
coach so it was actaully a better and cheaper ( and probably  quicker)
service  than  a taxi. Amazing!  Mariano and Pablo pick me up from the
meeting point at the airport, as previously arranged, and  we  journey
to  Siguenza,  an  ancient  medieval  city  with  a  most  magnificent
cathedral built in the Gothic-Plateresque style which  we  tour  round
most of the morning.  We finish off the morning with a tour around the
museum  attached  to the cathedral in which there is a fine collection
of 15th C. Spanish-Flamenco style paintings.  Then we  lunch  in  some
style  in  the  Parador,  which  is  naturally  the  ancient 'alcazar'
(castle) in a commanding position in the  town.   Having  returned  at
about  4.30 or so, I decide to go out shopping, largely to secure some
change to phone home in the evening but also laying  in  a  supply  of
fruit  and  skin-cream  (  the  extreme dryness of the atmosphere here
seems to be  taking  its  toll  on  me  at  last)  Then  there  is  an
interesting  conversation  with  home  where I discover that all of my
letters have arrived and there appear to extremely good  possibilities
of  collaboration  between  ourselves  and  Sevilla in the Information
Technology field.  It looks as though a visit  to  the  University  of
Sevilla  would  be  extremely  useful,  if  it could be arranged and I
resolve to speak with Mariano about it on Monday morning.   Feeling  a
little  tired,  I lie on my bed ( well it is about 7.00 pm by now) and
find that Radio 2 is the classical music channel, and the quality  and
purity  of  the  Spanish  is a joy to listen to ( and I am starting to
comprehend a little more) There is an interesting programme with  such
things  as  'Peter  and  the  Wolf',  a  Mozart  horn  concerto,  some
Offenbach,etc.  During and after dinner, there  are  extended  and  at
times  heated  discussions over such topics as whether it is possible,
or likely, that we could synthesise life-forms, whether there  is  the
possibility/probability   of   'other'   kinds  of  physics  in  other
civilisations, whether our current technologically-based  civilisation
is  the  'point  of an arrow' or what.  We say that we are to continue
with these discussions tomorrow, with perhaps a seminar on fundamental
particles with which to start off.

Sunday, 4th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although not a person for lying in bed,  the ability to  stay  in  bed
until  8.30  when  I  normally  get  up  at about 6.00am is one of the
luxuries of life that I have learnt to appreciate.  So I have  another
leisurely  breakfast  and  then  go down to meet Ross, as arranged, at
Sol. It is a pleasant day and we drink  coffee  and  coke  and  stroll
around  the environs of the Palacio Real and the Plaza Mayor where, on
a Sunday, there are interesting markets of  stamps and coins.   Seeing
20p  pieces  being  sold  for  4-5  times  their value, we strike up a
conversation with a very friendly old coin-seller who seems very  well
disposed   towards  England.   We  telephone  Salvador  who  is  still
troubled by his foot and so decide  to  go  to  a  very  small  little
restaurant  next door to his flat which is cheap but good food.  There
we have a Sunday 'dinner' at about 2.30 and then drift  off  to  other
places  where  we spend the time chatting about nothing in particular,
although I do discuss with Salvador the approaches that are being made
by Sevilla University. Ross and I return to our respective Residencias
and I get down to work in earnest from about 5.00 pm onwards.  It does
seem to be a rather strange pattern  to  be  working  hardest  between
5.00  and 8.30 every day, but that is the way that it is.  Whilst I am
undressed and prepared to go into my daily bath before  dinner,  Laura
(Complutense  student who had spent a year at Leicester) phones and we
agree to meet at 8.00 the following evening after my Spanish class  so
that  we  can  talk over arrangements for Meg's visit in less than two
weeks time over a beer.  Just after my bath, there  is  another  quick
call  from  home ( again whilst I am naked) and I think to myself that
it must be the first time in  my  life  that  I  have  spoken  to  two
different  women  naked  within  the  space  of  half an hour.  During
dinner,  we   have   interesting   conversations   with   a   Japanese
cell-biologist  living  in  Paris  and we talk over issues such as how
many people were killed on both sides in the 2nd World War.  I  hazard
a  guess that Britain lost 300-400,000 soldiers whilst Victor believes
that the Soviet Union lost 7-10 millions and the Japanese surprises us
(genuinely) by telling us that the  Japanse  only  lost  about  40,000
soldiers  in  World War II. He also tells us that it was probable that
the Americans had broken the Japanese military code and were aware  of
the  impending  attack upon Pearl Harbour but deliberately did nothing
because it provided the perfect excuse to enter the War.  We  are  all
a  bit  stunned  because  I  do  not  think  that  this  had ever been
considered before.  After pondering this, we all decide to go  to  bed
because  tomorrow is the start of the week (to which nobody is looking
forward with any great relish)

Monday, 5th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day started off all right and then  rapidly  deteriorated  into  a
'bad,  bad, bad' day.  I think the rot started after I had coffee with
Maria Lopez and then I saw Pedro to make an appointment  with  Mariano
regarding  my trip to Sevilla.  Pedro informed that that Mariano would
be arrive in his office at 'doce y media' (  or  so,  I  thought)  but
actually,  it  was at 'dos y media' which IS rather different!  As the
laboratory was occupied and I have no office, I had to cadge  a  spare
bit  of  desk  from  Maria  so  that  I  had  somewhere  to  stay  for
three-quarters of an hour (until 12.30) before discovering my mistake.
I return to the Residencia and have a miserable lunch ( as my  Spanish
is  not up to the standard of the rest) and then work for a bit before
meeting Ross, as arranged, in order to  discuss  his  interim  report.
Two  minor problems then occurred in which I paid more for my beer and
tapas than I had originially intended and then I got liquid  soap  all
over  my  jacket in the toilet ( but I don't know how).  Whilst in the
Sol area, I then went to the evening class which passes through one of
the most over-whoring streets in Madrid to a dark dingy rabbit  warren
of  a  tutorial college which I suppose is the equivalent ofa crammer.
There are courses in five levels and I really felt that I was too good
for the first level and really wished to do the second level.  As  the
second  level  was  available  only  in  the  mornings ( and therefore
unavailable to me) I chose level 2.5 which is really  an  intermediate
level.  Having  sat  in  a  classroom  with a failed "A"-level English
student (living with his  Spanish  grandmother)  and  an  obstreperous
Iranian,  it is decided that we are in the wrong classrooom and we are
then ushered into the back of another  classrom  with  about  a  dozen
students  in  it  and  we  occupy  the  last few seats.  This is a big
mistake.  The level  is  far  too  advanced  for  me  as  everyone  is
jabbering  away  in  Spanish  and  talking  it  like  natives  -  I am
disconcerted when the Iranian sitting next  to  me  starts  a  massive
argument  with  the teacher over the distribution of traffic lights on
'carreteras' in Spain, after which  the  discussion  proceeds  with  a
discussion of the 'Preterito plucuanperfecte' tense on page 147 of the
book  (  This is meant to be lesson 1!) I try to keep my head down and
my concentration up when we are asked for synonyms  of  words  that  I
have  never  heard  of  (e.g.  'atraco' = 'holdup' e.g. of a bank) The
young Spanish teacher says 'Agreed' at regular intervals and I am in a
dilemma - if  I  murmour  dissent,  I  still  do  not  understand  her
explanation   and  if  I  say  nothing  then  it  is  assumed  that  I
understand, which I don't! There is a lot of scribbling on  the  board
which  we are supposed to take down but I cannot see the board without
my glasses and anyway the light  shines on it making it  difficult  to
read.  I  almost decide to abandon the ś40-00 for the course there and
then but I sweat it out and have a word with the girl at the end  that
I  really  think  the  course is too advanced. 'Didn't they give you a
test to test your level' she enquires and I grimace, knowing that  the
private  sector is all about taking your money and not asking too many
questions.  I am given a 'Level Test' sheet which I do not know  if  I
am  supposed  to  complete  at  home  or  what and there is talk of me
returning the following dat at 5.0 but for what, I do not  know.   The
only  sensible  strategy  appears  to  enrol  in the most basic course
available,  assuming  that  that  will  be  pretty  advanced  for   my
standards.   I  feel  terrible,  churned up and glad to get out of the
rabbit warren of a 'college' However, I do go out for  a  pre-arranged
drink  with Laura, as agreed, and we talk things over and she helps me
to get things in perspective (a little) We talk over problems that  we
each  have  (me  and  my  Spanish, Laura and her doctorate) and then I
return for a meal  and  thankfully,  bed.  Perhaps  tomorrow  will  be
better  -  I  feel  it couldn't have been worse!  I get a message from
Salvador and I 'phone him back.  It appears that the arrangement  that
I thought I had made with the Residencia regarding Meg's stay I hadn't
(although  I thought that I made myself absolutely plain) and Salvador
is trying to sort it out for me.  In some ways, the fact that I hadn't
been able to do this for myself and that Salvador is having  to  'bale
me  out'  only  deepens  my depression.  I say to myself that in other
countries/languages, everyone has an occasional 'bad day' but  I  also
tell myself  that   this is only a  platitude which will not  actually 
help to solve problems.  Tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday, 6th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well,  if yesterday was bad then today was infinitely better. After my
teaching had finished, Mariano sees me with  several  pieces  of  good
news,  each one of them good enough to lighten up one's day.  Firstly,
my stay in the Residencia is confirmed and and it looks as though  the
fees  are  to be paid.  Secondly, it is confirmed that Meg can stay in
the Residencia with me for a 'fin de semana' in about ten  days  time.
Thirdly,  my  application has been finally lodged with the Ministry of
Education ( for funds) and we are now awaiting results.   Fourthly,  I
now  have  the  use  of  an  office  (  in the mornings) which is very
spacious and well-furnished.  After yesterday  when  I  was  wandering
around  with my bag like an academic gypsy, I really do appreciate the
facility.  I also met one of the  occupants  of  the  office  who  was
dashing  off  to  teach ( but was very friendly!) The major engagement
of the day is to have  lunch  with  Rafael  Ba¤on  and  this  is  most
interesting  and exciting.  We have a magnificient lunch ( a whole leg
of lamb in my case) for a very reasonable price  and  talk  over  many
academic issues to do with teaching, research and future developments.
I  explain  in  detail the orientation of our courses in Leicester and
Rafael  is  excited  by  the  possibilities  of   an   active   future
collaboration.  In particular, there are possibilities to come over to
Madrid  for a week or weekend to contribute to specialist courses that
are being organised.  The other great news of interest is that  Rafael
has  invited  me  to  participate  in  session(s)  on  the MA/Doctoral
programme in any way that I wish within the broad  rubric  of  'Public
Policy'  I  describe  the  research  that  I  am  doing for the Health
Service and we decide that this might form an interesting case  study.
It  also  seems  that  there is the possibility of more collaboration,
specifically in the field of health service  administration.  After  I
got  home ( late i.e. 5.30) I phoned Ramon in Sevilla and got Conchita
( his wife) and I explained that I would like  to  make  contact.   We
arranged  to  phone  at  3.00  the  following  day  and another little
transaction  ( by   phone,   this   time)   seems   to   have   worked
satisfactorily.   By pure coincidence, this is the first time in three
weeks that there have been no English speakers in the  Residencia  and
so  not  intruding  upon  other people's conversations ( because there
seem to be groups of two or three scholars on each  project  here,  in
the  main)  I have dinnder and then a fairly early night ( 10.30 which
is very early for Madrid)

Wednesday, 7th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, I have finished off my second course in MS-DOS and  am  due  to
start  the  second  round of Word Perfect.  Pedro (the technician) has
given me 40 copies of the complete 5 day course so  this  should  make
life  a  little  easier,  instead  of  a  hand-to-mouth existence with
photocopies having to be organised every day.  I see Rocio to let  her
have  a  software manual for her computer and she gives me a lift into
town - I just miss the Correo (again!) despite being there before  the
'official'  closing  time  of  2.00 pm.  After lunch, I phone Ramon in
Sevilla - or rather I was expecting him to phone me  as  I  had  given
Conchita  ( his wife) my telephone number.  Anyway, after waiting half
an hour I telephone and give him my news and he seems very pleased and
is going to make arrangements both for the Residencia in  Sevilla  for
five  nights  and  also  to  see  various  people  in  the Informatica
department and also in their Rectorado (Directorate). Then, I think it
is a good idea to go down to C.E.E. Idiomas in  order  to  attempt  to
exchange  my  class  for  another level.  They are very confused by my
form (several sections were filled in with the aid of my grammar book)
and agree with me that Level I  is  too  basic  whilst  level  2.5  is
probably  too  advanced.   The arrangement is that that I try one more
session, and if I find that I cannot cope then they will  give  me  my
money back, less the registration fee.  I walk the streets for half an
hour  noticing  that the area around Gran Via is littered with whores,
playing their trade at 5.0 in the afternoon.  I did  attend  the  next
class  and to be honest, found it easier than the first although there
is still a problem reading the board (faint chalk on a green board  in
handwriting  in  a  dimly  lit  room.. This does remind how absolutely
essential certain things are to the educative process!) Nonetheless, I
take my money and return to the  Residencia,  vowing  to  undertake  a
hours  grammatica  every  day religiously.  The trouble with the class
every day is that it takes TWO HOURS out of every day (i.e.  an  hours
class  and  an  hours travelling) and when I am travelling for another
two hours, teaching for three then there are not many  hours  left  in
the  day. In addition, I am getting seriously behind in my preparation
for dBASE III in which I need seven lectures prepared in the next week
so I am going to have put myself on another tight schedule to get  all
of  this  done before Meg and then Simon arrive.  I decide I am better
off with my money intact, but at  least  I  made  the  effort.   After
another  non-communicative  dinner, I go to our local bar (Brummel's!)
with Daniel and Victor and we talk about literature and poetry amongst
other things.

Thursday, 8th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today was plagued by power-cuts - I had two in  each  of  my  sessions
and  so  had  at  least  four  but  it  may  have been five.  I try to
entertain the students by telling them jokes whilst we are sitting  in
the  semi-darkness, but my reportoty of jokes in Spanish is limited to
three or four and I get  through  those  fairly  quickly.   I  try  to
encourage  the  boys  to  tell jokes but they claim (in public) not to
know any, although in private I am sure that they  know  a  lot  which
they are not willing to divulge. Eventually, I go off for a coffee and
then  come  back  and  do  two  'good turns' for people in the lab, by
rescuing the Mexican doctoral  students  critical  bibliographies  for
him  and  then  showing  another  student  how  to  explot the 'shell'
facilities in Word Perfect in order to run his version of WordStar IV.
I was told the other day by  Salvador  that  absolutely  NONE  of  the
software  in  the  laboratory is legal i.e. that there is not even one
legal copy of anything but things like SPSS,  Word  Perfect  5.0  have
just  'appeared'  (I do find this a little hard to believe). The other
day when I was with Rafael Ba¤on, he  insisted  I  talk  with  Claudia
Vartez who is a Puerto Rico/American lady over here in Madrid for nine
months or so and who is organising some teaching, some research at the
Fondacion  Ortega y Gasset  (?)  somewhere  in  the  centre  of  town.
Claudia had given directions how to find the  Fondacion  and  we  meet
over  lunch.   The  meal  is good enough but communication is a little
hard at times because of the chatter of other voices and, in addition,
Claudia finds my English accent difficult to understand!  She tells me
of her fairly lonely experiences trying to find a flat, arrange for  a
school  for  her  13 year old daughter and things like that - however,
she IS only 5 minutes away from her office and there seem to  be  lots
of  visiting academics around who can and do help ( I am introduced to
one or two of them) I make my way back to the Residencia to start work
on dBASE, having got the Lotus component of the more  advanced  course
out  of  the way. This session proves rather difficult and for reasons
that I cannot quite work out the 'screen grab'programs don't  seem  to
be  working  too  effectively  on the portable - the only program that
will 'cure' the problem is back in England!  After dinner, I phone Meg
to give her the news that I have made contact with  Ramon  in  Sevilla
and  also  about  the  possibilities  of  further  work  here  at  the
Complutense with Rafael Ba¤on.   I also give a list of  essentials  to
bring  from  England (comfortable shoes and sticking plasters for sore
heels!) We have a very interesting  conversation  with  the  Chileans,
Victor,  Teeny  and  myself concerning Colombus' discovery of America.
The consensus view is that Columbus and the rest  of  the  world  know
perfectly  well that the earth was round and that they were attempting
( for commercial reasons) to find a new route to the Indies -  America
having rather got in the way.  There is a lot of speculation as to the
degree  of  error  that  Colombus  must have made (of the order of one
third) in his assumptions about how long/far it would  take  to  reach
the  other  side  of  the  globe.  It is obviously very interesting to
listen to people who are so very well informed  about  the  historical
details,  which  do  tend  to  be  'glossed  over' somewhat in British
history books.  The significance of the several events of 1492,  which
were  of  course  connected  (the victories of the 'Catholic Kings' in
defeating the Moors and the 'discovery' of the Americas) is  obviously
going  to  make 1992 a most momentous year (as well as the adoption of
the completely open market in the European community)

Friday, February 9th, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every few days you get a day which is unremarkable and  so  it  turned
out  to be today.  At the end of my class, I turned round to find Ross
in the computing laboratory - he had come to  see  Mariano  Baena  and
thought he would meet me as well.  We had a 'descanso' and then worked
on  the  computer a bit together before coming home.  Ross explains to
me that he would some help with his option choices and would also like
help with his option choices so we make a firm date to  meet  at  4.00
every Tuesday afternoon for some special sessions so that Ross can get
the  benefit  of special tuition as well as the Spanish students.  The
rest of the day seemed fairly unremarkable, filled as it  was  with  a
fairly  hefty  section of preparation on dBASE and then a trip down to
town to a place where I know that I can good detergent with  which  to
wash  clothes.   In  the  absence  of  a  washing machine, I am in the
routine of washing my clothes every day  (  if  there  are  not  other
pressing  engagements  in  the  late  evening)  Because my room at the
Residencia has some very old fashioned large iron  radiators,  then  I
find  that  socks,  underpamnts  and  the  like will dry out overnight
whilst shirts are obviously left to drip-dry in the bath.  The  habits
of  washing  one's  own clothes do rather remind me of the days when I
was a civil servant in London ( on my own) and  again  as  a  student.
Salvador phones with details of where we are meet to meet tomorrow for
the  weekend  excursion  to  Mariano's.   After dinner, there are long
conversations with Victor, the Russian mathematician  who  is  due  to
'escape'  i.e. leave tomorrow morning so we all exchange addresses and
telephone numbers in case any of us turn up in Moscow.   Victor  tells
me  of  a  computer club in Moscow which is most willing to correspond
and he is going to send me details when he  gets  home.   Victor  also
tells  us  details of his salary (the average for professors in Moscow
is about 500-700 roubles per month, which at an (official) exchange of
7 roubles to the dollar works out at not something over ś55 per  month
(i.e. for a professor) Mind you, a good meal costs about 60 kopeks but
nonetheless, it is a bit difficult to visualise how very different the
prices are compared with the rest of Europe.

Saturday, 10 February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  is the weekend of the 'trip' to Mariano's so I meet Salvador, as
arranged, and then Laura and we have a long  conversation  about  what
should  go  into  the  more advanced course that I am to prepare in my
last week and a half in Madrid.  I very much  want  to  give  a  quick
course   in   Social   Investigation   techniques  in  which  students
collect  some  data  by questionnaire ( e.g. on voting intentions) and
then conduct an analysis of it with  lots  of  charts,  diagrams  etc.
However, Laura and Salvador think that such a course would not go down
well  with  the  Public  Administration ( as compared to the Sociology
students) and so we try to discover the kind of course  that  students
would  like.  We  are  picked  up  by Mariano and have a long drive to
outside Burgos to a small community called  Covarrubias  in  which  we
visit a spectacular monastery after which we have a 'local meal' which
is   enjoyable.   We  then  go  to  Santo  Domingo  to  visit  another
spectacular  monastery  - there are so many here with such magnificent
cloisters, typically dating back to the 12th century, that it comes as
a bit of shock to realise that we have hardly any that  would  compare
in England.  The party consists of Mariano and his son, Pablo, Laura ,
Salvador  and  myself  and  as  Pablo is a student of history I try to
explain how many such monasteries were destroyed by Henry VIII if that
is  not  a  ridiuclously  over-simplistic  interpretation  of  English
history.   We make our way to Mariano's house in the country which has
many rooms on three floors but  is  primitive  in  that  there  is  no
central  heating or source of hot water.  We chop up firewood to get a
fire going and then an ancient wood-burning stove and put on radiators
to get some heat into the rooms because it really is quite cold  here.
After that we repair to the cellar where we make light work of several
bottles  of  local rioja whilst having an intense political discussion
over the demands of the  Basques  and  other  regional  minorities  in
Spain.  After  that  we have another simple meal of eggs,ham and bread
and I attempt to justify my view that Britain's social  structure  has
been  radically  altered by Thatcherism e.g. the politicisation of the
civil service.  And so we get to our beds at some hour in the  morning
and  as  we  all  have duvets, the beds are actually quite warm ( well
mine is, but I do take the precaution of sleeping  with  socks  on  in
case it turns out to be incredibly cold in the night!)

Sunday, 11th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am not sure what time we got to bed but I sleep very  soundly  until
9.0  when  we  got  up  to  have  a  simple  breakfast.   I had a long
conversation with Laura and Salvador ( in English, I'm afraid!)  about
the  good  and  the  bad  features  of  the  English  educational  and
examination system and, in general, they like the way that things  get
done in England ( whilst being a little bit scathing about the lack of
theoretical   knowledge   in   English   students  which  I  can  well
understand) I reflect upon the fact that when you  are  attempting  to
explain  complex  ideas  in  another  language,  you  lose  all of the
subtlety of the argument i.e. things are 'good' or 'not good'  because
you  do not have the specialised vocabulary to indicate the nuances of
meaning which is so much part of the English language, for example. We
then depart for Burgos but not before having seen a classic 'plaza' in
a local pueblito which Mariano explains was to become  the  model  for
much  of the rest of Spain, and of course, Latin America.  We then get
to Burgos which is a magnificent city but it is EXTREMELY cold  and  a
little  windy as well.  For the rest of the morning, we tour round the
monastery of Las Huelgas and here again the magnificence  of  the  art
and  sculpture that dates from the 12th century completely overwhelms.
However, we are all so cold after this trip  that  we  go  to  have  a
coffee ( or in my case, a very thick hot chocolate) before going on to
a  magnificent  restaurant.  Laura, Salvador and I have decided to pay
the bill for this Mariano as Mariano has paid for our meal  yesterday,
not  to  mention the food and hospitality that he has provided.  There
is a long and sometimes heated discussion between Laura and  Pablo  on
the  nature  and  conceptualisation  of  the nature of ideology ( with
particular reference to Thatcherism!) I develop  my  own  ideas  of  a
three-tiered  structure in which ideology can be conceptualised as (i)
an integrated and locally coherent set of assumptions about the  world
which  then provides for (ii) a set of programmes and policies capable
of integration into political programmes  e.g.  manifestos  which  may
then  be  supported, or at least not opposed by (iii) a public opinion
which captures the 'mood of the times' ( even if such  an  opinion  is
heavily  moulded  by sectional interests e.g. the press) We then go on
to tour the magnificent cathedral of Burgos which has some of the most
incredible  sculptures  ( in stone) within and a fine tracery of stone
which decorates the outside.  We then start the long journey  home  at
5.30  but find that there is an absolutely HUGE traffic jam two thirds
of the way down the motorway and we crawl along at a walking pace  for
about an hour.  Eventually, we get to Madrid just after ten ( ajourney
that  has  taken  nearly five hours) and I am relieved to have a quick
meal and then get to bed, after a phone call home.

Monday, 12th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After  my  classes,  I  managed to see Narciso Pizarro and he tells me
that he saw five Leicester Polytechnic students in England  and  would
like  to  many of them as possible, provided they can get scholarships
from COMETT to come to Madrid.  Whether this is  possible  or  not,  I
obviously  cannot say.  I tell him that Meg is arriving at the weekend
and there is a strong possibility that we may well go out with him and
his wife/children on Friday evening. I then  worked  on  dBASE  for  a
while  before  seeing  Reyes [Complutense student who was at Leicester
for the year]  who  would  like  Leicester  Polytechnic  to  supply  a
reference for a job with a bank for which she is thinking of applying.
I  am  also  due  to  see  her  on  Thursday  to help with a letter of
application for the same position.  Being as late as this meant that I
missed getting to the Bank but there is always tomorrow.  Mariano  has
made  an  arrangement  with me to go round to his flat this evening to
discuss his research project and so I work  fairly  solidly  on  dBASE
most  of the afternoon until 6.0 when Mariano calls round. At his flat
he explains to me slowly and carefully but in great detail  the nature
and structure of his investigation which has been  going  on  now  for
fifteen  years.   He has systematic data going back for fifty years on
the interrelationships between politicians, top civil servants,  large
scale  business and the military ( in Franco's time) This is obviously
a 'gold mine' of information for anyone interested in elite  theory  -
it  may  well  be  the  only systematic example of its type in Western
Europe. However, the difficulties of analysis  are  evidently  immense
for   one   needs  to  develop  a  model  to  measure  the  degree  of
'interlocking' present in the system and to measure how  it  has  been
changing  over time.  We discuss the theoretical problems involved and
try to get to grips with some of the potentialities of the analysis. I
have  a  look  at  the  computer  files  with  the  aid  of  Mariano's
'Informatica'  secretary  who seems to spend her time getting the data
on the computer and keeping it updated. There seem to be  hundreds  of
files,  all  quite long and at the moment they are integrated by means
of 'Open Access' ( at which I utter a silent groan, because it is  not
one  of  my  favourite packages) We drink some good Scotch ( I know it
is, because I bought it for Mariano!) and then I am driven back to the
Residencia.  here I meet Teeny's wife  who  has  just  flown  in  from
Holland, and she seems to be enormous fun - rather like Teeny himself,
actually.   We  have  a  pleasant meal and then go out to Brummels via
VIPS in which I am challenged to exchange a book without its  receipt.
I  ought  to  explain  that  the  previous  evening,  Teeny had bought
several Dick Francis novels in Vips and I had joked with him and asked
if he had ever bought the same book twice, because he  had  failed  to
recognise  it in under a new cover.  Teeny retorted that no fool would
ever do such a thing and.. yes, he had!  So I  organised  an  exchange
because  if  I  hadn't  it would have been difficult to explain to the
guard on the door what I was doing with a book in my hand and  without
a  bag  or  receipt on which they seem to be particularly keen in this
particular store.  Typically, the receipt is actually stapled over the
opening of the bag as proof of a  legitimate  purchase  and  one  then
passes  a  guard  who  scrutinises everyone with a great deal of care.
After this little incident, we go off to our  favourite bar  where  we
meet  Daniel  (by accident) and we have a couple of beers to round off
the day.  I show Daniel my portable and he is very impressed by it and
cannot wait to get his hands on one.  He was also  very  impressed  by
the  demonstration  package  of  PC-Globe ( rather like a computerised
gazeteer) which I had brought with me.



Tuesday, 13th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because I had a got few days behind in writing  up  these  letters,  I
work  on  these for about an hour and then dash out in a hurry without
my box of floppy disks which turns out be a  nuisance  -   however,  I
borrow  one  from Pedro and reconstruct a dBASE file in order to check
on my instructions.  I am keen to make a quick 'get-away' which  I  do
at  about  11.30  in  order to get to the bank.  I wonder if they will
give me my own money, without demur, but they do so an that is another
transaction sorted out.  On the way back I bought what I thought was a
demonstration  version  of dBASE IV, only to find that it is the first
of EIGHT separate disks that one  needs  to  buy  for  the  evaluation
version  alone ( which, incidentally, takes 3.6 MByte and a FULL 640 K
just  to  get  onto  the  machine.   I  heard  that  Ashton-Tate  were
struggling  with  the  size  of  the  code  for  dBASE  IV but this is
ridiculous.  I then  buy  some  replenishment  supplies  of  Coke  and
Apples,  have  lunch  with Teeny's wife and then do a bit more writing
after  lunch.  At 4.00pm, Ross calls out as arranged and we go out for
a coffee to discuss options and subjects for his Project.   It   is  a
most  glorious  afternoon, a little like a fine day in April or May in
England and we cannot  work  out  whether  this  is  not  unusual  for
February in Madrid or a completely freak occurrence. Ross has made his
option  choices but is still unsure over his project choice so we talk
over  two  possibilities  (i)  an   examination   of   the   different
organisations and functions of the higher education system in the U.K.
and  Spain ( as Ross has experienced both systems and knows first hand
the cultural differences) (ii) a discussion of  the  extent  to  which
environmental  issues are reflected in the programmes of the different
political parties across the two societies and how they get translated
into working policies.  Then I return to the Residencia because  I  am
getting  behind with my preparation.  With the impending visits of Meg
and then Roger, there will be no time for preparatiion when they  come
and  so  evidently  I have to keep on a tight schedule of getting five
more lectures prepared in five days.  One lecture a day does not sound
much but each lecture  has  to  be  tested  on  the  machines  in  the
laboratory before the handout is finally run-off and there tends to be
a  process  of  constant  revision  and  refinement.   To my horror, I
discover that the extremely complicated worksheet that I had  prepared
the previous day (multiple file handling) had been overwritten somehow
and  the  only thing to do was to sit down and write it all over again
whilst it was fresh in my mind.  This I do but it still  takes  nearly
an hour and a half of intense effort.  Then I start on the next, which
is  screen  design  and  this is short but complicated - it is so much
easier to see done than to describe in words (in any language!) Then I
start on the 'programming' section in which I am going to give  sample
programs  to  type in and then get students to amend them, hoping that
certain principles adhere in the process.  I work until 11.30 and then
have an early night ( for me! Madrid!)

Wednesday, 14th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today  is  St. Valentine's day and also the end of the second round of
the 'Basic Course'.  I tease the students  that  they  are  unromantic
because  they  are not sending each other Valentine's day cards - they
reply that they wait until the summer and then just  go  wild!   After
coffee,   I   have   a   brief  discussion  with  Mariano  to  discuss
arrangements for the weekend and then see Rocˇo who gives me back some
manuals and then helps me to correct some of my Spanish.  I also  bump
into  Laura,  Reyes  AND  Salvador which must be a record for one day.
Rocˇo gives me a lift back into town  and  is  explaining  to  me  her
dilemma  of  whether  to accept the offer of an associate Professor at
the University which sounds attractive on the one hand but may  divert
her from her Doctorate on the other. Today (and yesterday) the weather
is  absolutely  glorious here in Madrid - it is about 18 degrees C (64
F) and has the ambience of a beautiful day in  May  with  clear  skies
and  not a trace of cloud.  I cannot work out whether this is 'normal'
or 'exceptional' weather for February but the Madrile¤os do  not  seem
to  find it very unusual.  With a winter like this, who needs summer ?
(Incidentally, it is now easy to work out why Madrid  is  so  stifling
hot  in  summer  because  the  same  absence  of  cloud  must  make it
unbearably) After lunch, I start work on revising my  existing  drafts
of  the  lectures that I have already written for dBASE and start work
on the remaining two. The lecture on programming  goes  easily  enough
and  I  offer  a  bottle  of  wine to the first student who manages to
solve a little problem that I have given them at the end.   With  this
flush  of  success  I start on the last lecture of all which turns out
to be full of  little  difficulties  as  it  is  concerned  with  file
transfers.   I  speculate  to myself that working with a Lotus 'clone'
in a different language on a  tricky  subject  is  bound  to  try  the
patience  of  a  saint  but  there  are  several aspects of this final
lecture that cannot be completed until I have checked the instructions
on the Spanish versions of Lotus and Word Perfect in the lab. tomorrow
morning.  I have calculated that when today  is  over,  I  will  spent
exactly half of my time here in Madrid and it seems to have flown - of
course,  the  next  half will go even faster as I have Meg's visit and
Simon's visit in the next week and then two more weeks here in  Madrid
and a final week (hopefully!) in Sevilla.  Dinner takes its usual form
with  Teeny  and  his (newly arrived) wife and Daniel and we decide to
make our usual excursion to a bar via VIPS (large American  stationery
store  with 'sky high' prices) Upon our return, I find a very friendly
letter from David Wilson who tells me some of the  news  back  in  the
Department in England.

Thursday, 15th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today  is  the first day of the more 'advanced' course and my teaching
strategy was to have the material prepared on a work-sheet but also to
divide the laboratory into two groups and then give a demonstration to
both groups.  I find the students of very mixed ability, some  getting
the  principles very quickly whilst others seem to spend a lot of time
getting nowwhere.  I am confirmed in my conclusions that (i)  students
are not dissimilar the world over (ii) that 'Informatica', principally
in  a  new area, helps you determine those students who have a measure
of intelligence from those who have not!  After  my  sessions,  I  see
Mariano  who  enquires about the Erasmus funds for his students and we
make arrangements concerning the weekend.  The Sevilla  trip  is  also
confirmed  as  all  right  which  is  a weight off my mind. Pedro, the
secretary to the department, is due to join my course this morning  so
I  am  confident  that  he  can  now  appreciate  the  urgency  of the
photocopies I have been doing.  On the strength of  this,  I  run  off
good  copies  of  the  first  six dBASE lectures for him to copy and a
draft of the last one, upon which I work after the break.  The trouble
with working with the 'real' Lotus rather than 'AsEasyAs'-  the  Lotus
'clone'  that  I  have  in  my  machine-  is  that  there  are  subtle
differences in  file-handling  and  for  this  last  lecture  on  file
transferencies  between  different  types of software packages, I have
to get this absolutely right.  I show  the  Mexican  doctoral  student
whose  name  I have forgotten my photos of Mexico and we talk over the
kinds of good Mexican food that we both  miss!   After  lunch,  I  put
finishing  touches  to  the  last  dBASE lecture and then decide to go
shopping for various things as I need some more floppy  disks  and  am
also running short of some toiletries.  Whilst travelling, I make some
idle  calculations  as  to  the minimum amount of money that a student
needs to survive in Madrid and come to the conclusion that  one  needs
as a very minimum ś30-00 per week 'day-do-day' living expenses as well
as the Residencia which is ś250-00 a month or ś60-00 per week.  All in
all,  a student will need approx. ś100-00 a week which evidently works
out at the best part of ś5000 for the total year,  once  the  cost  of
flights  is  added  in.   I  resolve to make a breakdown of all of the
costs to help people to budget etc.  Then I spend a certain amount  of
time  making  sure  my  room is neat and tidy in anticipation of Meg's
visit, make a phone call to Narciso Pizarro's company  and  then  have
dinner  with  Daniel.  He tells me that he would like to go to Sol and
the Plaza Mayor and,  to  my  surprise,  I  find  that  he  has  never
travelled  on  the Metro.  From little things that he says, I gain the
impression that he is actually quite nervous  about  using  the  Metro
having  hardly  ever  used one before ( the one in Santiago appears to
have lines only in a cross running North-South  and  East-West,  so  I
suppose  it  is  difficult  to  have  problems  with  that!)  He seems
pleasantly surprised at the speed  of  it  and  is  delighted  by  the
appearance  of  Sol and even more by the appearance of the Plaza Mayor
by night.  We spend a few minutes gazing in a hat-shop which is  world
famous and in which you can buy a hat (for men) in ANY style available
throughout  the  world  (e.g.  pith  helmets,  German  flying  helmet,
traditional sombreros etc.) To see so many different  styles  from  so
many  different  parts  of  the  world  is a revelation.  We have some
beers and then return ( at about 2.00am !) to the Residencia.

Friday, 16th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the day that Meg arrives for a week-end so  it  entails  extra
teaching  for  me  today in order that we can leave for the airport at
10.00 on Monday.  Consequently, I teach for thee hours from 9.00 until
12.00 and am glad that I brought a little bit of chocolate with me  to
stop  me  collapsing  in  front of the students! Everything goes quite
well and as you might expect the demonstration of the  Lotus  graphics
elements  interests the students greatly.  Mariano is to cut short one
one of his lectures by a quarter of an hour in order to give  us  time
to  get  from  the  extreme  west  of Madrid (Somosaguas) right across
Madrid to the extreme east (the airport)  in  about  one  hour  and  a
quarter.   We  leave a little late, with Reyes and get stuck in a HUGE
traffic jam in Madrid.  The combination of road improcvement works and
the fact that so many leave Madrid at about this time on a Friday  for
their  country  houses  makes  travelling  in  the city at this time a
nightmare.  We get  to  the  airport  at  just  after  three  and  are
relieved to dicover that Meg's flight has arrived but was a quarter of
an  hour late like ourselves and therefore Meg is not left stranded at
the  barrier.   Meg  arrives  at  about  3.30  and  we  drive  to  the
Residencia,  obviously  chatting  about  all  kinds of things.  At the
Residencia, we  have  a  rather  tight  schedule  because  I  have  an
arrangement  for Ross to 'phone me so that Meg, Ross and I can meet to
discuss aspects of the placement.  We meet at the 'Bear'  (Traditional
symbol  of  Madrid)  and  then  find  a  bar  where  we spend an hour,
considering Ross's Interim Report and  other  matters  concerned  with
placement  (about which, incidentally, we are all quite happy) We then
leave Ross having made an arrangement for a 'social event' with all of
the students the following day.  Then after  the  briefest  of  baths,
Mariano  arrives  for  us  to take us round to his flat for an evening
meal. On our way of the Residencia,  Meg  fills  in  the  registration
forms  for  her  stay at the Residencia so obviously everything is now
quite  'legal'  (  because  we  were  not  quite  sure   whether   the
arrangements  that we had made were, in fact, understood) At Marianos,
we have a delicious traditional meal of pimientoes  rellenos  (stuffed
peppers)  whilst  enjoying  good conversation with Mariano, Concha and
the two sons Pablo and  Pedro.  Then  we  return  to  the  Residencia,
resolving  to  get  up  reasonably  early  in  the morning in order to
secure a place in the queue to  see  the  Velasquez  exhibition  which
opened two weeks ago (and which the AVERAGE length of queue is about 1
kilometre.)  We  heard  a statistic that 60,000 people a day are going
to the exhibition which is evidently enormously popular.

Saturday, 17th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We didn't quite up as early  as  planned  and  so  we  both  took  the
opportunity  of  the first decent breakfast in days, chatting to Teeny
and his wife before wandering down to the Velasquez  exhibition  where
the queues are as long as could be predicted. We have ar annagement to
meet  Mariano  at  11.0  at the 'estatua amarillo' (the yellow statue)
which actually turns out to be the 'estatua Murillo'(  The  statue  of
Murillo)  -  another  example  of  possible  linguistic confusion ( in
which I am relived to discovert that Meg and I are suffering under the
same misapprehension) We have half an hour to spare and so we walk  in
the  Botancial  Gardens, meeting a Japanese gentleman who wished us to
take a photo of him ( of course!) It turns out  that  he  spent  three
years  in Mexico where he had learnt his Spanish and so we spend a few
minutes in conversation  with  him  about  this  before  meeting  with
Mariano  as  planned.  Mariano takes us past the building which houses
the Congreso de los Diputados (with extensions being  planned  by  the
Socialists)  and  into a most interesting 'olde-worlde' type of coffee
shop where we drink 'Caldo' ( a type of  thin  clear  soup,  dispensed
from an urn, but with a serving of Fino sherry in it) Then we make our
way to Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (literally, the Monastery of
the Royal Barefoot ( and knickerless!) Carmelites) which is now turned
into  an  art gallery.  We then go off to a tapas bar with Mariano and
discuss work-related issues before we make our way to  the  Residencia
for  lunch.   After  this,  we  are  both  pretty  tired  and take the
oportunity of a siesta, knowing that we are to meet the  young  people
later on.  This we do at the prearranged place and we then go from bar
to  bar  (  as all of the other young people seem to do, drinking weak
fizzy beer and discussing issues mainly concerned  with  the  problems
that  students seem to find when they engage in their Doctorates, such
as conflicting pressures and expectations) We then go for  a  type  of
'Crepe'  meal  which takes hours to serve because Saturday night is so
exceptionally busy ( and I nearly get picked in the  corridor  leading
to  the  toilets by a young Madrile¤a, anxious to improve her English)
After this, we are all pretty tired, so we make our way back  by  tube
at  about 1.00 in the morning (the Metro is just about running but the
streets around all of the  bars  are  jammed  solid  with  cars  -  we
calculate  it  is probably faster to take the Metro rather than try to
find a taxi.)

Sunday, 18th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After our late night last night, Meg and I have a leisurely  breakfast
with the literature specialist from Chile (living in Buenos Aires) and
a   Brazilian   lecturer   in  Mathematics.  We  have  an  interesting
conversation and then spend quite a lot of the morning  going  through
various pieces of papers and briefing documents, principally concerned
with  Simon Rogerson's visit next Wednesday.  This takes an hour or so
of quite sustained work and then we make our way to a bar for which we
have been given directions in order to meet with Mariano and  Narciso.
We  find  the  bar  which  is quite near Narciso's house but we have a
certain amount of walking to do because it doesn't appear to be a near
a tube station ( I found it later that it is quite  near  Moncloa  but
this  wasn't shown on the map that we have) We meet Narciso's wife and
four year old son whilst two teenagers drift in and  out  and  have  a
delightful  traditional Spanish meal with lamb and two bottles of good
rioja.  Then over several large whiskies, we have a long  after-dinner
discussion  over all kinds of topics ranging over economics, politics,
the role of the Spanish monarchy etc.  We are  told  some  interesting
stories  (e.g. some members of the Spanish royal family do not believe
that Filipe Gonzales is being sufficiently  socialist!)  and  exchange
information  over  the  kinds  of  things  that the chattering classes
generally do e.g. the price of mortgages, levels of house prices  etc.
We  then  return  to  the  Residencia  for  an  hour before we meet by
appointment with Laura and Reyes who wanted to see us for a discussion
over some applications that they may be  making.   We  end  up  giving
quite  a  tutorial  in interview techniques - after all, we do spend a
lot with our own  students  on  matters  like  this  but  the  Spanish
students  have  no ideas at all how to approach a potential interview.
I have come to the view that there is very little articulation between
the Spanish educational system and the economy  (  'Go  out  and  play
until  you're  old enough to go out hunting' type of philosophy) but I
suppose that working in a Polytechnic that tries to be  responsive  to
the  market  makes  you  appreciate  the  very real qualities that the
English Polytechnics  do  have  in  comparsion  with  the  traditional
universities  in  Spain (and in England, too, for that matter) By this
time, we have missed our evening meal  in  the  Polytechnic  bit  this
does  not upset us too greatly for we seem to have imbibing or feeding
most of the weekend. Then we start the miserable process of packing  -
the  weekend  has  been all to short.  Whilst Meg packs up her weekend
case, I get up to date with some of these 'letters' and read the  news
from  England  about  the probable settlement of our pay-dispute.  For
once, I feel  we  have  got  something  fairly  sensible  out  of  the
negotiations and am relieved that for the time being, at least, we are
not  going to be screwed down into the conditions of service that make
a mockery of the notion of higher education.

Monday, 19th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well,  this  is  the  day for Meg's return but first we have to do the
'Somosaguas run' so that Meg can see  the  campus  and  appreciate  at
first  hand  some  of the logistical problems involved in transport as
well as gaining an impression of the ambience of the place.  By  being
only  five  minutes  later  than  normal,  the metro is crowded beyond
belief ( none of which is helped by our suitcase) but we finally  make
it to the Somosaguas campus at about 8.45.  I give Meg the briefest of
brief  tours  but my class starts at nine and some of the students are
already there before  9.00  claiming  my  attention  on  bits  of  the
previous  day's  work that they have not come to grips with.  I finish
the class promptly at 9.55 and then Meg and I quite  fortunately  bump
into  Reyes and we catch the bus back to Ciudad Universitaria and then
the metro to Avenida de las Americas from where it is possible to pick
up the airport bus.  We catch this with no difficulty and get  to  the
airport at about 11.15 which is ideal for the flight at 1.00.  Meg and
I  have  a  coffee  and we then part, feeling pretty miserable for the
most obvious of reasons - still less than one month to go, we  say  to
ourselves  and  it  is  bound to fly. Actually, after Simon's visit, I
have only two clear weeks here in Madrid because after that  I  go  to
Sevilla for the week and then return home.  On the way home, I do some
shopping ( a bottle of whisky for Narciso, some coke and mineral water
for  myself)  and  then  have lunch with Teeny's wife.  After lunch, I
catch up with several days of washing that had  accumulated  and  then
Rocˇo  phones with a tale of woe about her computer system that friend
had practically wrecked whilst another friend was putting right and  I
think  to  myself  that  letting  lots  of  people crawl over the same
machine is generally bad news for all concerned.  Then I have a nap  (
which  is  highly  unusual,  but  I  must  have  been  very tired) and
afterwards I take a walk to wake myself up and think over  some  ideas
for  the 'Public Policy' material for Rafael Banon that I really ought
to write up in the next day.  I find a  small  electrical  shop  which
advertises  one of those gadgets which enables you to heat up water in
a cup and realise that this is a way of making myself cups of tea,  So
I  fall  for  the  temptation as it was cheap enough (700 pesetas) and
then buy some tea and milk on the way home and work on a few ideas.  I
have  dinner  with  a  Spanish literature specialist and the Brazilian
woman mathematician before making an excursion to Vips for coffee with
Teeny.  On my return I bump into Laura and it seems that we are  going
to  go  Sevilla  on  the  same day (Monday, March 12th) which seems an
amazing coincidence after we have both been weeks in the Residencia.



Tuesday, 20th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, I am  starting  dBASE  III+  with  the  students  and  it  goes
reasonably  well.   Afterwards,  I  spend  half an hour with Mariano a
sociologist who has gained a Fulbright scholarship and is going to the
United States for a  year.   I  show  him,  as  promised,  a  copy  of
TurboStats  ( of which Meg brought me a copy of quite a glowing review
incidentally!) and also AsEasyAs and then we talk over several aspects
of his work over a coffee, promising to  exchange  software  with  one
another.   At  lunch, I am joined by the Spanish literature specialist
with whom I was conversing last night in Spanish.  It turns  out  that
he has been living in Canada for several years and consequently speaks
excellent  English!   (However  what  a  difference  it  makes  to the
'psychological community' that is created with fellow members  of  the
Residencia  when  you  speak  their  own  language)  We  talk over the
differences in the educational systems of the countries with which  we
are  familiar  and  he  tells  me  about  the  narrow conservatism and
restricted curriculum he has found in his experience in  the  Canadian
universities.  It rather appals me but does reinforce the stories that
I  have  heard from Teeny concerning the absence of a genuinely 'free'
intellectual culture in North  America.   I  then  start  work  on  my
lecture/seminar paper for Rafael Ba¤on's students and work on this for
most  of  the afternoon.  In this, I am developing two or three simple
models of the ways in which hospitals in the  British  Health  Service
aim  to  achieve  'efficiency'  and  then invite students to construct
another model which both minimises unit-costs and also works within  a
fixed  budget.  The only way to do this, which MAY or may not occur to
the Spanish students when I try this out  on  them,  is  to  keep  the
hospital  deliberately  empty some of the time ( which, of coure, does
approximate to the situation of 'ward  closures'  in  the  U.K.)  From
this,  I  then go on to elaborate concepts of 'efficiency', 'value for
money', 'performance indicators' and the like before concluding with a
brief examination of some of the  issues  that  came  out  of  my  own
research for Oxford RHA.  Altogether, the lecture is some 4 pages/2000
words  long  and  I feel reasonably pleased with this but of course do
not know if its what is required.  I write a brief note to Rafael, not
having reached him by phone and then hope to get it to  him  tomorrow.
Meg  phones with some more details of the Leicester Poly. students for
Narciso and we talk over the offer that  Meg  has  received  from  the
Catedratico  (Head of Department) of Economics at Sevilla to present a
paper to a local government  conference  in  late  March/early  April.
Naturally,  I am absolutely delighted on Meg's behalf and am sure that
it will do her/the Polyetchnic's reputation  no  harm  at  all.   Then
after my last dinner with Teeny, Daniel and I go for a few beers where
we  talk  over  the  kind  of  work in cell biology in which Daniel is
engaged and which, he hopes, will bring him nearer towards a  solution
for cancer.

Wednesday, 21st February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  is  the  second day of dBASE and most students seem to be taking
to it quite well, some even having managed the next day's  lessons  as
well.   (I  always  put out three day's lessons - yesterday's, today's
and tomorrow's so that the slow ones can do yesterday's and  the  fast
one's can do tomorrow's!) Mariano, with whom I was speaking yesterday,
brings  in  some  software  for  us to exchange and after that I spend
about an hour with the  post-graduate  students.   Salvador  tells  me
that I will finish off my teaching in Madrid with another introductory
couse  (  although  I was rather hoping that there would be the demand
for more dBASE or Lotus but I trust Salvador's judgement on this) Then
I show the lecture outline of my  'Public  Policy'  lecture  (entitled
"Efficiency  in the Delivery of Public Services - an examination using
data from the British Health Service") to Rocˇo who is going to have a
word with Rafael Ba¤on to see if it is what is required  and  then  is
going  to  help me translate it.  Then I chat with Gustavo for several
minutes about nothing in particular before making my way back  to  the
Residencia.   After  lunch,  I  spend  an  hour tidying up my handouts
(there seem to be masses with courses in WordPerfect,Lotus,dBASE  and,
of  course,  these  'Cartas') and then set off for the airport to meet
Simon Rogerson, a Principal Lecturer at Leicester Polytechnic  who  is
responsible for overseeing developments in this new venture of a joint
Degree  in Information Systems (as well as being Course Leader for the
new Business Information Systems Degree) Simon's  plane  arrives  five
minutes  early from Birmingham, having called in at Barcelona en route
and Simon has cleared all of the airport formalities in less than  ten
minutes!   This  seems  incredible  after  the hassles of Heathrow and
Gatwick! We walk outside and immediately catch  the  airport  bus  and
then  I  persuade  the  driver to let us off near to the Residencia so
that we only have a ten-minute walk and  do  not  have  to  manipulate
Simon's  case  by  more  metros/buses.  After Simon had settled in, we
went for a few beers to talk over strategy and plans for  the  morning
and  then have dinner, after which I phone Mariano for more details of
the morning.  Then Simon shows me some of the material he has  brought
from  the  Poly.  for  demonstration purposes which includes some very
well designed brochures and a video, although I doubt the  Complutense
can  get  a  video machine organised in time.  I am very impressed and
round off the evening by showing Simon my  own  programs  (TurboStats)
and  the review of it which has just appeared ( at the right time!) We
talk 'shop' for about an hour and  Simon  has  agreed  to  sit  in  my
sessions  tomorrow morning to pick up the 'flavour' of the Complutense
after which we hope to see Mariano, Narciso and  perhaps  some  others
for refreshments and some serious work after 11.00 in the morning.


Thursday, 22nd February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon  comes  with me on the 'Somosaguas' run and whilst I am teaching
in the laboratory, Simon busies himself with attempting to see how the
files work which make up the menu system.   He  succeeeds  in  working
them  out  quite  quickly  but  the setup problems of one of the other
machines is a more trickly problem. We meet Mariano at 11.00 and spend
an hour or so explaining our proposals for a joint  course  to  us  in
great  detail  and  also  showing  him the Leicester Polytechnic video
selling the Information Technology courses.  Mariano  explains  to  us
that  he  feels  that  there  is  a  second  market for existing civil
graduate civil  servants  who  need  their  IT  skills  upgrading  and
therefore  Simon  and  I  work  out  some  ideas  for  such a one year
intensive course.  We sketch out the ideas  and  enlist  the  idea  of
Gustavo  to  help  to  translate  some of the trickier words into good
castellano.  Then we  return  to  the  Residencia,  not  having  quite
finished  our work and have a late lunch, feeling quite satisfied with
progress.  Simon and I take a stroll after lunch to buy  stamps,  post
letters  etc. and as it is a fine afternoon and everyong else seems to
be at lunch we have a beer and discuss  some  of  the  differences  in
educational   philosophy   between   Leicester   Polytechnic  and  the
Complutense.  The  major  business  of  the  day  is  going  to  be  a
rendez-vous at Narciso's company at 8.00 in the evening to be followed
by  a  dinner  with  some very imporrtant civil servants.  Simon and I
travel to Aravacas, the village two-thirds of the way to Somosaguas by
metro and bus to get to Narciso's company.  We alight in the centre of
the village and then ask a variety of children and old ladies the way,
who all prove to be exceptionally  helpful.   We  actually  arrive  at
Narciso's  firm  ten  minutes  early and I make Mariano a present of a
bottle of scotch which we then proceed to attack with gusto  and  ice!
Narciso  explains  to  us  the  strategy  for the meal this evening in
which we are to enlist the support of the civil service  by  promising
them  that  a senior civil servant will (nominally) take charge of the
whole project.  This then leaves the civil service feeling  important,
whilst  at  the same time, all the real academic decisions remain with
us.  We drive to the restaurant where we are  joined,  eventually,  by
Mariano  and  then by one senior civil servant, Pedro Maestre, who has
responsibility for information technology in the whole of the  Spanish
civil  service.   He  is  obviously  a  very  intelligent man, used to
lobbying by all kinds of big business and the conversation starts  off
in  Spanish  with  an  intense  discussion  of  some of the commercial
problems with which he and Narciso are currently involved. Eventually,
Simon and I are given about two minutes to say 'our piece' so we  have
to sell ourselves as hard as we can in a very short space of time to a
very professional civil servant. It is explained  that  I  speak  some
Spanish  and  whilst  Simon  has  none at present and so we explain in
English  and  are  heard  politely  but  without  interventions.   The
conversation  proceeds in Spanish and as I am sitting next to Pedro, I
intervene at what I perceive to be suitable junctures  explaining  key
points  in  Spanish  to Pedro.  The particular points that I emphasise
are these : the  fact  that  in  both  Public  Administration  and  in
Computing  we  are the 'market leaders' and it is a fortunate accident
that the two market leaders  are  in  the  same  polytechnic.  I  also
explain   the   good   relationship   that   exists  between  out  two
institutions, our experience at providing Master's courses for similar
people in England, the particular ways in which we are keen to  follow
the  market  without at the same time being hardware dependent etc.  I
slowly get the impression that he has started to be convinced, and the
fact that  we  speak  the  WHOLE  time  in  Spanish  confirms  this  -
paradoxically,  if we had spoken in English it might have had elements
of 'going through the motions' The meal finishes and Pedro departs  at
about  12.30  and Simon and I anxiously enquire of Narciso and Mariano
whether we have 'sold ourselves' as  well  as  possible.   Narciso  is
absolutely  delighted  and  believes that things have gone even better
than expected, whilst Mariano is a  little  more  cautious.   We  have
indicated to Pedro that the next stage forward should be an invitation
to  Leicester to meet with our Directorate and Simon resolves to speak
to the Director about the issues involved directly  upon  our  return.
Simon  and I have a coffee in my bedroom to talk over what we think we
have achieved and then we get to bed at about 1.30 in the morning.

Friday, 23rd February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I  must  confess  that after last night's 'work', I found the teaching
was quite hard work this morning.  I explained to my students that  my
brain  and  the  rest  of my body were only connected in a tenuous way
after the exertions of last  night  and  they  seemed  to  understand.
Nonetheless,  I  taught without a break from 8.45 until 11.20 before I
was 'rescued' by a combination of Mariano and Simon.  Simon  had  been
working  in  my  office  writing  letters  and  documents, including a
thankyou letter to Mariano which was very thoughtful of him.  Mariano,
Simon and I discuss the next steps forward and we agree that we at the
Polytechnic  should  draw  up  a  formal  document  for  the  one year
intensive  course  as  soon  as  practicable  and  submit  it  to  the
Complutense  within a matter of weeks. We agree that one calendar year
is ideal and we also consider it a possibility to extend  it  slightly
e.g.  a  course  that may last as long as fourteen months to encompass
the various things  that  we  want  (  some  elements  taught  at  the
Complutense,  some language tuition/orientation at Leicester, and then
the more formal systems and information systems  analysis.)  We  agree
that  a  title  such  as  'European  Diploma  in Informatics' would be
interesting! We discuss a few  more  details  with  Mariano  and  then
return  to the Residencia with a wonderful 'Friday afternoon' feeling,
enhanced by the fact that the trees are starting to  come  into  bloom
here.   After  lunch, we go to Sol and I show Gary the Plaza Mayor and
then we tour 'El Corte Ingles' looking for possible prsents for  Simon
to return home with for his family.  We tire of this after a while and
repair  to  a  local  bar for a well-earned drink and long discussions
over the possible collaboration that should be  possible  between  our
two  schools.   After  all,  if  we can organise joint courses for the
civil  service  IN  SPAIN why not do the same in England !  Last night
when I  got  back  to  the  Residencia,  there  was  a   note   in  my
pigeon-hole  to  the effect that 'The Faculty of Economics at Sevilla'
had  telephoned  me  in  my  absence.   I  did   rather   debate   the
philosophical  reification  involved  on  being  telephoned  not by an
individual but by a Faculty and assumed it was Ramon.  I was  just  on
the  very  point  of  phoning Ramon when the telephone rang and it was
Paula Luna, the Informatica specialist from Sevilla on the phone!  She
was enquiring whether or not I had booked accomodation and I told  her
that  I  thought  that  Ramon  was  organising  it (another slip up of
communication) Paula says she will phone me on Monday evening to  give
me  details  of any arrangements and compliments me on my Spanish ( to
which I reply that it is always better after a few beers)  I  indicate
that  I  was  looking  forward to four things in Sevilla - A talk with
Ramon and  colleagues  over  his  research,  a  talk  with  Paula  and
colleagues  over  any  possible  links,  a  talk  with their Rectorado
concerning institutional links and finally an opportunity to renew  my
acquaintanceship with Sevilla ( I am promised the last). After dinner,
Gary and I go to our 'local' with the Chilean professor of History who
has  returned  to  the  Residencia for one or two nights and we have a
drink before getting to bed at about 1.30 in the morning.

Saturday, 24th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon  and  I  have  resolved to go to Segovia for the day and we make
our way after a  leisurely  breakfast  to  Charmatin,  the  main  line
terminal  in  the north of Madrid.  Then we find out how to manipulate
the queing system in which one takes ticket and  then  waits  for  the
'window'  to be announced.  Having done this and worked our way up the
queue, we were informed that we could have queued  at  another  window
for  'cercanias'  or  local trains that would have saved us quarter of
an hour and enabled us to catch an earlier train.  We  have  a  coffee
and  catch  the  train  for  a  journey which lasts one hour and fifty
minutes, which costs us about ś4-25 each, RETURN!  It is  a  beautiful
day  and  when  we  arrive in Segovia we walk the kilometre or so into
town  and  then  make our way to the Aqueduct which runs right through
the centre of the town.. Simon is enthralled by this and I am just  as
impressed  as  the  first time that I saw it, on a rainy day about two
years ago.  We climb the steps at the side of the wall and go  to  the
top  to  savour the atmosphere and then go and have a very traditional
Spanish lunch in a nearby restaurant.  This was heavily  populated  by
local Spanish families ( a good sign!) and we ate a menu of beans in a
soup,  asparagus, a huge pork loin and then fruit to finish off.  Then
we make our way slowly through the old mediaeval city to  the  alcazar
(fortress)  taking in beautiful squares and churches on the route.  We
have half an hour in the alcazar which  is  enough  to  appreciate  it
without  getting over-tired and Simon, on my recommendation, buys some
damascino (?) (=traditional Toledo jewelry) for  his  wife.   Then  we
walk  back  to the station and have a slightly quicker journey home of
about one hour and a half after a most relaxing and delightful day. If
anything, I believe that I enjoyed Segovia  more  on  this  particular
trip then I did on our first trip, probably because the weather was so
much  better.   Simon  and  I  have  dinner  with  Julio,  the Chilean
professor of history, who has just returned to Madrid for a  few  days
after  visiting  Sevilla  and we talk over issues of race and cultural
differences.  Simon and I then decide to have a 'last night in Madrid'
and after a phone call from home we go to  the  Arg±elles  area  which
according  to  the  Madrid guide book is full of 'interesting bars and
young people enjoying themselves' Well.. the guide book was wrong!  It
was   one  of  the most boring, nondescript parts of Madrid in which I
have every found myself and Madrid does not  have  the  reputation  of
being     the    livliest   of   cities!    After   a   drink   in   a
traditional 'down-market' bar, we poke our nose into another  claiming
to  be  'Scottish!  and end up in a a third with a lot of young people
but it really was very pedestrian.  Simon and I have to keep  a  watch
on the metro times because connections cannot be guaranteed after 1.30
and  it is now nearly one.  Through inavertence we end up on the wrong
tube line and have to do some navigation to get ourselves  to  a  tube
station  which  is within striking distance of the Residencia at which
we arrive at about 2.00.  The metros trains are  packed  to  the  brim
with  young  people  who  have  obviously have had a certain amount to
drink but everybody seems very happy with lots of singing  and  joking
and  no  hint  of violence. Why on earth do British youth turn violent
when they have had something to drink ?  There are obviously  cultural
overlays  to  the  purely  physiological effects of alcohol and I, for
one, unequivocably prefer the Spanish pattern.

Sunday, February 25th, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today  is  the  day that Simon departs for England and after breakfast
with the  female  biologist  from  the  Pays  Vasco  (whom  I  haven't
mentioned  before)  and  a  systems analyst from Peru, I spend half an
hour with Simon giving him some software including VDE so that he  can
write  Spanish  letters when the mood takes him. We walk to the street
where the bus leaves for  the  airport  and  it  arrives  within  five
minutes  and  in  another  twenty  minutes  or so, there we are at the
airport.  After some refreshment, I leave Simon and make my  way  back
into  town,  hoping  to  find somewhere open that sells stamps but not
succeeding.  I make my way back to the Residencia and do some  washing
before  lunch.  So far, I realise that I have not really described the
structure of a typical meal here in Spain so I might as well as  start
with  the lunch that I had today.  The first course is often a serving
of vegetables or a very thick soup containing a lot of vegetables  and
perhaps  some  meat.   For example, today in the Residencia, the first
course was a fish soup and imagine my surprise when ladelled out of  a
huge  tureen I ended up with a soup bowl containing three entire small
crabs, some 3" or so in diameter and lots of  other  diverse  bits  of
fish  and  seafood.   After  this,  there  is generally a course which
consists of meat only, perhaps with a small portion of vegetables  and
today we had spare ribs with a baked potato.  The final course is very
often a piece of fruit (which is always eaten peeled with the aid of a
knife  and  fork)  or  it  may  be a small flan (egg custard) which is
probably the most popular desert in Spain.  After lunch, I walked  for
a  little  and then felt rather tired so lay down on the bed listening
to a rendition of the 'New World' symphony by the Israel  Philharmonic
on Radio Two.  (Naturally, I enjoy the music but the Spanish spoken in
introducing  items  is the most beautifully clear and correct Spanish,
the analague of course of Radio Three in England) Then I write a  long
letter  to  David Wilson in England explaining the developments of the
last few days so that he is informed as to what is  going  on.   Simon
will  no  doubt  tell  his  own Head of School of the developments but
because of the impact upon Public Administration, I  am  anxious  that
David  is  fully  informed "from the horse's mouth" as it were. Then I
meet Rocˇo as arranged and we work on the translation of the paper  to
Rafael Ba¤on's students into Spanish.  There is only two weeks left in
Madrid  and  without a little bit of organisation, we will end up in a
situation where it actually never gets delivered!  This takes a couple
of hours and I miss the evening meal but this is  generally  no  great
loss  and I feel I have been eating far too much in the last few weeks
anyway.

Monday, February 26th, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today  is  the  day  when we start the first of two little sessions in
dBASE III when I attempt to teach some programming.  This  cnsists  of
people typing in a program and then modifing it once they have studied
the  principles  underlying its construction. Normally, dBASE III uses
its own internal word-processor for the construction of program  files
but it is possible to 'customise' dBASE to feed in a processor of your
own   choice.   Somebody  has  decided  to  do  this  in  all  of  the
installation here and so you  get  the  'Norton  text  editor'  loaded
instead  of  the normal dBASE word-processor.  This is actually doubly
frustrating because firstly my instruction sheets are  now  inaccurate
and  secondly  students  have  to cope with a new text editor which is
more complicated than the resident  text  editor.   Morever,  if  they
start  to read books on dBASE they are going to get very confused! For
this reason, I have never been tempted to 'fiddle' with  incorporating
other  text  editors  at  Leicester  Polytechnic because students have
enough to learn with dBASE without coping with a new editor  as  well.
Sigh!  One  of my female students who appears very competent speaks to
me in English about the possibilities of a scholarship in England  and
so  I take her for a coffee and we talk in a mixture of castellano and
English over the possibiltiies of this.  I am very  impressed  by  her
command   of  English as she has not visited England and so I give her
the names of the three Spanish students who were in Leicester so  that
she  can  meet and consult with them.  Whilst looking for them, I bump
into  Mariano  and  explain  about  the  student's  desire  to  get  a
scholarship  to England if she possibly can.  I then introduce the two
of them to each other and what Mariano says to the girl (Elena) raises
her hopes considerably for next year.  I certainly think she would  be
an  admirable  exchange  student  so far as I can judge by the contact
that I have had with her over the weeks. I leave for  the  Residencia,
having run off a letter for David Wilson which I hope to post and also
having  prepared some TurboStats disks for Meg to despatch.  Whilst on
the metro, I carry on down to Sol to buy some padded envelopes for the
despatch of disks and then get back to the  Residencia  ready  to  get
them into  the  Correo  before  2.0 pm, which is a critical time here.
Then, I have lunch with a girl and I find that I can understand 90% of
her Spanish, which is not surprising  when  I  discover  that  she  is
Italian  and  not  Spanish!  This I find exceptionally curious - I can
generally understand most of what people say if Spanish is  not  their
first  language  but hardly anything if it is.  I can't quite work out
why this is unless it is a combination of slightly less vocabulary and
speaking slightly more slowly.  However  the  Italian  girl  seems  to
gabble  quite  happily with the Spanish ( and then I didn't understand
her) so perhaps she recognised me as being English  and  adjusted  her
vocabulary accordingly.  After a brief nap, I worked all afternoon and
evening on typing up the translation of the lecture for Rafael Ba¤on's
students that Rocˇo had prepared for me.  I must confess that I do not
like  working  from  hand-written  text  at the best of times and this
really does take a lot of deciphering. I reckon that a thousand  words
have  taken  me  4  hours  to  prepare and at this rate there is least
another couple of hours work before bed this evening.  Then the  draft
will  have to be shown to Rocˇo on Wednesday to correct and so on.  At
about 9.10 Paula rings from Sevilla and she seems to be saying that it
is very difficult to find any places in the Residencia in  Sevilla.  I
THINK  that  she  tells  me that she is going to try to book me into a
hotel but I am not sure!  Anyway, she is to ring tomorrow  evening  at
the  same  time with more news.  I am finding that my comprehension of
Spanish appears to be abysmal today - I suppose that the visit of  Meg
and  then  of  Simon in which I have been talking a lot of English for
about nine days has really set back whatever progress I may have  been
making.  At  dinner this evening (the first, incidentally, in which my
fellow diners have nearly all been Spanish speakers)  I  rather  shock
them  all  by  explaining  how  I  am  having  to contribute to my own
expenses out of my own pocket in order to be here.  People shake their
heads and say 'Poor British !' as nearly everyone else is supported by
their governments or from 'Acciones Integradas' The  French  biologist
explains  to  me  how often articles appear in 'Nature' explaining the
dire straits of British science because it is so under-funded and  how
many  scientists are going abroad.  I do not know how the subject came
up but I really did feel the 'poor relation at the feast' and  I  wish
that  the subject had never been broached. I work until about midnight
and say to myself that 'Tomorrow is another day!'


Tuesday, February 27th, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The  teaching  went reasonably well today, now that the intricacies of
the editor were mastered.  I got in as usual at about 8.25 and ran off
copies of the latest 'Letter from Madrid' and a copy of  a  letter  to
David  Wilson  for  Meg.   Then  I asked Pedro to photocopy all of the
Word-Perfect notes for  the  'Cursillo'  which  is  due  to  start  on
Thursday  and evidently he was not very pleased!  I also asked him for
six copies, as usual, of the latest 'Letter' and this he didn't do  so
feeling  that  I  wanted  to  get these letters off in time I spent an
extremely frustrating time queueing up with other students to  try  to
get  them photocopied.  The copies are cheap enough here (less than 3p
each) and so students tend to copy vast amounts with money no  object!
Eventually,  I  got these done but with lines 'chopped off' so I had a
really frantic time on the metro busily writing in  missing  lines  by
hand  in order that I could get to the Correo by 2.00.  I think I have
mentioned before that the Correo near to the Residencia closes at  2.0
(but  actually  at  about  1.45)  and  does  not  re-open so timing is
critical.  I make it at about 1.40 and the office is being  closed  up
so  I frantically stuff papers into envelopes and get them despatched.
Then I have  a  most interesting lunch  and  after-dinner conversation
with  the  Spanish-Canadian literature specialist (whose name I do not
know) who was telling me about his father's political affiliations and
the traumas that his family suffered at the end of the war, when  they
were  effectivly  'stateless'  but not recognised as such because they
were Spanish. Eventually, he acquired Canadian citizenship but it  was
a  struggle.   I  then  go for a walk to post my Mexican letter (which
didn't make it in time for the 2.00 post) and  then  work  solidly  on
refining  the  Spanish translation of my lecture.  If this doesn't get
delivered, and I have a strange feeling that he won't be, then it will
not be for lack of trying!  I was expecting a phone  call  from  Paula
Luna,  as  promised, to confirm arrangements for Sevilla but she never
called.  I  hope  that  there  are  not  going  to  be  problems  over
accomodation  but  we  will just have to wait and see.  Ross phoned to
restablish contact and we agreed to meet in our usual place at 4.00 on
Thursday.  The 'highlights' of this week are a lunch with the Dean  on
Wednesday  and a cocktail party on Friday and hence the date with Ross
on Thursday.  I round off  the  evening  by  talking  philosophy  with
Arancha,  the  French/Vasco  biologist,  with  whom  I  was discussing
Popper,  Kuhn  and  diverse  other  things  (  e.g.   discussing   the
intellectual progress of our respective sons)

Wednesday, 28th February, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today,  I  have  a  luncheon  'date' with the Dean of the Faculty so I
decide to dress up a little in my best suit and  then  get  busy  with
teaching.   From  8.30 until 9.00 I run off the castellano versions of
my lecture for Rafael Ba¤on's  students  and  then,  at  11.00,  I  am
informed  that the lunch with the Dean is not to be today but has been
postponed until next Tuesday! As this is the  last  day  of  the  more
advanced  course,  many  of  the  students  come up to thank me - they
remind me somewhat of the more earnest and polite students that we can
get in later years of the course and they do seem extremely  eager  to
learn!   I  go  in  search  of  the  'post-graduate' students and find
Laura, to whom I tell the good news about our potential courses  here.
Laura  is  trying to fix up a social 'do' at the weekend and I explain
about the cocktail party at Rafael's house  to  which  I  am  invited.
Laura asks if I can get an invitation for her as well and I promise to
try!  After  this  I  see Rocˇo for a few moments and we agree to meet
later today to make final revisions to our draft.   Then  I  telephone
Rafael and explain that I am leaving Madrid in twelve days time - does
he  want  my  paper  or  not ?  After a few frantic consultations with
diaries, we decide that next Tuesday ( the  same  day  as  the  dinner
with  the  Dean)  is  the  best  day but it might be a rush to get the
details  circulated  to  students.   I  promise  to  let  Pedro   have
everything  by  11.00  tomorrow and I also get an invitation for Laura
whom  I  describe as 'a friend' Upon my return to the Residencia there
is a friendly letter from the Director in reponse  to  the  first  two
weeks  of  my 'Letters from Madrid'. HOWEVER, the letter was addressed
to 'Mrs. M. C. Hart' so I wonder if the Director knows who is in Spain
and who is holding the fort back at home! I assume that it is a simple
error, like other things in the Poly.  After lunch, I  have  a  little
nap  (  for  which  I must admit I feel a little guilty but after all,
when in Spain do as the Spanish!)  and  then  work  for  a  little  on
discovering  the  intricacies  of  the editors with PC-TOOLS, a task I
have never really had time for before now.  At 7.00 I  meet  Rocˇo  as
arranged  for  an  hour  and  we  go  over  the 'final' version of the
castellano version of my lecture/seminar paper which I am to  run  off
on  the  computer tomorrow ready to give to Rafael for distribution to
the students.  Then I have dinner  with  Arancha  (French  biologist),
Daniel  and the Spanish literature specialist and after dinner Arancha
and I talk over some  of  the  problems  that  have  afflicted  mining
communities and other traditional communities in Britain.

Thursday, 1st March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today,  I  am back to my 'basic' courses again, but for the last time.
Actually, the 'basic' courses are harder work, it appears to me,  than
the  more  advanced  courses  because  in  those, the  worksheets  are
prepared and students just have to follow them whereas in the  'basic'
courses  there  is  half  to  three  quarters  of an hour lecturing in
Spanish before the 'practica' and  this  uses  up  a  lot  of  nervous
energy,  although  I sense that the student's comprehension is better.
Before the lecture, I have run off the final versions (in English  and
castellano)  of the lecture with the title 'Efficiency in the Delivery
of Public Services') and gave them to Pedro saying that  Rafael  Ba¤on
needed them urgently. Halfway through my second session, Mariano comes
into  the  laboratory and indicates that he would like to see me about
something later that morning and then, after a coffee and a chat  with
Gustavo  about  different  grading schemes, I coincide with Mariano at
about 12.30.  What had started as a small informal  'chat'  to  a  few
doctoral  students  has  suddenly  become  quite  a formally organised
event and apparently invitations have gone  to  all  of  the  doctoral
students  and  all  of  the  staff to attend at the Fondacion Ortega y
Gassett (an independent Research Institute in  Public  Administration)
Mariano  asks  why he had not been told about this beforehand and I am
very uncomfortable for a few minutes.  I feel as though  I  have  been
caught  up  in  departmental politics of a type that I wished to avoid
and the last thing that I wish to  do  is  to  offend  Mariano.   With
hindsight,  it  might have been sensible to have mentioned the fact to
Mariano that I had been preparing this paper but on the other  hand  I
HAD  only been asked for a draft which, in all honesty, I did not know
was acceptable.  I reply to Mariano that this started off as  a  draft
proposal  and  'grew' into something bigger, but I sense that he was a
little aggrieved.  I get back to the Residencia, thinking things over,
and after lunch Laura phones as agreed to  get  the  arrangements  for
tomorrow.   I  explain my predicament to her and she gives me words of
comfort saying 'Not to worry' etc.,etc. but nonetheless after  Mariano
has been so good to me in so many different ways I do not wish to feel
that  I have betrayed his trust in any way.  Laura and I agree to meet
at 8.0 the following evening for a beer and a  'natter'  before  going
off  to the party and then I meet Ross by arrangement in Sol. Ross has
been feeling pretty ill for the last few days with a stomach  bug  and
so  I  give  parently  type  advice  about  avoiding  food  and simple
rehydration therapy to get the bugs clear of his system.  It  must  be
rotten  to  feel  ill  in  another  country  but Ross has great 'inner
strength' that helps to get him through these things.   We  talk  over
lots  of  issues  concerned with cultural differences between here and
England, focussing in particular on the attitudes of the young people.
We come to the conclusion that there  are  a  lot  of  'rich  brats'in
Ross's  Residencia,  which  may  bias  his  sample,  but on balance it
appears to us both that Madrid is a little less  sexist  than  England
but  a lot more racist. The socialist ideologies do not seem to extend
very far in that particular direction! As Ross is so  short  of  money
and  has  seen so little of the country, I have invited him to come to
Toledo with me at the weekend - if we do not grab these  opportunities
whilst we can, time will slip away.  After I return to the Residencia,
Meg  phones with diverse bits of domestic news e.g.  some storm damage
to both our house and Martin's in Sheffield as well  as  other  things
and I return the call after dinner talking over issues to be discussed
with David for the proposed 'European Diploma'.

Friday, 2nd March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I  arrived at the Somosaguas campus at the usual time (about 8.25) and
made some photocopies of the review of 'TurboStats'  before  giving  a
copy  to  Narciso.   After  my  teaching  session,  which  went well I
thought, I ran off a copy of my C.V. after a few corrections  in  case
it come in useful in Sevilla ( or even here because my two copies have
'gone'  off in different directions) Then I bump into Narciso quite by
accident and he tells me that we must  meet  again  for  another  meal
before I go!  I keep impressing on people that I have 'x days left' in
Madrid  because  there  is a possibility that they are going to assume
that I am here for ever whereas I have in effect,  one  teaching  week
more.  It is very hard to meet with staff at Somosaguas because people
seem to 'come in', do their 8-10 hours teaching or whatever  and  then
immediately  disappear  (  I  am  told to other businesses etc.) - for
example, in eight weeks I have never seen Blanca Olias  de  Lima  with
whom  we corresponded and even sent a book on Personnel Management.  I
return to the Residencia, via VIPS, and  find  the  book  that  I  was
looking  for  on  'Programmers  in  Action'  which is to be a gift for
Narciso the next time that we  meet.   I  also  discover,  in  another
section  of  VIPS,  a  whole  series  of  popular  'shareware'computer
programs ( e.g.Galaxy, AsEasyAs) which are packaged and sold for  1500
pesetas  (  about ś8-45) which although expensive by British standards
does obviate the need for postage etc.  On the strength of this, I buy
a copy of the 'LOTUS 1-2-3 Trainer' which comes  with  two  disks  and
which  I am to donate to the laboratory so that other people can learn
after I am gone!  I have lunch  with  Franciso,  the  Spanish-Canadian
literature  specialist,  and the tales that he tells me about Canadian
universities with the narrow conservatism and  the  pressure  to  pass
people   (who  have  paid  their  own  fees)  make  it  sound  a  most
unattractive proposition.  After lunch, I tidy up all  my  papers  and
handouts  which  does not sound a major task but is and then phone Meg
as Martin is at home so that I can have brief words with both of them.
I then meet Laura as arranged on a cold and draughty street  near  the
'Lista'  metro  -  having  been  fine  and  sunny,  the weather is now
decidedly windy,  cold  and  'winterish'  again  although  nothing  to
compare  with  the gales in England.  I glance at a newspaper headline
(in English!) that tells me that the Labour Party are 18.5  percentage
points  ahead  in the opinion polls which seems incredible.  It is, of
course,the poll-tax with which the Tories are shooting  themselves  in
the  foot  - this is what happens if you make up policy on the back of
an  envelope instead of trusting to traditional  British  institutions
like  a  Royal  Commission  which would have rejected the concept of a
poll-tax within five minutes.  Laura and I meet and have a  coffee  to
warm  ourselves  up and then go onto the cocktail party with a mixture
of Spanish and Americans (although I manage to  avoid  the  Americans)
Laura  and  I spend a lot of time talking to each other, to Rafael and
to Ernesto and his wife who is a psychologist at the Complutense. Then
we leave at about 11.30 and go off to an English style 'pub' (  which,
actually,  is  very  like  the real thing) and Laura have a LONG, long
talk about her  career  plans,  the  doctorate,  cultural  differences
between  England and Spain etc. Laura does give me the impression that
she and the other doctorate students are 'locked  into'  a  system  of
patronage  with  the  'Cathedratico'  and  I  must  admit that I would
personally find a system in which I was dependent upon my parents  for
financial  support  and  dependent  upon  my Professor for any kind of
intellectual 'advancement' deeply depressing.  Both Laura and  I  have
come  to  the vew, independently, that the database of Mariano Baena's
can only give an incomplete picture of the locus  of  power  in  Spain
because  structure might facilitate interactions between power-holders
but does not guarantee it.  I  briefly  give  Laura  an  insight  into
interactionist models in Sociology and we agree that it is going to be
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  indicate to Mariano that we both
think that there is a fundamental flaw in the  underpinnings  of  this
research.   Laura  and I leave at about 2.0 and I catch a taxi home to
get to bed by about 2.30 in the morning.

Saturday, 3rd March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The  last  time  I  spoke  with  Ross,  he told me that he had not the
opportunity to see any of the towns around Madrid so  today  Ross  had
planned  to  go  to Toledo. I had arranged to meet Ross at 10.30 at my
local metro but he didn't show up.  The weather was quite  cold  (only
about  3-4  degrees)  and  a  little  windy and I waited an hour and a
quarter before giving him up altogether.  (The reason for waiting this
long was in case he had been mistaken  by  an  hour  and  then  a  few
minutes  extra waiting time) Deciding to make the best of a bad job, I
then decide to go see the  famous  painting  of  'Guernica'  which  is
housed  in  a  special  annex  to  the Pardo called the Cas˘n del Buen
Retiro.  Wondering if it would be open or shut when  I  got  there,  I
found  that  it  was open but the queue was several hundred yards long
and would take an hour or so.  I decided to  abndon  this  and  return
home  for  lunch which I did feeling that the whole morning had been a
bit of a disaster!  I phoned Ross who had been to a party/disco  until
8.30  in  the  morning  and he had then overslept.  I suppose I should
have been angry but was actually a little relieved that he was not ill
and had, at least, been enjoying himself with other young people.   We
decide  to  meet after lunch and go the 'Guernica' exhibition which we
do this time with no trouble.  The museum is devoted to  a  series  of
sketches  of  the  whole  project and then the painting itself is in a
large salon protected by all kinds of security devices.  Ross asks  me
what  it is worth which is an interesting question because, due to its
symbolic importance, the painting will  never  be  sold  on  the  open
market. We both need to buy some cards - Ross for the birthdays of his
grandparents and me as a 'Thankyou' for the party - so we walk down to
Sol  and  buy  some cards in a department store.  Then we vaguely look
for Joan Baez tapes ( for me!) without finding any and then go off for
a beer.  This then leads to another beer in yet another bar, but  this
second  one  more lively where they evidently have live music later in
the evning and it is full of young people.  By now it is about  8.00pm
so  we  both  decide  to make it back to our respective Residencias as
Ross, in particular, does not want another late night.  I have  dinner
with  a  British archeologist and his wife who jointly run the British
School for Archeology in Rome, a venture funded mainly by the  British
Council. After a bottle of wine, I invite them to Brummels and we talk
about  many subjects e.g. the husband had been a lecturer at Sheffield
University.  They did appear desperate to get back to England if  they
could  and  Rome did not appear quite so attractive a city in which to
live.  They spoke about the corruption in Italy which siphoned off  so
many funds before it actually reached the hands of the archeologists -
all  in  all,  the  picture  they painted seemed somewhat bleak.  They
obviously had some Italian but hardly any Spanish  so  I  made  myself
marginally useful by ordering a bottle of wine for them and afterwards
a  taxi  which they needed to get to the airport by 8.30 the following
morning.  This was a 'freebie'for them - nice work if you can get it!

Sunday, 4th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, the weather is cold, grey, windy and miserable - a little  like
England,  I  suppose.   The temperature is about 3-4 degrees and after
the beatiful,almost summery weather of the last few days this is all a
bit of a shock to the system.  The big question today is 'What to do?'
as I know I am going to be alone all day.  I decide to  walk  down  to
the  National  Museum  of  Archeology which is about a mile and a half
away - this is principally to give myself some exercise, which I  feel
that  I  need.  I spend about an hour and half going round the museum,
copying down a diagram as I do which I found pretty interesting.  This
was a diagram indicating the gradual expulsion of the Moors from Spain
and I, for one, did not realise that this was a gradual  process  from
711  onwards.   For  example,  by 1100, the Moors were only present in
about 6 of the 12 regions of  Spain  and  only  in  2  (Andalucia  and
Murcia)  by about 1250 so this put into perspective the efforts of the
'Catholic Kings' in 1492!  I walk back along Serrano looking at  shops
and  architecture  but  actually  feeling  a little fed up with my own
company by this time.  After lunch, I decided to go to the cinema  and
went to see 'Dead Poet's Society', a film which Ross had told me about
and  which  had  made a deep impact upon him.  The story is of a newly
arrived English teacher in a conventional boys boarding school in  the
fairly  repressive  climate  of  the  1950's  in the USA.  The teacher
awakens the boys interest in poetry by teaching  in  completely  novel
and  unconventional  ways  but  principally encouraging the boys to be
their 'own persons'. This has all kinds of impact upon the school  but
I  won't  give  away  the  essential  details of the rest of the plot.
Having felt pretty miserable  before  the  film,  which  did  have  an
emotional  impact  upon  me  as  well,  I  felt in considerably better
spirits as I left the  cinema  for  reasons  that  I  cannot  explain.
Perhaps  the film was cathartic!  I had dinner with Francisco and then
an exceptionally erudite Oxford-educated Italian Professor of  Physics
-  in  fact  the  way  that  he spoke of University government and the
discussions that he had with the VC of the Complutense made me  wonder
if  he  was  a  VC  himself.   We  chatted  over  many  issues, mainly
concerning the direction of research in postgraduate students and  the
quality  of life in different European societies.  Interestingly, when
I posed the question 'Which society would he most like to live in  for
the quality of life' he chose Germany ( evidently fluent in all of the
European  languages)  We  go  to bed at about 12.30 but first I make a
quick telephone call home, not having had the opportunity before now.


Monday, 5th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The start of my last teaching week  and  all  goes  well  with  fairly
simple  explanatations of 'Sorts' in MS-DOS.  After  I  had  finished,
Ibumped into Pedro who gave me a nice note from Isabel apologising for
the  fact  that  she  couldn't  attend  my  lecture tomorrow night but
wishing me well - how thoughtful!  Then I see Laura and we go off  for
a  coffee  and  immediately launch into a big discussion of the future
shape of her research.  We have so little time to discuss this  before
the  end  of the week that I persuade Lorna to meet this evening so we
can  discuss  further  and  she  has  invited  me   to   a   type   of
"intellectual's  cafe"  which  is  meant  to  be  typical of a certain
section of Madridle¤o society, so I am looking forward to that.  After
leaving Somosaguas, I go to the bank and withdraw ALL my money, giving
up my chequebook in the process.  This transaction was very simple and
there are NO commission charges - Barclays would  never  have  got  my
business  under  normal  circumstances  because of their South African
connections but I am VERY impressed  by  how   efficiently  they  have
handled  everything  here in Madrid ( mind you, all they had to do was
to look after my money for me!)I have lunch with Francisco and we then
have  a  long  chat  about  the  shape  of  his  research  and  travel
arrangements  for  the next few days.  Then I make a telephone call to
Sevilla to work out what is happening with accomodation and speak with
Ramon - we make an arrangement for me to 'phone him on Friday at  3.30
when,  no  doubt,  we  will  put the final details into place.  I also
'phone Mariano and get Pablo and tell him that I would like to  invite
the  family  for a meal on Friday or Saturday night and he is to speak
to his father when he  returns  from  Paris  later  on  this  evening.
Eventually,  I  get   through  to  Narciso's  company as well and this
evokes an invitation to go for  a  meal  on  Wednesday  which,  as  it
happens,  fits in perfectly with all my other plans.  Laura and I meet
at 7.30 as arranged and we have a 'brain-storming session' for two and
a half hours in which I get her to react to some of my ideas  for  the
shape  and direction of her Ph.D. - as it happens, we are both working
in the same direction albeit from  different  theoretical  traditions.
What  we are both trying to achive is a Ph.D. which build upon Mariano
Baena's work but which does so in such  a way so  as  to  capture  the
dynamics  of the decision-making process rather than the rather static
and structuralist 'interlocking' model which Mariano seems to  see  as
the organising principle.  Laura reads through my conference paper for
tomorrow  and  gives  me  words  of advice and encouragement by way of
reciprocity.  This will  be  the  last  'posted'  letter  from  Madrid
because as from 8.0 a.m. next Monday morning I shall be in Sevilla and
out of a range of a printer.  In any case, I shall arrive home  before
the   next   instalment   of  the  letters but I am obviously going to
continue my 15 or so minutes a day to complete the series  of  letters
'for the record' as it were.

Tuesday, 6th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I  always  thought  that  this  was going to turn out to be a full and
interesting day but I never thought it was  going  to  be  QUITE  like
this!  It started off with my usual trip to the Metro where my way was
barred  by  a closed exit.  A check at the other entrance confirmed my
worst fears - a Metro strike!   Knowing that anybody who was organised
would have got a taxi I walk for quarter of an hour in  the  direction
of  Calle  Velasquez  where  I  know  that there is a taxi rank and am
incredibly lucky because a taxi is just dropping its  fare  and  so  I
manage  to jump in quickly.  The taxi drops me at Ciudad Universitaria
although the driver had to fish about a bit for  the  Medical  Faculty
(near  the Metro) where I pick up a bus for Somosaguas and arrive with
two minutes to spare. The teaching  goes  reasonably  well  but  is  a
little  hard  work (subject of batch files) not helped by a printer in
the background.  Reyes was in the laboratory and by  the  time  I  had
printed  out  the latest version of my 'Carta' and helped Reyes with a
problem of hers, it was 11.45.  I have a quick  coffee  and  then  see
Reyes for nearly an hour talking a lot of the same material that I was
discussing  with  Laura the previous night. Pedro had informed me that
the meal with the Dean was 3.00 but this was changed to  2.15  and  we
eventually set off at about 2.30. On the way, I discussed with Mariano
the  best  night for a meal with him and his family and it is probably
Thursday which now means a change of plan with Rocˇo.   We  have  long
drive  round  Madrid  because  Sol  is  blocked off with roadworks and
arrive at the restaurant at about 3.45.  There we  have  an  excellent
meal  but it was a little rushed because Mariano has to be back by 5.0
and we leave at about 5 minutes to the hour.  Mariano drops  me  close
to  the  Residencia and I walk to Metro at Plaza Argentina - a walk of
some 15 minutes and then the trouble really  starts.  There  had  been
another strike which had started about 2 minutes before I got there so
the  booking clerk alerted me and sent me back.  On Plaza Argentina, I
hail a taxi but as I do another couple sweep past me and grab  it  and
they  are  off before I can protest.  I then wait for about 35 minutes
for a taxi, growing more and more despondent because the paper that  I
had  worked  so  hard to prepare is now vanishing before my very eyes.
The taxis come thick and fast at the rate of about 5 a minute  but  of
course  they  are  ALL  occupied  as the strike has only just started.
Eventually, I get a taxi at 6.05 (five minutes after my starting  time
and  approximately  180 taxis later) and get to the Fondacion Ortega y
Gassett  at  about  6.20  which  is  not  too  bad   considering   the
circumstances. There I meet Ross and Pedro who is going frantic trying
to  reach me and telephoning in every direction possible - I should be
at Somosaguas and not here!  What a nightmare!  (Nobody  had  told  me
where  to  go  and I had assumed that the postgraduate classes were at
the Fondacion, wrongly as it turned out)  Ross  and  I  dash  out  and
fortunately   get   a  taxi  quite  soon  which  takes  us  to  Ciudad
Universitaria from whence we catch a  bus  to  Somosaguas  and  arrive
there  at  about  7.10  -  an hour and ten minutes late.  Rafael Ba¤on
introduces me and then I start off reading from the transparencies  in
Spanish with occasional interpolations in English.  This proceeds with
occasional  bits  of translations from Rafael when there are questions
in Spanish that I do not understand and we proceed in this mixture  of
Spanish   and   English   until   about   8.30.   The  questions  were
intelligently phrased and I felt that  things  had  gone  as  well  as
could  be  expected,  considering that they waiting for me for an hour
beforehand.  Then Rafael and I have a chat over how  things  had  gone
and  we carry on whilst we are given a lift back to town. Rafael drops
me at Velasquez after which I have a late dinner, write  this  letter,
and am heartily relieved to get to bed after a day like today!


Wednesday, 7th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today  I  start  'WordPerfect'  for  the  last  cycle and the teaching
becomes a little easier, as everything is prepared on  worksheets  and
all students have to do is to follow the instructions.  I prepare some
extra  copies of the dBASE III+ Sample pack so that the department can
arrange to have this put onto the computers if they so want.  When  my
teaching  has  finished,  I go in search of the postgraduates and find
Laura, evidently upset because she has just heard that her application
for a scholarship (to support herself whilst she is doing a Ph.D.) has
been unsuccessful.  I make new arrangements to meet  Rocˇo  at  a  new
time  the next day, explaining that I am taking Mariano and his family
out for a meal later on Thursday evening.  Then  after  helping  Reyes
get  her  Leicester  project  into  a  readable  form (converting from
WordStar to ASCII) I go along to Alfa-Beta, Narciso Pizarro's  company
at  Aravaca.  There we have a most excellent meal and conversation and
I tell him my worries concerning Mariano i.e. that I  may  unwittingly
have  offended  him by giving the paper to Rafael Ba¤on's students but
he tells me again not to worry!  We finish by  exchanging  books  -  I
gave  him  a copy (in castellano) of 'Programmers in Action' whilst in
return he gives me a copy of his own book on 'Sociological Method  and
Linguistic  Theory' and we consult diaries to see if it is possible to
meet again soon in England. After I return  to  Residencia,  I  get  a
letter  from  my  mother  which  is  a  pleasant  surprise and shortly
afterwards a telephone call from  Laura,  who  wished  to  'apologise'
because  she  thought  she  had been rude to me earlier in the day.  I
tell her that I recognised that she was upset by her bad news and  try
to give her words of advice and comfort, so far as one is capable over
the  'phone  but  it  is  always a little difficult not to sound trite
under these circumstances.  Then I made a quick call to Reyes  and  we
arrange  to have a little 'conference' tomorrow to settle a time and a
place for our final drink together before I leave Madrid.  I worked on
Reyes' files a little to try to get them right before the morning  and
then have dinner with the Italian physicist.  We swop travellers tales
and  then  have  an  after-dinner  brandy  after  which  we  have more
conversation over a whole range of topics until about 11.30.   Then  I
work  on  Reyes'  files for another hour before going to bed at 12.30.
Tomorrow is going to be another strike on the Metro and  therefore  it
is  necessary  to do as much as I can on these files tonight as I know
that in the morning I am going to have to leave even earlier and in  a
new direction in search of a taxi to take me to Ciudad Universitaria.

Thursday, 8th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well,  this was certainly a different type of day!  Knowing that there
was another strike of the Metro early in the morning, I set  off  from
the  Residencia  half  an  hour early and,as it happens, caught a taxi
within a couple of minutes.  At Ciudad Universitaria I boarded  a  bus
for  Somosaguas  in  which  I was one of the two passengers aboard and
arrived there at ten to eight, before the dooors had even opened. This
meant waiting until the laboratory opened up, but at least  I  managed
to  print  out Reyes' project which I gave to her at about 11.30.  The
morning's teaching actually  seemed  quite  hard  and  I  think  I  am
relieved  that there is only one session yet to go!  Mariano saw me at
about 11.30 and informed me that I should really go and see  a  notary
and  get a sworn statement from him that the university can handle any
monies on my behalf ,if I get any,so there were  frantic consultations
with Salvador, Reyes and then Laura as to who was to accompany me to a

'notario'  for  this  sworn  statement  and  when.   I  saw  Rocˇo and
cancelled our arrangement and when it transpired that I was to go  the
following  evening,  waited  until Rocˇo had finished with Mariano and
then 'uncancelled' our arrangement.  The end result of  all  this  was
that lunch consisted of a 'bocadillo' and I got back to the Residencia
at  about  3.0.  Then a quick wash and a walk to Plaza Argentina where
Rocˇo picks me up to take me to her flat  to  organise  her  software.
After  an  hour  of  trying,  I manage to get a copy of 'Statgraphics'
installed and then copies of other programs but time intervenes and we
both to have dash off, Rocˇo to her  French  lessions  and  me  to  my
dinner  date  with  Mariano  and  his  family.   It is decided that we
should meet again tomorrow for about an hour or so to finish off  what
we  haven't  succeeded  in  doing  today and we then frantically chase
after a bus which I then catch and get to Sol at about 7.45.  I try to
navigate to the restaurant and eventually ask a local woman who  takes
me  on a most circuitous route imaginable, asking lots of other people
who all give contradictory instructions.   I  get  to  the  restaurant
about 15 minutes late and Mariano and his family arrive thirty seconds
after  me.  We  then  have  a most delightful meal which I pay for, in
recompense for all the hospitality that the family have shown me in my
stay in Madrid and there is a lot of banter and interesting talk  over
changing sex roles and the like. Mariano then gives me a lift home and
I 'phone Meg, as arranged, before getting to bed just after midnight.

Friday,9th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My  last day of teaching at Somosaguas!  I do an inventory of how many
machines are not functioning correctly and I arrive at a total  of  12
out  of  23, which is pretty bad.  I say goodbye to the various groups
of students, have a final chat  with  Isabel  and  then  have  a  long
academic discussion with Mariano, some in Spanish and some in English,
over  my  perceptions  of,  and reaction to, his research.  I do think
that his approach is more subtle than  I  originally  realised  and  I
THINK  that he knows some of the concepts of interactionist sociology.
However, I am still not completely convinced  by  his  central  thesis
that there may be a 'stability of interlocking elites' over time which
allows  for  social  change  just by virtue of its stability.  Mariano
gives me a lift back to the Residencia and we  give  each  other  fond
farewells.   Then  I  phone  Ramon in Sevilla at 3.30, as arranged, to
confirm arrangements for Monday morning  and  Laura  phones  at  4.00,
again as arranged, so that we know where to meet to look for a notary.
I  meet  Rocˇo at 4.30 and make sure most of her software is all right
but we are still having problems installing Statgraphics -  a  problem
compounded  by  the  fact  that  Rocˇo  is  not absolutely sure of the
commands necessary to generate graphs and the like so that we can test
it fully.  Rocˇo drops me near to the Residencia and then Laura, Reyes
and I start a 'mad-cap' chase trying to find a notary who can  take  a
sworn  statement  from  me (apparently, a signed letter from me is not
good enough - to the Spanish bureaucratic mind, there is a possibility
it could have been forged!) As you might  expect,  trying  to  find  a
notary  at  7.00 in the evening, even in Madrid, is a farce!  We check
out three addresses but one has died and his replacement isn't in, one
has obviously gone away and the third doesn't have his  offices  there
any more. We decide to go my local bar and I give the girls a long and
detailed  exposition of what I believe is Mariano's model of political
structure and my reactions to it. Then  we  talk  about  politics,  in
England  and  Spain,  looking at the interrelationship of social class
and political power which interests them greatly. We also  talk  about
voting systems and I explain to them how the British system

traditionally magnifies a small shift in public  opinion  into  a  big
shift  in  seats, which they did not know, and they attempt to explain
to  me  the  complexities  of  the  Spanish  system  of   proportional
representation.  They tell me that they are going to give me a special
night tomorrow night as it is my last night in Madrid  so  I  must  be
sure  to  have a siesta in the afternoon.  I do not think that is very
likely, somehow.  Then Meg phones and we talk over  a  lot  of  issues
concerned with my forthcomg trip to Sevilla.

Saturday, 10th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today,  I  decide  to  be virtuous and get up at my usual time of 6.00
(instead of giving myself a lie-in) in  order  to  see  the  Velasquez
exhibition.   I get there at about 7.30 and the queue is already about
800 yards long! I join it and then queue for 4« hours, until 12.00 and
and I am still only half-way to the entrance.   I  calculate  that  at
this  rate  I will need to queue for AT LEAST another 4 hours and then
take an hour to go the exhibition.  This suddenly seems to sound  like
a  bad idea, although I badly wanted to see the exhibition if I could.
Still, it means I would miss lunch, which having missed breakfast this
morning and tea this evening sounds  like  bad  news!   In  addition,I
wouldn't  have  time to go to the station to get my ticket for Sevilla
so I decide, with a heavy heart, to call it  a  day.   However,  I  do
'jump'  another  queue  for the catalog ONLY which appears to be about
400 yards long and acquire a copy of the catalog which is  a  work  of
art in itself and huge (12" x 9" x 1«"). People were buying them up in
threes  and  sixes,  no doubt for friends and as presents.  I wondered
about this as well but they are so big and heavy that it is  going  to
take me all of my time to bring one home.  After lunch, I journeyed to
Chamartin  station  to  buy  my  tickets for Sevilla.  The tickets are
computer printed with full details of  departure  and  arrival  times,
prices,  seat  numbers and the like and make the whole thing look very
professional.  I obviously checked and double checked that  everything
was  in order and so it appeared, so whilst in the Charmatin complex I
buy some stamps and then journey to the principal post-office  (whilst
I am on the Metro anyway) to post letters, one to the Poly. and one to
Mexico.   Then  I  start to prepare for the evening that I am going to
spend with the students but get a telephone call when I am in the bath
(again!) telling me the plans are now changed and we are  to  meet  at
10.00  and  not  8.00.   I  got  to  Cafe Commercial outside the metro
station at Bilbao at 9.45 and the place  is  absolutely  teeming  with
young  people,  obviously meeting and starting to drink in earnest.  I
meet with Laura and Reyes and Salvador comes along after  ¬  hour  and
Ross  comes along after « hour and then we start to drink in bar after
bar after bar.  The intention was to get me drunk (I don't know  why!)
but  we then go in search of bars with music and some dancing of which
there are several.  The style of music here is very strange - lots  of
revamped  American  40's  stuff  with  Glen  Miller and other bits and
pieces  thrown  in,  obviously  played  ridiculously  loud  making  it
difficult to communicate in any language.  After the experience of two
bars  with  exceptionally loud music I am starting to crack. I explain
to the students that this is all rather like Chinese water torture  to
me and I promise to take them all out for a meal, so long as the place
is  quiet!  It is now 2.00 and after some twenty minutes of searching,
there appears to be NOWHERE where it is possible to have a meal.   The
bars are devoted to lots of beer and lots of loud music and absolutely
nothing else. Eventually, we end up in a place with the possibility of
food  but  there  is  none.   Whether  by  accident or design, we find
ourself  in  the  place  where  Gustavo,  the  doctoral   student   at

Somosaguas, works and instead of finishing up with a meal, I finish up
drinking  two  concoctions  which  I think are milk heavily laced with
rum. (You can imagine the effect of all of this  after  drinking  beer
all  night)  We then go to a place where there is some dancing but the
atmosphere is not like discos in England because  the  dancing  'area'
is  as  brightly  illuminated  as  the  'drinking'  area and I find it
slightly disconcerting to be dancing/drinking  in  a place  where  the
predominant  style  of deco is a lot of stainless steel, bare concrete
walls and very bright lights (as well as music).  At 5.00 we make  our
way  to  a  dancing/drinking establishment that only starts to OPEN at
5.00 in the morning, to cater for all-night revellers and  stay  there
for an hour.  By this time, I am very, very tired and very, very drunk
so  at 6.00 we all decide to call it a day.  The girls get a taxi, and
I travel back on the Metro which was has just reopened to  crawl  into
my bed at 6.30 in the morning.  What a day/night/day!

Sunday, 11 March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having  got  to bed at 6.30 I am awakened at 11.00 by a telephone call
from Meg needing Narciso Pizarro's address so that we can send him  an
invitation to visit England.  Normally, I welcome telephone calls from
home  but  my head is splitting so my feelings are a little ambiguous,
as I had  only had 4 and half hours sleep.  I get up at 12.00 and have
a bath and take an aspirin for my headache/hangover and then go and do
some shopping in which I actually overcome my  feelings  of  revulsion
for all things alcoholic sufficiently for me to buy a bottle of whisky
as  a  present for Ramon and his family.  I also get some orange juice
and fruit and then return to lunch at the Residencia.  Is this my last
meal, here, I ask myself?  If so, then it runs true to form  being  as
large  fish, cut into slices, which is called 'Emperador' - this is as
much a mystery to the Latin Americans with whom I share my table as it
is to me.  At 3.00 Ross calls round, as arranged, and I let  him  some
supplies  of  needle  and  thread for he has run into some of the same
difficulties that I did at the start of my stay here.  Ross stays  for
about  an  hour  and  consumes  some of my orange juice and fruit with
great relish before we go outside and take photos of each  other  'for
the  record'  outside the Residencia.  By this stage, I am starting to
feel a little fragile again so I  read  the  luxury  which  I  allowed
myself  this  morning  (A copy of the 'Observer') relishing all of the
speculation that things are going so badly for the Conservatives  that
Margaret  Thatcher  might  be  asked to 'step aside' in a month or so.
After years of suffering under the impact of her policies, I am taking
an obvious delight in watching the start of her downfall.  Then I have
a little nap before starting to make  the  preparations  for  Sevilla.
Yesterday,  I  had  thoroughly  cleaned  out  my  bag so at least I am
starting from scratch, as it were.  I phone home  for  one  minute  to
tell  Meg where in Sheffield,Martin can buy the computer paper that he
needs to finish printing off his final year project.  Then I  pack  my
Antler  bag  slowly  and carefully with all the things that I need for
Sevilla and it is still bulging at the seams,  mainly  with  documents
and  only  a  few  clothes.   I arrive at the station of Charmartin in
plenty of time and then board the train for Sevilla, due to depart  at
11.00pm  at 10.30, and hope to have the compartment to myself.  At one
minute to 11.00, my carriage is "invaded" by two (smoking) youths  who
evidently,  to  their  dismay,  have  found  themselves  in a strictly
no-smoking department.  Their reactions are the kind of panic  that  I
have  observed  elsewhere  when  smokers  realise  that they are to be
deprived, but in this case the  journey  is  nine  hours  long!   They
depart,  hurriedly,  but  then I am joined by an older man and we make

ourselves comfortable by extending both  our  own  seat  and  the  one
opposite.  In this fashion, you have, in effect, a bed and we take our
shoes  off and make ourselves comfortable, both armed identically with
a bottle of water and an orange!   We are joined in the middle of  the
night  by  a  third  man  and  I spent the whole night in a mixture of
sleeping and dozing which was not unpleasant  and  arrive  in  Sevilla
about 8.10 the following morning.

Monday, 12th March,1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having  met  me  off  the  train,  Ramon  takes me to his flat where I
quickly unpack and then I head off,  with  Ramon,  to  the  university
which  is fortunately only a few minutes walk away. Having been to the
university only about a year ago, I knew what  to  expect  -  a  large
modern  building  but  with  a huge arch not unlike a railway station!
However, the atmosphere is  totally  different  from  Madrid  with  no
political   sloganising   and   generally   a   more   efficient   and
'business-like' feel to the place.  This may, of course,  reflect  the
nature  of  the  disciplines here.At the university, I meet Paula Luna
and explain all of the ideas to her of  a  possible  joint  degree  in
Information  Systems  and she seems keen enough.  I then discover that
Paula is one of a team of three 'Informatica'  specialists  and  after
showing Paula my software the three of us go off to a local restaurant
where  we  have  a  very  enjoyable lunch with lots of conversation in
which I seemed to be talking all of the time.  I don't  think  that  I
have  ever  talked  so  much  Spanish  in  all of my life!  I also get
introduced (quickly) to a Professor of Statistics and I agree to  meet
with  him  again  on Wednesday, if that is convenient.  The lunch does
not end until 5.0 and we realise that we  should  have  met  Ramon  at
4.15!  I  accompany Ramon back to his flat and then whilst Ramon works
for a couple of  hours,  I  read  quietly.   The  whole  family  which
consists  of  Pablo  (5), Rocˇo (12?), Concha and Ramon and myself sit
down to an evening meal to the accompaniment of the  television.   The
complex  in  which Ramon lives is, I suppose, typical of large Spanish
cities.  In the basement, there  is  'underground'  parking  for  cars
whilst  on  the  ground  floor  there  are open spaces with children's
playground facilities and even a swimming pool and tennis courts.  The
flats themselves  seem  to  be  a  little  larger  than  by  Madrile¤o
standards  but  there  are three bedrooms and a living room, bathroom,
study and bathroom.  I feel rather priveliged to be living  life  just
like  a  'normal'  Spanish  family.   As  I  am very tired, the family
suggest that I might go to bed and, wishing to leave them a little  of
space and time to themselves, I am happy to agree and go to bed at the
incredibly early time (for me!) of 10.30.

Tuesday, 13th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  is  the  day  when  I  have  an  appointment  to  meet  with the
Vice-Rector (Juan Ram˘n Medina) and Ramon and I turn up  at  9.55  for
the  appointment at 10.00. The Vicerrector is about 10-15 minutes late
but receives us courteously and then I explain,  totally  in  Spanish,
the  nature  of  our  collaboration  with Madrid and the links that we
would like to have to with the Faculty of Economics and Business here.
It seems from an early stage that  there  may  be  problems  with  the
'Informatica'  link  as  their  Informatica  is  obviously undeveloped
compared with ours and all of the indications were that this  may  not
be  opportune.  However, the other links with the Faculty of Economics
and Business seem a lot more promising and I give  the  Vicerrector  a
copy  of  the  Madrid agreement, the Leicester Polytechnic prospectus,


the glossy brochure containing details of  the  Public  Administration
degree   and,  of  course,  the  proposals  for  the  new  venture  in
Information Systems.  The Vicerrector seemed to  know  little  of  the
distinctions  between universities and Polytechnics in the U.K. and he
did not impress me as much as his counterpart in Madrid.  We leave  it
that  negotiations over an institutional agreement should be conducted
via Ramon and then make our way back to the department.  After  I  had
shown   one  of  Ramon's  colleagues  a  full  demonstration  of  both
TurboStats and MicroStats and VDE, I come home with Ramon and we  have
a  traditional lunch lasting from about 2.00 until 3.30.  Ramon has to
do some preparation in the afternoon and I do not wish to get  in  the
way  so suggest that I might do some shopping in Sevilla.  Ramon gives
me directions how to reach 'El Corte Ingles'  and  I  spend  from  3.0
until  nearly 7.0 in the store buying presents.  These have to fulfill
certain  criteria   in   the   English   case   being   transportable,
non-breakable,distinctive  of  Spain and not so valuable that it would
matter greatly if they are broken or lost in transit.  I have  decided
to  buy Ramon and Concha a traditional 'carriage clock' which I spy on
the way in and then concentrate on buying presents for  the  children.
This  is  a little difficult but I end up buying a little Lego toy for
the little boy and a book about the development of musical instruments
for the girl, as well as the clock  for  parents.   To  take  back  to
England,  I  buy some traditional 'Damasquinado' jewellry and assorted
pieces of pottery for the older folk.  Then I retrace  my  steps  back
past  Sevilla's  football stadium and past Ramon's flat to the Faculty
where Ramon is still working. We come home via a place where we have a
swift 'Fino' sherry and then I install Word Perfect version 4.2 on the
computer  that  they  have  at home.  Then follows another traditional
meal,lighter than at lunch time, and I retire to my  room,  relatively
early,  to  write  up  these  letters  and have another night which is
relatively early.  Although it  doesn't  sound  a  hectic  day,  I  am
certainly  quite  tired out - perhaps its the concentration of talking
and thinking in Spanish absolutely all of the day  and  walking  round
department stores is tiring in whatever society!

Wednesday, 14th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  morning,  I have a most interesting time, talking with all kinds
of people which is obviously my function here.  In  case  that  sounds
easy,  it  takes  a  lot of concentration to talk to lots of different
people in Castellano all morning but  I  felt  that  I  was  generally
understood and, in turn, understood a lot of what was said back to me!
First,  I  spoke  with  Joaquina  Laffarga  who is an expert in public
sector accounting - in fact  she  had  more  books  in  Public  Sector
Accounting in Britain than I have (e.g. one by Jones in the University
of  Birmingham)  Then  I  speak  to  a  colleague of hers, a young man
interested in 'expert systems' in public  sector  accounting  and  his
name  is  Patricio  Terry Esquivias. I gave him details of the Masters
courses in Information Technology at  the  Poly.  which  interest  him
greatly - he seems very interested in the possibilities of a doctorate
at  Leicester  if  possible.  Then I have a LONG, long talk with JesŁs
Basulto Santos who  is  the  Director  del  Departamento  de  Economia
Aplicada.   He  is  an  applied statistician and is very interested in
viewing the types of  developments  that  we  have  in  Leicester.  We
exchange  ideas  about teaching and courses and then I show him a copy
of TurboStats and he is suitably impressed, of course!  I give  him  a
copy  of  the  manual  also.   JesŁs  is  very interested in coming to
Leicester and so I am to arrange a letter of invitation for  him  from

the  appropriate  person  (Tim  Wilson?  Derek  Teather? ) back at the
ranch.  I then finish off the  morning  by  having  ANOTHER  extremely
long  and  interesting  conversation with Manual Alcaide Castro who is
the  'Catedratico  de  Organizacion   de   Empresas'   and   extremely
interested  in  meeting  his opposite number in Leicester.  I give him
the name of Professor Ian  Beardwell  (but  not  John  Coyne  at  this
stage)  and say that I will arrange for an invitation for him, too, to
visit the Polytechnic in late September.  It appears that  the  system
here  is  as follows: once there is a formal letter of invitation that
has come from a another institution, the Spanish  regard  it  as  very
easy  to  arrange  for  Erasmus  funds  in order to establish a visit.
Manual Alcaide is extremely interesting for two reasons.  Firstly,  he
speaks  good  English ( although we actually spoke for 95% of the time
in Spanish) and HAD been the Vicerrector  in  charge  of International
Relations.   As  such, in my opinion, he is infinitely more impressive
than the present occupant  and  therefore  a  'good  person  to  know'
Moreover,  he  knows  the  ERASMUS  scheme  like the back of his hand,
which can only be useful.  Secondly, he has also arranged  for  me  to
visit  the  Centre  for  Information  Technology  for the whole of the
province of Andalucia and the visit is scheduled for 7.00 pm  tomorrow
evening.   It is interesting to see what an influential telephone call
can do. After this round of talks ( lasting from 9.0 until 2.0) I feel
as though I have done a day's work.  I return home with Ramon and have
lunch after which Ramon goes back to the  University  because  he  has
five  hours  of  classes until 9.0 at night, to which I gather that he
not looking forward ( typically, he has eight hours of teaching in the
whole week) I work in the office  at  Ramon's  house  installing  some
software  utilities  on  his  hard-disk and writing letters to various
people including, of course, this one and a note to the Director about
my various contacts.

Thursday, 15th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My  last day in Sevilla!  I get up relatively early and have breakfast
with Ramon in a local bar, as is usual.  Then I work quietly preparing
various memos e.g. to the Director and refining various notes before I
see Francisco Serrano, the professor  of  International  Marketing  at
about 11.30. I am surprised that his English is actually worse than my
Spanish  and  when  we  start  to  discuss arrangements for a visit to
Leicester, I am relieved to discover that he  actually  has  a  letter
from  Peter  Baron  on the top of his file.  I had prepared a one-side
of A4 screed for him in English and Spanish setting  out  the  outline
details of the M.A. in International Business for which he seemed duly
grateful  and  I  am  sure  that  all  will  be  well for the eventual
integration of Sevilla into the overall pattern.  Then after a  little
more  work, I see Cristine Campayo who Mike Coyne and Peter Riach hope
to liase with later in the summer term regarding the Economics  degree
-  she  actually  seemed  less communicative than the other professors
with whom I have spoken. Then Ramon and I  go  home  for  lunch  after
which my big moment has arrived when I can give presents to all of the
family  (as  things  turned  out  later on, this was the best possible
moment) I give the presents to the children i.e. a Lego toy  to  Pablo
(aged  five), a book on the history of music to Rocˇo (11) and finally
a traditional French carriage clock to Ramon and Concha - I think that
the presents were appreciated by all.  After lunch we go back  to  the
Faculty  and  I  am  immediately  button-holed  by  a doctoral student
(Rosario) who has an Erasmus grant to visit the London Business School
and then Notting Polytechnic to  discuss  International  Marketing.  I
think that I can arrange for her to visit Leicester and promise to see

Peter  Baron  on her behalf.  Then I work quietly until Manuel Alcaide
comes to pick me up at 7.00 and we go to see the C.I.C.A.  (Centro  de
Informaticas  Cientificas  de  Andalucia)  -  a  huge  data processing
organisation.  After a lot of security checks, we  are  given  a  very
detailed  tour  with  a  lot  of  technical  explanation  which, it is
assumed, that I understand ( which I don't,  being  spoken  very  fast
with  a  lot  of  technical  terminology  by  young  technicians in an
Andalucian accent!) We then all go and sit in a circle  and  whilst  I
was  expecting  a  drinks  bottle,  everybody  pulls  out  a packet of
cigarettes and  starts  smoking!(Very  Spanish!)  Then  Manuel  and  I
return to the Faculty and Ramon and Concha pick me up and take me to a
Ceramics  exhibition miles out in the country where Concha's sister is
exhibiting pottery.  Then we repair to the local 'bar' with a  lot  of
artists  and their friends and get served delicious meals of delicious
lamb joints, pieces of vension and snails!  After an initial silence I
get talking to a social worker sitting next  to  me  and  then  to  an
affable  white-haired  gentleman who I subsequently discovered was one
of the foremost ( and very  progressive)  judges  in  Andalucia!   (An
interesting  indication  of  the absence of class rigidities in Spain)
Then we return home, late and a little tired and get to bed at 1.0 am.

Friday, 16th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My  last  full  day  in Spain!  I get up very early and make sure that
everything is packed and with nothing left behind me. Ramon drives  me
to the station but Concha and the children are asleep so I do not have
the  channce  to say goodbye before leaving.  Ramon and I have a swift
breakfast of coffee and toast in the station bar and then I board  the
train  which leaves the train at just after 8.30.  My companion in the
adjacent seat turns out to be an Italian doctor whose abiding  passion
is playing baroque organs in different parts of Europe.   His  Spanish
is better than mine but not a lot and therefore communication is quite
easy as we both search for words.  We spend a very pleasant hour and a
half   discussing   music,   organ   works   (   e.g.   the  different
interpretations of 'Wachet Auf' ['Sleepers Awake'] which we both  know
and  love as well as various operas and then the conversation turns to
medicine and other topics.  We exchange  addresses  and  my  companion
leaves  the  train  at  Cordoba  and then the train sits there for ten
minutes before a (beautifully clear) announcement  over  the  intercom
that  owing  to  difficulties  of  a  technical  nature,  we are to be
delayed for ¬ hour. I take the  opportunity  to  pop  out  and  buy  a
newspaper  and  a  can  of coke and then we wait for half an hour more
before it is announced (again, very clearly) that we have  to  abandon
that  train  and  take all of our luggage with us.  We all descend and
wait and I get into conversation with  a  Spanish  student  (  another
Rocˇo)  who  is  also  a student at Thames Polytechnic on an option in
International Marketing.  After ten  nminutes  or  so,  we  jump  into
another  train and Rocˇo and I talk a lot about her course.  As she is
preparing  for  an  interview  that  night  in  Madrid  to  enter  the
examinations  for  an  MBA entrance program, I give her lots of what I
hope is practical advice and we talk for at least two or three  hours.
Then  we both fall asleep and when we awake after an hour have a lunch
'thrown' at us in a plastic bag  (two  bocadillos,  an  orange  and  a
soft drink) after  which  we  are only about three quarters of an hour
away from Madrid.  We pull into into  Madrid-Atocha  and  ten  minutes
later  into  Madrid-Charmartin  almost  exactly  two  hours late ( the
journey having lasted eight hours and not  six)  I  get  back  to  the
Residencia  and immediately make a phone call to Laura and we fix up a
date for a meal later that night.  Then  I  get  busy  doing  lots  of

washing,  having  a  bath  and finally packing insofar as I can.  I am
dismayed to discover that the suitcase fails  to  close  by  at  least
three  or four inches so I have to abandon various plastic coathangers
and take out some towels before, by a miracle, it closes.  However,  I
still  have  a  lot  of  last  minute  packing  to do.  At 8.30 I meet
Salvador, Laura, Reyes and Ross for a last  meal  and  after  a  quick
beer  we  find  a  place  that  serves Italian type meals (pizzas etc)
which is quite tolerable. At the end of the meal,  I  offload  various
bits  and  pieces  to  Salvador  e.g. WordPerfect notes, my unfinished
bottle of brandy, milk powder and the  like,  coat  hangers)  Then  we
decide  it  best  to  part  and after a quick 'photo' of us all, Reyes
dashes off in a taxi and then Laura.  It is difficult to be upset when
people are whisked off so quickly by taxi like that!  Salvador  and  I
say  a  fond farewell but I do persuade Ross to come to the Residencia
in the morning as I really do not know how I am going to get all of my
stuff to the bus-stop by myself.  Ross agrees  willingly  and  then  I
come  back  to the Residencia for the last time, write up two pages of
these 'letters' and then get to bed by about 1.55 - about par for  the
course for a night in Madrid!


Saturday, 17th March, 1990
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  is  the  day  of  my departure and ,obviously, the last of these
letters from Madrid/Sevilla.  I get up at my usual time (6.00 am - why
break the habits of the last two months) and make sure that everything
is packed.  This is not as easy as  it  sounds  because  space  is  so
critical  that  even the smallest article has to be thought about very
carefully to see if I have room for it. Altogether, I  have  my  large
Antler  case  which  is  so  heavy  it is difficult to lift it off the
ground, principally because half of the  luggage  consists  of  books!
Then  I  have my another all-purpose bag which is bulging to the seams
and finally the computer.  As everything is now packed, I decide to go
for a walk before breakfast but notice that VIPS is closed.  I walk to
the next 'glorieta' (circular road-junction) and find a  bank  with  a
cambio  offering  good  rates  of exchange which says that it opens at
8.30 on Saturdays.  Of course, it doesn't but about 10 minutes later I
communicate with a man through a glass window who  tells  me  to  come
back  on  Monday!   Then I return to the Residencia and have breakfast
with an American statistician ( who within 5 minutes  was  telling  me
what  packages  I  OUGHT  to be using, which I resent greatly!) We are
joined by the English biochemist from the Royal  College  of  Surgeons
and  a  colleague.   The biochemist had been at the Residencia earlier
for a few days and I was surprised to see him again.  I gathered  that
he,  too,  disliked  the  American's  style and we have an amusing ten
minutes  giving  the   American   subtle   English   'put-downs'   the
significance  of  which  he failed to appreciate!  (Well after all, he
assumed that he could tell me how  and  what  to  teach  and  then  he
started  doing  the  same  thing  with  the  biochemist  so perhaps he
deserved all he got! I then pay up my bills, buy  some  postcards  and
wait for Ross.  By 10.15, he had not arrived so I start the long, slow
and  painful journey to the bus-stop loaded up with, I would estimate,
some 120  lbs  of  luggage.   When  I  get  to  the  entrance  of  the
Residencia,  Ross  runs  up in a great sweat explaining that there had
been delays on the metro.  We both struggle to the bus-stop  and  then
discover,  empirically,  there  is  obviously a strike of the buses in
Madrid which also includes the airport buses.  As it turns out,  there
is  another  young  English  man standing at the bus-stop ( a software
specialist!) so we decide to share the taxi and split  the  cost.   My

case  has to be strapped onto the roof it is so big and heavy!  At the
airport, one only has to push it 20 yards to the check-in desk where I
discover that it is 38kg [84lb or 6 stones!] -the weight allowance  is
20kg!   I  explain to the clerk that I have been teaching in Spain and
it is full of books and after a quick telephone call she  lets  it  go
through  without extra payment.  The flight was uneventful but I found
myself sitting next to a young Spanish couple who had  never  been  to
London before.  Knowing that Heathrow can be confusing after Madrid, I
chat with them in Spanish and say 'Follow me' and I guide them through
customs  and  baggage reclaim.  In return, they carry the computer for
me which is  actually  a  great  help.   Then  the  nightmare  of  the
underground  which I have been dreading with the volume of luggage.  I
could take a trolley as far as the entrance  to  the  underground  but
then, of course, there was an escalator to negotiate!  This really was
difficult and at one point I got in a tangle with one bag stuck on the
pull-handle of the large case ( which, by this time, was nearly pulled
off!)  I  somehow  get on the underground and wonder how I am going to
manage at St. Pancras!  A young man sits opposite me with his personal
stero so loud, I could hear  the  rhythm  all  the  way  to  Leicester
Square.  At  St.  Pancras,  I have to jump off the metro, take off two
bags, dive in again for the third, but as it turns out I offloaded all
right.  Now for the terrible bit. However, a very kindly  elderly  man
helped  me  with  my  luggage  all the way to St. Pancras (although he
himself was going to Kings Cross.) It takes two  of  us  to  carry  my
'monster'  case  up the stairs whilst we leave the other two pieces at
the bottom!) I make my  way  painfully  to  the  indicator  board  and
discover  first  a trolley, which I commandeer, and then that the next
train to Leicester is in 15 minutes.  I get aboard  and  have  a  very
fast  journey  (an  hour  and  ten minutes only), punctuated only be a
decent tin of Newcastle Brown ale which I  felt  I  deserved  at  this
stage.   Then  the  final  crawl  to the taxi-rank and a swift journey
home.  I was back after nearly nine  weeks,  feeling  (just  slightly)
pleased with myself!  Where and when next, I wonder?