Apr 2021 – Gob O'Shite

The Blue Beast Twenty-nine

Being in the Basque country means doing without some of the new-fangled inventions of the 21st century such as satellite TV and broadband internet connection.

The Blue Beast Twenty-eight

The festival is said to originate from the 1830s custom of locals using buckets and hardware from the water pump to mock the soldiers.

The Blue Beast Twenty-seven

Zorionak! That’s Basque for Merry Christmas.

The Blue Beast Twenty-six

Chewy Duck, the Bobby Sands of Chabola

The Blue Beast Twenty-five

I never asked to have ducks.

The Blue Beast Twenty-four

Still the sun is shining, the sky is blue, I don’t pay taxes and I don’t
give a hoot!

The Blue Beast Twenty-three

I walked out into the street and I’m not sure if I was blinking at the early evening sunshine or the pricking, burning in my eyes.

The Blue Beast Twenty-two

I don’t know what happened next but I woke up in my tent at 6am feeling as right as rain.

The Blue Beast Twenty-one

‘Chabola?’ I hear you say, ‘Surely you mean Chombola?’

The Blue Beast Twenty

I have received numerous complaints and rude comments about my address. Now look here, it’s not my fault if I don’t have a simple postal address.

The Blue Beast Nineteen

I’ve been tending my vine.

The Blue Beast Eighteen

“Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house and stole a leg of beef…”

The Blue Beast Seventeen

Tears in my eyes

The Blue Beast Sixteen

Cobweb Cottage, Casa Cat Shit call it what you will, it’s my home for the next six months.

The Blue Beast Fifteen

It is about 30 miles south from San Sebastian, the same to the north of Pamplona and only 40 miles west of Biarritz.

The Blue Beast Fourteen

I have been offered a house way outside the wine region, mid way between Bilbao and San Sebastian but isolated in the middle of the country, surrounded by apple orchards and mountain pasture.