What's this? A weekend? by Theo

Yep, despite our tiny budget and tiny toddler, we managed to make a weekend of it! Our dear friend Ayesha came up from London to spend Saturday with us and was an instant hit with Rosie (though of course they have met before).In the evening we splashed out on our lovely local babysitter allowing us to introduce Ayesha to one of our old haunts (The Folk House) and three of our favourite local singers - Roger Tarry, Annette Berlin and Caroline Martin.

Roger was as good as ever - we've been watching him play for getting on for 10 years now (Kate pointed out she doesn't think his hairstyle has changed in that whole period!) but it was the first time we've seen him sing with Caroline and a cellist in tow - haunting stuff.

Amazingly this was the first time we'd seen Annette playing as herself - we're more used to seeing her front noiseniks Big Joan - and indeed this was her first outing as a duo, with Suzie on piano, not that you could tell. There were some moments where you imagined other instruments would have filled out the songs more, but the harmonising was beautiful.

Finally the leading lady Caroline came on stage, launching a new album. I've been watching Caroline play for nearly 10 years too (and have even toured with her) and was wondering whether marriage and impending motherhood would have mellowed her. Nope! Still singing sparse, beautiful and delicious dark songs of gender danger. Love it!

let's do lunch - by Theo

With going out for dinner pretty much off our social menu for the foreseeable future, we attempted to maintain our social life last week by 'doing' lunch.

We began by meeting the lovely Roger Tarry and his charming girlfriend Liz for an al fresco lunch in Plaza Santa Ana on Tuesday. They were over for few days on holiday and to visit various friends, all of whom teach English here, and had been thoroughly enjoying themselves. We know Roger from the Bristol music scene that Kate and I used to be involved in, and it was great to catch up and hear the latest gossip, both musical and otherwise.Thursday saw us heading to the Sticky Fingers anglo-playgroup in Calle Ibiza to meet up with our friend Kirsty and her daughter (and Rosie's fbf - future best friend) Emily. The playgroup was quite diverting, even though as Rosie isn't crawling yet she didn't get a huge amount out of it, and the other Mums (I was the only Dad) were very friendly and welcoming. Afterwards we headed back to Kirsty's lovely house in Rivas for lunch - which I cooked - and a swim for us adults while the babies napped.Sunday saw us yet again enjoying great company and a delicious meal with our Venezuelan friends David and Natalie at their flat - we had a originally been trying to maintain parity on the meals cooked front, but we think we now owe them three! Vichyssoise, Greek salad and a delicious pasta were on the menu, though Rosie was, as ever, the star of the show. She knew it too, beaming at our hosts and kicking away in beguiling fashion.
After all this food, thank goodness I'm getting some exercise these days!