One back in Spain after my lovely Christmas break back in the UK, it was pretty much straight back to work after a quiet New Year’s Eve, which I spent at home eating grapes as per Spanish tradition! The 6th of January signalled the Spanish celebration of the Reyes Magos (which we know as the Three Kings or Wise Men), which meant that we’d all to tuck into some Roscón de Reyes, a traditional pastry consisting of sweet bread topped with candied fruits, nuts, and sugar.
This pastry is even more delicious when dunked in thick hot chocolate.
After a rather grey and rainy first week back in the office, the weekend finally brought a little spot of winter sun. This was just in time for some weekend plans that me and Bogar had made, involving watching some previews of musicals in the city centre, and yet another trip down to IKEA in order to pick up a few bits and pieces – I wanted some more electrical components in order to fully automate all the lights I had brought back with me from England!
We watched one of the performances, and then headed to a café for a spot of breakfast, before returning to watch the one that we’d been dying to see: La jaula de las locas (The cage of the crazy women, to translate literally). This involved a show run by drag queens, and spearheaded by a particularly witty queen, who even had the audience involved with the confetti canons as their 20-minute set came to an end!
Once the show was over, we headed down to our favourite Swedish shop and made the rounds, stopping, as usual, for some meatballs. I grabbed myself a bookshelf to organise my wardrobe, some other electronic tidbits, and yet another plant.
We also checked out some of the discounted Christmas goodies…
We then headed back up to our neighbourhood in a car, and helped each other assemble the various bits of furniture in each other’s respective houses. With so much manual labour undertaken in one day, we felt that we deserved a cheeky evening meal out, and so went to check out Gracias Padre, a Mexican restaurant whose praises Bogar had been singing.
There we ate the best bowl of nachos I have ever had in my life – and bear in mind that I’m not the biggest fan of nachos – and a huge gringa (like a quesadilla, meat and other ingredients sandwiched in cheese between two tortillas). This was all washed down with beer and lemon juice (yes, that’s pure lemon juice), before an early night which I was desperately in need of.
The following week saw me head off to my new dentist for the first time ever, and after a diagnosis meaning I’ll have to come back at the end of this month, I managed to get lost whilst looking for Chamartín train station to head back to work. I eventually found a back entrance that I’d never seen before, but which gave some pretty cool views over the station building and the four (soon to be five) towers in the background.
Another weekend soon came around, and I once again had plans with Bogar to have some breakfast in the centre. This was after I finally remembered to pick up a vinyl record that I had ordered – even though I don’t have a record player here in Spain. Oops.
We had a lovely bagel brunch in HanSo Café, a popular spot in the hipster district of Malasaña, and I then took Bogar to try the best palmeras (heart-shaped pastries) in the city. These can be found at a lovely little bakery called La Duquesita, where I took a cheeky selfie in the old mirrors that line most of the walls.
Nothing beats a sweet craving quite like a generously frosted palmera.
That evening was quite a busy one for me, as I’d finally arranged to meet up with Roberto again after our summer adventures in rural Valencia! Luckily, he has a vinyl player, and so I pottered over to his house with my Rodrigo Cuevas record in hand.
There I met his flatmate and had a snoop around his lovely new pad, and we popped open some beers and listened to the record for a while. Once we were ready for some food, we headed to Buns & Bones, one of my favourite places to grab a light tea (dinner).
After we’d eaten, I picked my vinyl up from Roberto’s place and then headed home, but I was soon back on the Metro and heading into the city centre, as Bogar’s friend Gil was leaving the country and so there was a farewell do to attend! We had a good drink and a boogie in a bar in Chueca, but once they decided to head out to a club, I decided I was too tired and so escaped back to the comfort of my bed.
The day after, I decided to whip up a couple (yes, two) of carrot cakes, sharing one between friends and the other between colleagues. I don’t wish to boast, but my carrot cakes always go down quite the treat!
Just a couple of days later, I found myself once again on a train down to Murcia, but that shall now have to wait until another blog post. It’s been a hectic few weeks, so I am running somewhat behind with these updates, but I hope to catch up a little this weekend and next!
My last regular blog post was entitled “The Arrival of Autumn“, but that was a month ago, and now we are now definitely well into winter! Work was still as busy as ever as we moved into December, but we had the fun of the Christmas meal to look forward to. This was a riotous evening, with plenty of tacos and cocktails flowing, all culminating in a boogie in a club down in the center.
Outside of the office, I had a chance to catch up with Bogar over some lovely food, which was a welcome chat after a while not having seen each other nor visited our favourite local bar. One day, I also had the opportunity to visit the students at the IED (the European Design Institute), where I chatted to some master’s students about my history with Erretres and our working process.
I was also gifted some lovely goodies by the tutors a the university.
The day after my visit, I arrived back home and had to get to packing: it was time to head back to England for Christmas! Much like a couple of years ago, I picked up my cellophane-bound backpack and made for the airport, boarding my suspiciously noisy plane to Manchester Airport.
Once I’d landed and picked up my bag, I headed out of the terminal and to my dad who was waiting in the car. There was no time for faffing, however, as we’d to head straight to the wedding party of one of my childhood friends! After having ripped him out of said party to pick me up, we made a stop in a service station so that I could change into an (admittedly rather creased after such a journey) shirt, and then headed straight to the event.
After an evening of jiving and sampling the local gin, I was in no rush to get up and ready, but I eventually had to shift myself to the train station in Todmorden in order to head over to Leeds. I was Yorkshire-bound as I’d arranged to spend the evening with Rhea, who was home alone as Luisa had headed back to Germany to spend Christmas with her family too.
Upon arrival, I headed straight to the Co-Op, a supermarket near the house where I used to live, and bought half a shop’s worth of snacks for our evening. I was soon joined by Rhea, who picked up some ingredients for a fancy breakfast the morning after, but we didn’t bother with anything for tea (dinner) – we’d already decided that we were going to grab some grub from our two favourite takeaways! With my visits to Leeds now increasingly fleeting, and Rhea moving to Birmingham at the end of this month, it was our last chance to chill out in her house and eat some of our favourite food.
The morning after an evening of kebabs and RuPaul, Rhea set to work cooking a slap-up breakfast consisting of chorizo, tomato, onions, garlic, eggs, and bread – all of my favourite ingredients rolled into one! With the delicious concoction devoured, we decided to open a pack of “unicorn ice creams” left over from the night before and have them as dessert…
Ice cream after breakfast because we are grown adults and we can do what we want.
Once I’d grabbed a train back to Burnley, that Sunday evening we’d planned a family tip to the Manchester Christmas Markets, which we make a habit of going to every year. Only five minutes down the motorway, however, we were shook by a loud bang, and within a flash we found ourself on the hard shoulder, one of our front wheels completely blown out.
Ellie was the first to think fast, and reminded us all that we’d to get away from the car and the motorway as quickly as possible, and so we all grabbed our umbrellas, turned on the hazard lights, and headed out into the drizzle. As we’d stopped under a bridge, we had to head around the side and climb up the embankment, looking back down the motorway from above whilst my mum rang our insurance company.
After we were told that a tow truck to rescue four people would take over an hour to arrive, we had a quick look to see if there was any way of reaching the top of the embankment and finding somewhere to warm up, but we were confronted with barbed wire and a dead end. Resigned to our fate on the roadside, we eventually turned to singing Christmas carols and games of I Spy to keep ourselves occupied and warm.
We were eventually rescued, but our wheel wouldn’t be replaced until the afternoon of the next day, which presented a problem to me and my sister Ellie: we’d booked a festive afternoon tea for my mum as an early Christmas present! We eventually had to get a taxi to the Nº 62, a lovely spot in Colne which I’d first visited just before leaving to Spain in January last year.
The food here is just as gorgeous as the presentation and the decoration of the place.
After a relaxing day at home, it was suddenly Christmas Eve, and my mum had a little surprise in store: a little bag of Christmas Eve presents! As she was working Christmas Eve night, she surprised us with some gifts to open the night before, which got us all in a festive spirit after the failed trip to Manchester just a couple of nights before.
The gifts included matching elf pyjamas and mugs for everyone!
After we’d opened these, we headed to drop my mum off at work, and then headed off to bed ready to head back on Christmas day morning to pick her back up. Once home, we opened our presents, but then my mum had to head back to bed, and so the rest of our 25th is always somewhat unconventional: we all go away and do our own thing, and then reconvene when my mum’s awake and order a curry in!
Whilst we waited for my mum to wake up, me, my dad, and sister headed out for a walk in order to get out of the house for a while and take in the lovely landscapes surrounding my childhood home. I think it was on this walk when I realised that one of my New Year’s resolutions should really be to get more in shape – after half an hour of walking I was knackered!
After our curry tea and an evening watching Élite (a fab Spanish series) as a family, we began the celebrations usually saved for the 25th on the 26th. In the morning, Abi and Danni swung by so that we could do our belated gift exchange, and then preparations began on our family’s tradition of a delicious cream of cauliflower soup which we devour for lunch.
The only way to properly recover from a huge bowl of creamy soup and fresh warm bread rolls is to head to bed for a good ol’ nap, which I thought would be a half-hour affair. Three hours later I woke up in a panic, with the smell of turkey and gravy making me worried that I had missed the Christmas dinner entirely! Thankfully I hadn’t, and I arrived in the kitchen in time to help out with some of the final prep and serving.
Mum’s Christmas dinner was as delicious as it always is, and ended our main two days of Christmas celebrations. The day after was mainly a day for rest and digestion, but in the afternoon we headed back over to Yorkshire in order to pick up some fish and chips in Hebden Bridge and visit my grandparents in Bradford. We had a lovely catch up, and then in a blink it was already the 28th of December, and I was headed back to Madrid on the 30th!
I started the day heading up to a local pub with Danni and Abi for lunch, which was delicious and accompanied with plenty of gin and many laughs. The two of them concocted some plans for a night out on the spot, but I’d to pass on them as I’d plans to be up early the next day to get the bus to Manchester – I feel like I managed to use every method of transport possible during my trip!
This trip to Manchester had a dual purpose. Firstly, I’d arranged to meet Luisa (who was now back from Germany) and Declan for a catch up, and secondly I was to then head to the Royal Exchange Theatre with my dad, as I’d bought him theatre tickets as a Christmas present (a bit like a couple of years ago!)
I managed to be late for my breakfast appointment with Declan and Luisa (shocker), but once I’d made it there we had a lovely breakfast and a catch up for a good couple of hours. It was lovely to hear about Luisa’s new career as a teacher, and how Declan has now moved to Brighton in order to work for a company which sounds right up his street.
After another coffee elsewhere and a quick visit to a design bookshop (naturally), I had to dash off and find my dad in order to head to the matinee performance at 2:30pm. The piece that we were going to see was called “Gypsy“, but I had done zero research before we went, so the whole thing was to be an exciting surprise. Heck, I didn’t even know that it was a musical!
Me and my dad had a wonderful time, enjoying every moment of the show, which was full of energy from start to finish. Once the bows were over, we headed to a bar, where we found my mum and Ellie already cradling a cocktail. I didn’t need much convincing to grab myself one, and we were all soon merrily away with our anecdotes.
The four of us soon grew hungry, and so it fell on me to decide where we should go for tea, as somehow it was my last evening in the UK. For some unknown reason I really fancied visiting the Trafford Centre, even though the shops had closed by that point, and decided that I thus wanted to relive happy childhood memories and have a cheesy bites pizza at Pizza Hut.
Pizza Hut consumed, my last night in my very springy childhood bed spent, and my bags half packed, the morning of my last day was spent with Amber and Jess. We met up at another local pub, where I treated myself to a proper full English breakfast, and told them all about Gypsy and various other drama from Madrid. All too soon, though, I had to be dropped back off at home, where I finished packing, cellophane-binding, and weighing my bag ready to head back off to the airport.
My dad managed to manage his shift in such a way that he could come along with us to the airport, where I said my goodbyes until March, when my parents will be visiting me here in Madrid once again. I’m already thinking of what we could get up to! Until then, I’ll have to see what I get up to here in Spain. I’ll keep you all updated, of course!
This time last year, I launched the first edition of my Blooper Reel posts, and I noted how I hoped that it would become an annual series. Well, good news to past me, as I’m here with the second instalment, recapping some funny moments and unseen moments from the last twelve months! After another year of travels and other shenanigans in Spain, let’s not dilly nor dally as we dive straight in with the first month of the year…
After wrapping up my new website design, it was time to spend a few weeks surrounded by sketches and code in order to code my first full WordPress website – the very one you’re on right now!
Bread
The festive period is all about overeating, and there’s really no greater pleasure in the world than a good loaf of bread with some good butter. This was my meal one night…
An Overdramatic Patient
Just before my big move back to Spain, I had a minor operation on my toe, which really didn’t affect me all that much. I did take the opportunity, however, to over-exaggerate the amount of rest I needed and the delicacy of my foot, insisting that I should always have it raised as though I’d had a leg operation or something…
Pickle for Tuppence
One of the last photos I took before leaving Burnley was of something which you could only see in the UK – mini pots of pickle for just two pence!
February
A Lie Down
The start of February brought with it my first day back in Madrid! Whilst running some errands in the city centre before my first day at work, I discovered some swanky new furniture on the renovated Gran Vía, and was sure to make good and proper use of it.
With Bogar moving into a new flat, there wasn’t even a table to eat on whilst I helped him out with his move, and so we wound up buying in some Chinese food and having a feast on the floor of his new place.
My Turn to Move Flats
Soon thereafter I moved in to my new place, and it wasn’t long before I was measuring out the space to see what kind of sofa I could fit into the space…
March
Is My Spanish That Bad?
Something seems to be off as I always say “Ollie” and get handed a receipt reading “Ori”. Okay.
Office Life
After settling back into the daily routine for a month, it was business as usual for me and Luis in the office.
My Favourite Place
After moving into my new flat, my new bed soon became my favourite place in the whole of Madrid, with the lovely lighting making the sheets look even more inviting…
Seems Legit
I’m not so sure if I’d be that keen on getting the part if I was to be confronted by this jail-like mini door when heading for my casting…
This trip also saw me act as mother, as I found myself ironing Helena’s dress a mere hour or so before the beginning of the ceremony. As last minute at it was, I’ve never ironed with such a nice view!
Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag
May was also the month of visits, with my parents being some of the first to come over. Whilst on a picnic in Retiro, we were joined by some peckish little birds, and my dad did his best to entice them into a nibble of his sandwich.
Dirty Kebab
After heading to the concerts of San Isidro with Bogar, there was nothing for it but to grab a kebab to soak up some of the many beers that had been consumed.
The Making Of
I took one of my favourite photos of the year in Tenerife, which was a shot of the sunset seen from above the clouds upon one of the slopes of El Tiede, the island’s volcano. Camila sent me a photo of me taking said photo…
Lady of the House
When the three Cake Club girls came to visit, they all stopped by my office to check out our new pad, and I wound up leaning out of the window of one of the meeting rooms in order to welcome them in.
Questionable Selfies
Whilst at the office, many questionable selfies were taken, with the one below being one of the most acceptable…
When Ellie visited, I was often instructed to take photos of her in front of this pretty monument or that, but it’s some of the outtakes which I like the most. Here’s a couple: one from our sunset evening and the other from a bout of snacking and napping down by the lake.
A Glimpse of Home
During one of my visits down to Murcia, I found this wall of British snacks and treats, but somehow managed to resist the urge to buy the lot…
The Best Mockup
Borja at work has always been famed for his mockup skills, and the one I posted of me jumping off the balcony in the office is one of my favourites. There was a second, however, in which my “big head” was somewhat exaggerated – enjoy the work in progress and the outcome below…
I didn’t quite like this glimpse into the future as the infamous ageing app was tried out on everyone in the office…
Stealing Sunglasses
Drinking on a school night? Never. Well, if you drink with your colleagues, it doesn’t count. Here’s a photo of me and María after I stole her glasses for a while.
August
Magnetic Piercings
During the summer heatwave at work, it occurred to us that we could use the magnets for attaching sketches to the wall as stand-in piercings too. What innovation.
An Interesting Cinema Snack
Usually people snack on popcorn when at the cinema, but not if Bogar has anything to do with it. When we sat down to watch the Lion King, he produced two boxes of tequeños (Venezuelan cheese sticks) from his bag. Deliciously unconventional!
September
The Poultry Massacre
At some point I took the plunge and decided to cook my first ever whole chicken. All was going rather well until it came time to dissect the cooked chicken, whereupon I realised I had no idea what I was doing…
Old Ladies of the Metro
After what I am assuming was yet another IKEA trip, me and Bogar wound up taking more selfies in the window of the empty (I hope) metro train…
Yet More Plants
As if the constant IKEA trips weren’t enough, I also started splashing out on the lovely plants from my local flower shop. Here’s my excited face after having just picked up another…
Hello Hedgehog
Whilst on the bus to work one morning, I noticed that this little hedgehog had appeared on one of the bus stops. I’m not sure why it was there, but I am happy that it was.
October
An Ugly Eater
During one of my pizza dates with Elena, she took plenty of photos of me enjoying my dish, but not all of them made it – for obvious reasons…
Oops
During our “Goodbye to Summer” party at work, I had an accident whilst trying to open a bottle of beer, leading to some nasty cuts in my hand. The ensuing drama wound up with Luis, Sergio, and Marco accompanying me home, where we took this lovely selfie after I’d bandaged myself up…
A Useful Mirror
I simply had to to take another selfie in this super useful mirror that can be found on the wall of the toilets in my office.
November
Old-Time G&Ts
One evening, me and Luis wound up having a gin and tonic in one of our haunts from years back: El Café del Rey! This little spot was located just behind our old office, and I’ve many memories of lunching there with the team.
King for the Day
At one point, and as part of her regular little gift packages from England, my mum sent over an inflatable crown. Not sure what to do with it, I took it to work, where it’s still making the rounds to this day!
Pinchos for Days
When Thuy stopped by Madrid for a few days, we went out for some Basque food to catch up. One of the highlights was this bao-style dish, which contained a whole crab!
December
The Big Breakdown
When our car broke down on the side of the motorway on our way to Manchester, I was reminded by my safety-conscious sister that we should move away from the car without delay. Once the tow truck showed up, however, I was free to take a selfie by the wet and cold roadside.
British Haute Cuisine
Whilst back in England for Christmas, there was no way I could leave without trying one of the grossest foods that we have: the battered sausage!
And so we conclude the second instalment documenting some of the highs and lows of this great year of 2019. A year of new adventures and familiar faces with my return to Spain, it’s been yet another amazing year spent with some incredible people.
This evening I shall count down the hours until 2020 in my flat, as I’m now nearing 25 and feeling more and more like an old lady every single day! I wish everyone a happy and prosperous year, and can only hope that everyone is welcoming the new decade with as much excitement as I am!
With work becoming busier as we head into the festive period – something which has struck us all as quite strange, as things usually begin to quieten down during the winter months – I’ve been dedicating most of my spare time to chilling out and recovering at home. I did, of course, have a wild trip back to England thrown in the middle, but other than this, it’s been a rather rather tranquil time!
Because of this, this blog post is much more of a visual diary rather than an account of anything particularly interesting. This isn’t to say that I didn’t get up to anything, however, as I had a lovely catch up with María from work over some vegan burgers, and have also spent plenty of time cooking and cleaning at home.
My little trips around the city and the daily commute to the office have allowed me to observe the lovely colours of autumn as we moved into November (and now December?! How has that happened?). I’ve collected a few of these photos below, so enjoy the little visual diary of this Spanish autumn!
As we are now (somehow) already one week into December, I should really update you all on my Christmas holiday plans. I’ll be back in England for ten days over the festive period, but I’ll be back in Madrid to welcome in the New Year, and so I have spent a whopping 3.50€ on decorating my flat for the yuletide…
First thing’s first: hello there again! If you checked my site over the last couple of days, you may have been greeted by a rather terrifying security message, but I assure you that there’s nothing to be worried about – I just forgot to update some security settings. I’m now back online, and just in time to tell you about my latest crazy weekend…
As the title suggests, just last weekend I made a whistle-stop trip to England, during which I packed as much as I could into a mere 36 hours. After leaving the office at 3pm, I nipped by my house to pack (I am a very relaxed traveller these days), and then headed straight for the airport for 6pm in order to catch my 8pm flight.
Landing in England around 10pm, I didn’t waste a minute in leaving the terminal and searching for my parents, who kindly drove over to Manchester to pick me up. The car journey back to Burnley provided a good chance to catch up for a while, as we arrived at home so late that after just an hour of chatting over a drink we all headed for bed.
The next morning, I was up bright and early and hitching a lift down to Burnley Town Centre in order to get my haircut at my 9am appointment. I chatted for a while to my hairdresser, finally had my mop chopped, and then headed into town to sort out some issues with my bank and then for a quick reunion with Amber and Jess!
Burnley was as grey and damp as it always is.
The three of us were reunited in Little Barista, a lovely independent coffee shop in the town centre, and had a rousing chat over some festive hot chocolate and herbal tea. This was the first of many catchups which was to be cut too short, however, as I soon had to be driven back home by Jess in order to re-pack (yes, already) my bags and head out for lunch with my parents.
Lunch really couldn’t have been at any other place than JJ’s, an unsuspecting canteen at the side of a rural road which serves up some of the best classic British dishes going. I was soon devouring some of their infamous homemade steak puddings, complete with chips, mushy peas, and plenty of salt and vinegar! The meal was delicious as ever, and served as as a fitting but somewhat premature farewell to my parents, as they dropped me off at Danni’s house for the next part of my speedy adventure…
I couldn’t go wrong with a weekend full of good food, old friends, and meeting new dogs.
Whilst being reunited with Danni, I was also introduced to her new dog, Lottie, who didn’t take a shining to me but was gorgeous nonetheless. We caught up at her house whilst awaiting the arrival of Abi, whose birthday present we had all prepared – a customised bottle of vodka! When she showed up and received said gift, it was soon evident that it would be joining the three of us as we headed on to our next destination: Leeds!
Once in Leeds, me and Danni checked into the hotel we’d booked, sneaking Abi in as a cheeky extra guest for the night. Dropping our stuff off and buying some drinks for later, the three of us then (eventually) managed to catch a taxi up to Belgrave Music Hall, one of my favourite haunts from my uni days and one of the finest purveyors of pizza, burgers, and chips in all the land.
After some drinks and burgers accompanied with a huge tray of delicious “session fries” (chips topped with pancetta, pickled jalapeños, and a whole host of other tasty delights), me and Danni had to set off at quite a pace: we’d a concert to get to!
The concert in question was Sigrid, who I’ve been a fan of since stumbling across her on Spotify earlier this year. We did end up arriving quite late and hence had to take up our position at the very back of the stalls, but we had a great time anyway, jiving along to a host of her best hits.
During the concert, Abi had headed back to the hotel to get ready and bring us back some drinks, and we were then reunited in the streets of Leeds to head out on the town! After an impromptu photo session in Victoria Quarter, we headed on down to Call Lane and some old uni haunts, as well as some new clubs that I’d never been to before.
As the three of us are getting old and wizened, the night didn’t go on for too long, and we were soon back at the hotel and waiting for our food delivery. This delivery, it turns out, was not to be, and so we were left stranded and food-less, a solution to which I found in marching myself back to the train station and picking up a McDonalds for the three of us.
I tried my hand at a spot of festive photo-bombing.
The next morning, we all woke up surprisingly fresh, although I had a suspicion that my clear head could easily make way for a lingering hangover later that Sunday. There wasn’t much time for contemplation, however, as I’d to be up, showered, dressed, and at Layne’s Espresso for brunch with Luisa, Rhea, Em, and Lincoln by 11:30am. I really didn’t stop during this trip!
Adding to the weekend’s food woes, I received a message from Rhea whilst en route to Layne’s to inform me that she and Luisa were already there, but that the place was packed and that I should probably have booked a table in advance. Panicking, I was saved when the two of them rang another local spot in a moment of quick thinking, and I promptly informed Em and Lincoln that the location had changed. Hurrah, breakfast was saved!
The reunion thus took place at Wapentake, a lovely and relatively new little bar that I’d never been in before, but which served us all a delicious slap-up breakfast. By this point my head was beginning to pound, and so I ordered a Bloody Mary to go with my full English, a choice I soon regretted as I was reminded just how spicy they can be…
I had a lovely chat with the four of them over breakfast, with the whole group letting each other know what they’d been up to and how adult and work life was panning out for them. All good things must come to an end, though, and alas I eventually had to leave for Leeds Train Station and head back to Manchester for my return flight.
As you’ve probably noticed from the sheer speed through which I have run through all of my activities, I was absolutely knackered after cramming three cities and a shedload of events into a mere day and a half. Needless to say, I dozed off a while on the flight back, but even so this week I feel like I am still recovering from the exhaustion!
It was all worth it though, as I had an absolutely fabulous time, and I’m now just looking forward to this coming weekend of total relaxation at home. I’ll certainly need it too, as this week at work we’re super busy with lots of exciting new projects coming in. More on that to come!
