Diving into poetry: Bristol Poetry Festival

After wandering around the streets longer than I would have expected, I finally got to the Landsdown, a traditional British pub located at Clifton Village. Honestly, the pub is not very difficult to find but sometimes it is just better to simply follow your instinct rather than trusting the navigator.

The Lansdown Pub is a very welcoming and cosy place. The main bar has a personal touch which makes the pub very special and there is a great range of local beers, ales and ciders available. I found the outside area very attractive too, which can be used along the year as it is covered and warmed up with gas heaters, perfect for a dinner either in summer or winter. 

Above, the outside of the Landsdown (source)

I ordered my pint of Hartbrook (£4) and I went upstairs at sharp 8pm. The Dead Poetry Slam took place in a multifunctional room they have upstairs available to hire for private parties events and shows. After politely rejecting an offer to be a judge of the slam, I found a very nice place at the corner of the room.

Wearing a hat, Trevor Carter described the contest for those who had never been to a Poetry Slam before, like myself. A Dead Poetry Slam is a competition at which a number of poets (in this case, eight) read or recite original work of dead poets for three minutes and the perfomance is judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience. One of the judges was Jeremy Toombs, who won the poetry slam last year.

I was very impressed by the contestants, who recited poems by John Betjeman, Emily Brontë, Walt Whitman, Charles Bukowski, Kathleen Raine, Constantine Cavafy, Roald Dahl and Geoffrey Chaucer. The audience absolute favourites were Steven, reciting by hard the funny poem of Roald Dahl "The Pig", and Mark, who chose Geoffrey Chaucer for a very expressive recital imitating a very irritating and complainer woman. Both went to the second round together with Rebecca, who did a great performance of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman.

In the picture above: Roald Dahl (source)

Before the second round, there was a 20-minute break to stretch our legs and grab another drink, Trevor Carter and Jeremy Toombs read some of the poems of their new released books (both of them available to buy) and Barry Lane performed a few songs with his guitar. The second round concluded with Roald Dahl at third position, Walt Whitman in second and  Geoffrey Chauces as the winner.

This Dead Poet Slam is part of the Bristol Poetry Festival, which officially starts next Monday, 30th September and the agenda is full of events. Yesterday, for example, The Isambards: poets for Brunel provided 60 minute of original poetry with a Brunel flavour on a slow boat leaving Temple Meads at 1.45 pm wending its way to SS Great Britain. Tickets for this event were already sold out on Monday, though I'm sure ticket holders had a wonderful time along the Avon. Other highlights for next week:

1. The Bear Inn will host a free even 30th September called The Spoke in the Water, sparking words and images from The Spoke.
2. Arnolfini will host the National Poetry Day next 3rd October in two sessions (morning and evening). Tickets are 5 pounds (concessions 3) for each session and 8 (concessions 4) for both sessions.
3. Advance booking is advised for Bristol Poetry Festival Open Poetry Slam in Arnolfini next 4th October.

Check the website or click on the programme at the end of the post to start planning your week.

I leave "The Pig" by Roald Dahl for your own entertainment! 

In England once there lived a big

and wonderfully clever pig.

To everybody it was plain

that piggy had a massive brain.

He worked out sums inside his head,

there was no book he hadn't read.

He knew what made an airplane fly,

he know how engines worked and why.

He knew all this, but in the end

one question drove him round the bend:

He simply couldn't puzzle out

what LIFE was really all about.

What was the reason for his birth?

Why was he placed upon this earth?

His giant brain went round and round,

alas, no answer could be found.

Till suddenly one wondrous night

all in a flash he saw the light.

He jumped up like a ballet dancer

and yelled "By gum, I've got the answer!"

"They want my bacon slice by slice

to sell at a tremendous price!"

"They want my tender juicy chops

to put in all the butcher's shops!"

"THey want my pork to make a roas

and that's the part'll cost the most!"

"They want my sausages in strings,

They even want my chitterlings!"

"The butcher's shop! The carving knife!

That is the reason for my life!"

Shuch thoughts as these are not designed

to give a pig a great piece of mind.

Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,

a plail of pigswill in his hand,

and piggy with a mighty roar, 

bashes the farmer to the floor...

Now comes the rather grizzly bit

so let's not make to much of it,

except that you must understand

that piggy did eat Farmer Bland.

He ate him up from head to toe,

chewing the pieces nice and slow.

It took an hour to reach the feet

because there was so much to eat!

And when he finished, Pig, of course,

felt absolutely no remorse.

Slowly he scratched his brainy head

and with a little smile he said,

"I had a fairly powerful hunch

that he might have me for his lunch. 

And so, because I feared the worst,

I thought I'd better eat him first."

LINKS
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The Landsdown: http://www.thelansdown.com/
Bristol Poetry Festival: http://www.poetrycan.co.uk/

Whoever says the UK summer is not sunny is a liar

"Summer in the UK is when rain gets warmer", someone told me once. However, this sentence is not entirely accurate if we have a look back and review weather statistics of this summer. A heat wave hit the UK from the 3rd to 22nd July this year, bringing the driest, warmest and sunniest summer since 2006! 

It has been the driest since 1882, when continuous rainfall records in Bristol started. Between June and August, the rainfall was 133.0mm (when the average is 211.1mm) and we had an average temperature of 18.4*C, making it the 10th warmer summer since 1891, when continuous temperature records began in Bristol. 
Basically it did not rain until mid-August. I heard people complaining about the heat wave, "It is too hot!". But I knew that deep inside, they would love each summer to be as hot as this one. In contrast to the summer in 2012, I smile every time I think of the sunny warm days, with maximum temperature of 31.2*C last August, when Bristolians enjoyed the sun as if we were lizards, lying in the sun, because "All lizards love to lie in the sun".  

You can see daily climatic readings took in Totterdown during August in here. 

Nevertheless the Met Office say this summer was not an unusual summer: "While this summer is warmer, drier and sunnier than the long-term average, it hasn't been exceptional. It stands out because the last six summer have been wetter than average, with 2012 and 2007 both being in the top five wettest".

So, visitors: UK's summers can be dry, warm and very sunny!!

Let's get ready for Autumn now...

NOTE: Diagram took from Met Office website.

Tokyo Dub

Castle Park has a non-stop programme. This Saturday 28th September takes place the Tokyo Dub Festival. Tickets can be purchased online (http://www.bristolticketshop.co.uk/events.aspx?q=tokyo+dub) for £32.50 but can also be bought in The Bristol Ticket Shop (BS1 2DP), Idle Hands (BS1 3QY), Cooshti (BS1 5NU) and Shop Dutty (BS6 5RW). Tickets are expected to be sold out by Friday so you must hurry up!

Click here to see the complete line-up. Highlights: Benny Page Blackboard Jungle, Boddika, Breakage, Buggsy, C@ In The H@, Channel One Soundsystem, Circoswing, Coki, Coxsone, Dark Sky, Don Johnston, Dreadsquad, Dub Boy, Dub Invaders, Dub Mafia, Dub Pistols (DJ Set), Dub Terror, Dubkasm, Dutty Moonshine, Earl Gateshead, Electric Swing Circus, Evermoor Sound, Flowdan, Full Dub (Live), Gardna, Gypsy Unit, Icicle, The Instrument Of Jah Soundsystem, Iration Steppas Sound System, Jackmaster, Jacky Murda, Jah Lokko Soundsystem, Jah Tubby’s World System, Kahn & Neek, Kromestar, Lenzman, Lionpulse Sound, Loefah, Lunatrix... and many more!

Tickets for the official afterparty are sold separately (£16.50) and the same wristband allows you to party at 4 different venues from 11pm to 5am: The Attic, The Bluemountain, The Old Coroners and The Bank.

LINKS

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Website: http://www.tokyodub.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TOKYO-DUB/178667638855782

Facebook event:https://www.facebook.com/events/153132178199541/

Tickets:http://www.tokyodub.com/?page_id=21

Gromit fever

After being spread around Bristol for 10 weeks, the 80 Gromits of the Gromit Unleashed exhibition (plus a secret one) have been one next to each other in the show called The Greatest Dog Show on Earth. They have been displayed in Beacon House from last Wednesday 18th until today, 23rd September. 
The "Gromit Fever" grew fast and many people wanted to visit the exhibition to raise money for Bristol Children's hospital, creating massive queues.

The first day, Wednesday, the queue was up to 3 hours long. Neither organisers nor visitors were expecting such a long queue on a Wednesday. On Thursday, despite the rain, queues started hours earlier than the opening time and organisers started monitoring the queues and estimating queuing time on Facebook. Social networks got busy and visitors started suggesting an extension on the opening hours: "I think before its all over, you really need to rethink opening times and stay open much later for workers and people travelling from far", said someone on Facebook. 

Friday queues were similar to the day before. According to the comments on Facebook, people heard about the long queues and they were prepared for a 3-4h wait: "I'll bring a book, iPod and iPad..." or "Take some books, snacks and a smile, and you'll be fine". General opinion in the queue was positive: "queues went quickly with people chatting", "sharing experiences, it didn't feel anything like that long", "everyone was in good spirit"... 
Good weather absolutely helped as well as the organisers and volunteers, who were bringing food and drinks to the queue. 

On the other hand, there were people saying "queues like that are just ridiculous", "looking to come straight from school on Friday but concerned that we will be queuing and maybe not get in as won't get there until about 4pm", "6pm is nonsense!" and they asked for an extension: "Can you at least extend the opening times as its obviously popular?", "one more week, please!"... Due to the overwhelming popularity of the exhibition and the feedback received, opening hours of the exhibition were extended on Saturday, probably the most critical day. 

Saturday morning started with 4h queue but in the afternoon it became into a 5-6h queue, when it was temporarelly closed at some points of the day due to the massive amount of people joining the queue. On Sunday, the queue reduced to 3-4h and today, Monday, surprisingly there was a maximum of 1h30min queue and a minimum of 40min!!

Nevertheless, the opinion about the exhibition is unanimous: "it is worth to wait the queue".

For this event, the key to avoid the queue was to volunteer for the exhibition: "So glad I am volunteering and won't have to queue! Very excited to see all the Gromits together!".

Have you been there this weekend? Don't be shy and share your own experience with us!

Note: Pictures have been taken by visitors attending the exhibition. Thank you very much!

LINKS
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Related topics: "Where is Gromit?"

Bristolian Cake

A little bit of cooking this time. The other day I came along this recipe while surfing the web. It said it was called Bristol Cake, but I am not really sure how Bristolian it is. Whether or not it is a real Bristolian Cake, I decided to give it a try. And it happened the result was pretty good!!

This is all you need:

• 100g Butter
• 150g Sugar
• 175g Flour
• 75g Currants
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Grated Rind of Lemon
• 4 tablespoonfuls of Milk
• 1 tablespoonfuls of Baking Powder
• 1 Egg White

How to do it:

1. First, warm and beat the butter to a cream and add the sugar in one bowl. 
2. Take a second bowl and beat the eggs, adding sifted flour to it. Add the mix to the butter and sugar and beat the mixture well. 
3. Once you have an homogenous mixture, stir in the currants, lemon rind, milk and baking powder. 
4. Pour the mixture into a greased round cake tin and put it inside the pre-heated oven (180ºC). 
5. Bake the cake for about 50 minutes at 180ºC. 
6. Just 10 minutes before the cake is done, brush the top of the cake with egg white and sprinkle well with sugar.

And the resulting cake is...

NOTE: to read the recipe on its original source click HERE.

BrisFest: an excellent way to say 'goodbye' to the summer

Yet another festival to come before Autumn hits the city: BrisFest is a non-profit celebration 'showcasing rising stars and future talent from the region alongside international hearliners', as the official website describes the event. The music festival will be held 21-22 September in Ashton Court and 15 stages will cover many music genres as well as comedy, circus and art. The weather is forecasted to be nice (English speaking), between 13-19ºC and rain is not expected any of the days.

BrisFest is called a 'community festival'  as it is organised By the People, For the People. Local volunteers work har along the year to make this even happen, which benefits to local artists and the city of Bristol too.

Apart from the main stage where bands like Toodla T Sound, Dr Meaker, Yes Sir Boss and The Boxettes will play, there will be eight medium stages with very varied music styles: Fabio & Grooverider, Kurtis Blow, Young Kato, Daisy Chapman, RSVO Bhangra, The Mankala, DJ Cheeba, Bucucrasu, Clayton Blizzard and many more.

The festival will open Saturday from midday to midnight and Sunday from midday to 11pm. Organisers said on twitter they are close to selling out again this year so you'd better get the tickets soon in this link. First and second releases are already sold out, and tickets are 35 pounds for both days (which does not include accommodation or camping). Once you purchase the ticket, they will be emailed so you must print them and bring them with you both days.

A few weeks ago, Bristol 24-7 said that organisers were also urging people to volunteer. I am not very sure how the situation is right now, but I am sure any extra volunteer will be welcome. If you are interested, contact getinvolved@brisfest.co.uk

For more information, check the official website: http://www.brisfest.co.uk/info/

First Bus smartcards coming in 2014?

Five days ago, BBC published in their website that the director of transport Peter Mann announced new smartcards could start next year for Bristol First Bus travels. The company has been considering the implementation of the cards since 2008. On the other side, The Post announced beginning of August that Bristol smartcard may not be introduced "as quickly as many would like". The most recent change First Bus introduced in their fares is the 3-stop hop, which was reintroduced after a consultation on bus fares in January.

Apparently, this future card will work in a similar way as the Oyster Card in London. Oyster Card is an electronic smartcard where the user tops up pay-as-you-go credit for travel and the cost of the fare is deducted from the credit. No need to mention that fares are cheaper than paying directly to the bus driver.


Picture taken from http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/transport-national/oyster-card/

Being First Bus fares the most expensive local bus fares I have seen in England (compared to Leeds or Oxford, for example), I would be more than happy to have a smartcard introduced in Bristol public transport. At the same time, we will reduce our expenses in local bus travel and finally get rid of those paper tickets that get faded very fast.

For Bristol area, the most common tickets in Bristol are as follows:

• Single ticket: For example, £3.30 (from zone 1 to zone 2). 3-stop hop ticket £1.
• FirstDay:  £4 (zones 1&2) and  £6 (zones 1,2&3). If you are using a FirstDay from 7pm on, you will only need to pay  £2.90 and you can travel until 03:59 next morning. 
• FirstWeek:  £16 (zone 1 or 2),  £18.50 (zones 1&2) and  £22 (zones 1,2&3)
• FirstMonth: £60 (zone 1 or 2),  £68 (zones 1&2) and  £84 (zones 1,2&3)
• FirstYear:  £530 (zone 1),  £630 (zone 2),  £800 (zone 1&2)

Single, return, day and week tickets can be bought directly to the bus driver. For the rest, should be bought either in the office in the Bus Station or online. There are other tickets available for those who travel every now and then, special offers for students studying in Bristol universities and schools, families and visitors (check Bristol First Bus website for more information on tickets).

Finally, What does the GLPCB's reader think about the possible introduction of the smartcard?

LINKS
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• BBC - Smartcard: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-24049665
• The Post - Smartcard: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bus-firm-hints-Oyster-card-long-way/story-19636683-detail/story.html#axzz2fAt3KuSZ
• The Post - Consultation bus fares: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/hold-consultation-bus-fares-Bristol/story-17994742-detail/story.html#axzz2fAt3KuSZ
• First Bus Bristol: http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/tickets/bristol/
• What is Oyster?: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14836.aspx

Bristol Cathedral

Founded in 1140, Bristol Cathedral located in College Green is one of the most magnificent religious buildings in the city. This romanesque gem presents a combination of Medieval architecture, with stone walls decorated with series of patterned carvings, and Gothic and Victorian additions.

It was Bristol's doors open day last Saturday 14th September, and the tour up to the impressive tower of Bristol Cathedral needed to be booked on the day. We arrived too late, though. As soon as we got to the Cathedral, we were told all visits were already full for the rest of the day. As I had never been inside the Cathedral, we decided to have a look.

The main view of the building as you enter is magnificent and apparently it is a highly unusual building for several reasons. It was conceived as a "hall church", which means that the aisles are the same height as the choir and it is a very rare design in Britain. The nave, with clustered columns and Purbeck marble shafts, as you can appreaciate in the picture, gives an effect of elevation.

As you walk down the aisle, you see most commonly used  altar (upper leftside picture) and the main altar of the Cathedral, only used for specific days such as Christmas and Easter (lower rightside picture). 

For the Doors Open day, they showed the clothes, plates and glasses they use during those special occasions. A very nice volunteer nearby reminded us that the Cathedral is an alive church and therefore, all items we could see there was currently used. 

As you walk by the Choir and get to the main altar, I suggest you pay attention to the Victorian decoration behind and how it merges with the rest of the building.

Following the rightside aisle, you will get to Berkeley's Chapel. Although it cannot be appreaciated in the two upper pictures, It is a place packed with very beautiful details. 

The lower pictures were taken in the Lady Chapel, which was built in 1298, and in my opinion, it is the most beautiful corner in the Cathedral, with tall windows and very colourful decoration.

There is another chapel on the left, Elder Lady Chapel. It is called the "elder" Lady Chapel because the other Lady Chapel which was added after this one. Pay attention to all windows too, they impressed me quite a lot!

As I have already told you when I posted about the Lord Mayor's Chapel back in April, my occupational habit made me pay attention to the organ this time too. It was made Renatur Harris in 1685 and it was rebuilt 1860. 

Cathedral's official website say "there were several features of the organ shich were old-fashined even for 1861, and with the new nave in the 1870s, it was no longer adequate to serve a building which had doubled in length". 

So, the organist Hubert Hunt modernised the organ in 1901. 

Finally, two extra things I would like to mention:

• Did you know there is special training to ring the bells of the Cathedral? 

There are volunteer roles available to people that want to exercise their creativity such as Bell Ringers, Flower Arrangers and Sewing Team.

• Did you know you can visit the Cathedral from your own home?

A very nice volunteer in the main altar told us that the Cathedral's webpage has a virtual tour on Google where you can see the inside of the cathedral. It was recorded in Easter so all the flowers and decoration that you can see in the virtual tour are expressly located.

LINKS
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Bristol Cathedral (official): http://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/
Bristol Cathedral (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Cathedral
Post about Lord Mayor's Chapel in this Blog.

I will never miss the bus again!

It's been a years since the application Bristol Bus Timetable has been in my Android phone and I have barely used it. As far as I remember, it took too long to upload the app and it was the least user-friendly application I have ever seen.

However, and I am not sure why, I switched on the app this morning while waiting for the bus and to my surprise, it was converted in something useful, somehow. You can configurate your Bristol Bus Timetable to tell you when exactly the bus will depart from your usual bus-stop! The only thing you have to do is to save your usual stops (up to 10) and check them. 

I am not very sure when they added this feature which is new for me, but with Live Bus Departures, I will never miss the bus again. I can check from home if the bus is late or not, and run to the bus-stop if I need to. If you have no internet connection in your phone, do not worry; you will still be able to check bus timetables once you download the app.

On the other side, the application has still some features missing. It works if you know the number of bus you want to take, or the name of the bus stop you want to get in. It's not useful, though, if you want to know what bus to take to go from where you are to, let's say, the Tobacco Factory. Developers, you have something to work on! :)

If you are interested, you can download the app here.

Bristol opens doors to you!

If you have friends visiting, this weekend is the ideal weekend! For its 20th time, Bristol is inviting everybody to visit its many historic buildings. During the day of Saturday 14th September, Bristol Doors Open Day 2013, many Bristol's buildings will be open to the general public to visit between 10am and 4pm (unless otherwise stated) offering free visits and tours. 

There are brochures available in the Watershed, which is where I got the information for this post.

BRISTOL DOORS OPEN DAY 2013

Buildings in the OLD CITY such as Bristol Old Vic will provide backstage tours first come first served basis (just from 10am-12pm), there will be regular tours at the Corn Exchange, St Stephen Church and the gothic building Guildhall currently used as an Arts Centre.

In BROADMEAD and ST PAULS, buildings such as The Old Fire Station, St Wesley's Chapel and St Pauls Church will be open for you to visit. 

In WEST END, Colston Hall, the largest concert hall in Bristol, will provide tours backstage and down into its deep cellars from 10am to 3pm, and booking is required for this case (for bookings call 01179223686). Bristol Cathedral, if the weather permits, will have tours up the Tower which needs to be booked on the day. 90-minute tours to the Central Library and the chance to visit Bristol University's Theatre Collection are some of the activities. 

And in the HARBOURSIDE, At-Bristol will have 8 hourly tours (booking required) and the MShed will be open until 6pm and will provide behind the scenes tours of their industrial and maritime collection which must be booked in the day.

These are just my own highlights. There are obviously more activities programmed in different venues in Bristol Doors Open Day this year. I suggest you take the brochure in the Watershed and start planing your Saturday. :)

Picasso's Gernika in Bearpit

When I passed by Bearpit today, my heart skipped a beat when I saw Pablo Piccaso's most famous painting (on the right). Guernica, or "Gernika" with basque spelling, is the name of a Basque town in the province of Biscay, very close my hometown, sadly famous because Nazi's air-bombed the town the last Monday of April in 1937. Pablo Picasso showed the tragedy to the world through this world-wide famous artwork.

When I first mentioned the painting to local people, I was surprised to discover that just some of them recognised Picasso's painting, and even fewer people knew the meaning of it, or what it represents. That's the reason I am writing this post.

In Gernika, every Monday is market day, when farmers trade their goods, and afterwards perhaps watch a pelota (basque sport) game at the local court. Monday market day has always been considered as a holiday in the town. The town streets get busy, it's a social day of the week. 

The day was strategically chosen by Hitler to send the Condor Legion to support dictator Francisco Franco's troops to raze a town full of individual and innocent civilians to the grounds. The location, Gernika, was also strategically chosen by Nazis, as Gernika is a specially relevant town in the Basque Country because of its political importance: the Basque Meeting House has always been located in Gernika, next to the famous Tree of Gernika. By the ancient tradition, Basques held assemblies under an oak tree to discuss matters affecting the community. And Basques were not to Francisco Franco's liking, on the one side for not considering themselves Spanish, and on the other side, for speaking what he called a barbarian language and for having barbarian traditions.

Bearpit exhibits the first part of a three-part show about activists and activism titled How does an activist eat potatoes? which celebrates "the diversity of people who have worked hard to make a possitive difference", as said in the public notice about the exhibition. The second part is Smash - Activist China Now!, which shows ceramics at the PRSC Selling Gallery and the third part  is Love and Resistance, a public survey concerning acts of care and defiance.

Very interesting exposition, recommendable!

PS: This post is dedicated to my grandma as well as to all those thousands of Basques who left all their scarce belongings at home in order to run away and save their lives. And specially to those who couldn't make it.

When the Mongoose Hunts

Mongooses are small carnivorans who live in southern Asia, southern Europe and Africa. They are between 0.3 and 1.2 metres long and there are 33 species; some lead predominantly solitary lives, seeking out food for themselves, while others travel in groups, sharing food among group members.

You will probably ask: "Why is she talking about mongooses when mongooses cannot even be found in Bristol?" And you are right, mongooses do not live in Bristol. We cannot find mongooses in the city. Nonetheless, there is a story written in Bristol and that's how I first heard of this animal.

When the Mongoose Hunts is a short story written by Simak QaQa, a friend of mine from Bristol. The story was written some years ago and has recently been published by Amazon for Kindle. 
A mysterious man goes about the dangerous business of a professional assassin. The attention to detail, the meticulous planning and the ability to take decisive action make this particular assassin a credible employee. However, not everything goes to plan, and the successful assassin needs to also learn to adapt when things go wrong.

I encourage you to read the sample of the story available in Amazon. Even if you don't own a proper Kindle, you can download the app for your Android for free.
Read the beginning of the story, I'm sure you will be intrigued to read the rest! 

"The taxi was an old vehicle, a lot of the interior had already wasted away, and the damp and rank smell of unwashed cloth lingered heavily. The driver didn't have much English, if he did, he might have asked what a blatantly non-Asian face was doing in the heart of the slums of India. It was dangerous for any man to be here, let alone a foreigner that wore decent clothes and was well fed. The driver slowed down the car, he was turning roung in his seat for his fee. The fare, to the delight of the driver, handed over was about 8 times as much as the normal citizen would pay. Fool, he thought.

The foreigner now walking towards an Indian bed and breakfast knelt down and tied an imaginary shoe lace, putting his suitcase on the floor next to him. As he got up, he left the suitcase on the floor and carried on. If anyone was following him, they would jump at the chance to get his suitcase, leaning on the fact that the foreigner would either think it was stolen or that he left it on the taxi. But he had made sure there was no one in close proximity when he got out of the taxi, anyone who would take his bag now would be a tail.

He carried on in his direction towards the bed and breakfast. Walking in through the open door, a damp, rancid smell descended on him. He looked around. There was a man sitting on a desk in one corner, with the rest of the hallway bare, apart from a door that probably led to the rooms. The walls were yellowing at the top, and they all had a dead creamy colour. He had picked this particular place because he had been informed that the landlord could speak some English. He spoke to the man on the desk. After a few short minutes, a room was arranged, and the foreigner paid for seven days in advance.

The foreigner was led up to his room, then, as he was being shown his quarters, he dramatically noticed his briefcase outside. This was good, there was no tail, walking down to retrieve his briefcase, he reflected on his decision to pay the taxi driver excessivelly. Although the driver was suspicious he was content, this would be better than having him suspicious and ready to jump at the opportunity to earn some points with the law.

No time could be wasted, although seven days rent had been paid for, three days would be the maximum time allocated for this task, two days would be ideal. He walked out of the bed and breakfast. He had learned the map of these streets by heart, and headed towards a preplanned destination. The time now was approximately 12pm. The streets were similar to all countries that were called the third world, dusty and broken up with garbage littering the streets. With the clothes he had borrowed from the landlord, and the heavy turban on his head, his white face would hopefully be unnoticed. Maneuvering throught the streets, he reached a row of small shacks. He approached the back door of one such shack and knocked in pre-arranged code. The door opened slightly, and a muzzle protruded from the crack. 'Even the rich get sick these days,' said a heavily accented Indian voice. 'Then I'll hide the medicine' said the foreigner. The door opened and the man was admitted. 'So, you are the wolf.' He could tell the man was looking him over. Analyzing the stiff facial features, the athletic build. It almost seemed like he was sizing him up. This worried him. 'What shall I address you as, my friend?' the indian asked. 'Call me by the code you have been given', came the reply. 'Then you shall be called Mongoose"

Fragment of When the Mongoose Hunts by Simak QaQa

LINKS

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Buy When the Mongoose Hunts HERE