…it’s been several weeks since I made it into the sea. My last visit to the Peniche peninsula was somewhat hampered by cranial mucous infestations so I was relegated to photographer on this obscenely offshore day at Molho Leste.

I miss surfing when I’m landlocked. I miss the connection with the sea. I miss the water on my body. I miss that magical moment when your board sweeps perfectly to the lip of the wave just as it’s pitching over and the power drives up through your legs and body and gets transferred into speed, movement and adrenalin. I even miss that moment when you push a rail too hard, your fins lose their grip  and the sea claims another wipeout victory…

I didn’t surf today - but I did think about it when the brain weevils weren’t eating my head too loudly…

A couple of days ago a very nice man from Eastern Europe gently took some of my blood whilst asking me random questions about my health and peered into my eyes and ears. He then sent me for some chest and head X-rays (just to make sure that I hadn’t confused my sinus issues with lung cancer or some kind of cranial injury). The blood tests then came back and we summised that I didn’t have a host of other diseases or injuries completely unrelated to sinuses.

Just when I was beginning to lose faith in modern medicine he sent me to the ENT (ear, nose and throat) department where a real doctor probed the innermost sanctity of my mucous membranes with an unfeesibly long (well lubricated) instrument and proceeded to explain very clearly exactly what happens when a cheap airline lands too quickly for cranial barometric equalisation to occur efficiently and the partial vacuum formed in the front portion of your skull gets filled with blood instead of air (via a burst blood vessel). The full and correct diagnosis being acute frontal sinus barotrauma.

So now I have a course of turbo-strength antibiotics (that will also deal with malaria and syphilis saving me a trip to the other clinics I had planned) to zap the infection left by the ‘incident’. Also a barrage of drops and sprays to try and dislodge all the gunk up there. Nice…

Of course normally I’d expect dinner and a movie before allowing a complete stranger such intimate access to my cavities but he did ask very nicely and he promised me a lollipop afterwards…

I didn’t surf today.

…not much to do in Santurzi on a Monday morning when your boat is late. Maybe have a coffee or listen to big swarthy men hitting big bits of metal with big manly hammers in the shipyard. Wander around for a bit. Sit over there for a bit. Wander over there and sit down again. Take some photos of stuff.

Next thing you know there’s only five and a half hours to go…

I didn’t surf today. Or Monday.

…the Pride of Bilbao is a big boat. 12 storeys big. 6 restaurants, 5 bars, a casino, 2 cinemas and a swimming pool big but when we were heading out into the Bay of Biscay on Monday afternoon and the enormous ground swell that had marched across the Atlantic to greet us started tossing the boat around like a toy it suddenly felt very small…

I’ve been across the Bay more times than most in the last 20 years (with the possible exception of a long haul trucker called Dave and the woman who wears the furry dolphin suit during the Bingo) and am extremely lucky not to get seasick but when you wake up countless times in the night in freefall a foot above your bunk things do get a tad queasy (I ended up tying myself down with a sheet).

Unfortunately the decks were closed during the worst so I couldn’t get the pictures I really wanted but these will give you some idea of the movement we had to endure…

I didn’t surf today but I bet Mundaka was hooning…

…keep alert during during these long winter evenings - extra hours of darkness and lower air temperatures severely increase your chances of being vandalised.

By teeny tiny vandals.

(Bigger version here)

I didn’t surf today. (Thanks ‘Inner city snail‘ for most of the original picture!)

…I was doodling again and realised that this drawing may confuse some people who cannot fathom the hidden meaning behind this rather momentous piece of art.

I could regurgitate a montribal spew using words like juxtaposition, unrealised potential and dichotomous tension.

But in the end it’s just a naked man in a spotlight with a banana hanging over his head (you can see it full size at my flickr page).

I didn’t surf today.

…I am supposed to say how Daddy P has affected your blogging life. Here goes…

Pestering, invasive, juvenile, idiotic, old.

Oh and git.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I didn’t surf today. (I had 60 words? Whatever…)

…George W Bush once said “They misunderestimated me.” and he was right.

What on earth will the satirists do now that Barack Obama is President of the US of A? He’s charismatic, intelligent and articulate and quite likely capable of running a country.

We’ll miss you George W. but not in the way you would have hoped for…

I didn’t surf today.

…well not me but Papersurfer is.

According to various statcounters I’ve had over 65,000 visitors, written nearly 300 posts, had over 3000 comments and caught nearly 4500 pieces of spam.

To be fair most of those stats are from Daddy P (you have no idea how many times I’ve marked him as spam - but he keeps coming back).

I’d just like to send a big wet bloggy kiss to anyone that wants one and say cheers for spending time here.

I didn’t surf today. (Tango went back to Canada yesterday  - boo (to turn the gas off and let the cat out apparently) but she’ll be coming home soon - yay).

PS - If anyone wants to see any really early posts from before the days of Wordpress when I used to handcode everything (including the birth of Daddy Papersurfer) there is now a link in the sidebar.

…Papersurfer Junior loves Halloween so tonight as a special treat after school we will carve pumkins, roast pumpkin seeds and then dress up in gruesome costumes and go scare the living shite out of the neighbours.

Then (if he’s been a good little boy) he can stay up late and watch a movie or two. I’m thinking ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘The Shining’ then maybe ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ just to help get him off to sleep…

I didn’t surf today - too busy sharpening my carving knives…