15/12/11 Two weeks only to the end of this year, thank Bumba. And a mere twelve months only to the end of next one. I can’t wait to see the back of 2012, with its impending horrors. Like the flapping (a more accurate adjective than “flipping”) Olympic games just down the road from where I live, and the Jubilee hysteria all over the country, to mention but two. Stil, I’m not going to go into one, right now. 2011 has been a year of mixed…whatevers. I daren’t speak of blessings, see. The Shoggoths are thriving and may soon have their own book, if I get my shit together, finally. The other Animals are doing well, too. The Wee Worms have sprouted a variety, or a mutation: The Very Slightly Evolved Semi-Podded Kin. You can see two of them in the picture. The pic itself is called The Ambassadors II because I’m still working on The Ambassadors I, a wee tribute to that darling hardy perennnial of mine, Iain M. Banks. Me…I’m OK now. I had a Big Health Scare but it seems to be over, for the time being. Ought to teach me not to get so fucking complacent. In theory. Update 01/01/12 Happy New Year, then, in spite of the bad omens. And (por mucho pan nunca mal año…) a genuine pic of the state of my living room “the morning after” the party. Still standing: (on a stool) Rosie, shocked at the state of the Celestial sardine and trying to protect the little Squid, who’s obviously been corrupted by Emiliano’s antics, Spot of the Anctartic -always the totally cool dude, his Worm pal (just about) and, technically, Emiliano. Not for long, I think… (giggle). Update 01/02/12 It’s nice to see I’m still alive, if a tad catatonic. The doodles trickle still and that’s good. For me anyways. Here are the two latest. The b&w one is for several Spanish poets who have, somehow, helped in these crappy Latter Days. The garish one of for Arturo Perez-Reverte, whose short weekly articles/rants for a Spanish weekend paper I’ve recently “discovered”. The plot is, in a nutshell: The central heating breaks down in the middle of winter. Next thing he knows is that his living room is full of..Penguins!!! Yes, that’s why I like the guy. At his age, he’s still capable of infiltrating this kind of sillyness in otherwise perfectly serious diatribes. Bless his angry socks… Late Update. 13/02/12 A few weeks ago the best bar (Bar Prize) in the best barrio (St. Antoni) in the best city (Barcelona) in the best country in th world (Spain) (according to its owner Xavi -the best man in the universe accoding to me), turned 20. Under Xavi’s peerless, inefable hand, that is. Here’s my tribute to him and his work/baby. Happy birthday darling Prize.