alfonso manuel lejaretta

i like to travel across europe. in my car. so i do. and sometimes things happen and on the road from bilbao to skopje, where i'm going to spend a week in dec. at our family-estate together with friends, i stopped at a little roadside restaurant near vitoria-gasteiz. the owner was sitting outside. wife and grandchildren, too, and because i have diplomatic numberplates he came over to ask where i was from.

after some talking, i sat down at the table outside for tapas and local sherry, and then his old friend showed up. we talked some more and his friend and i began to come to the conclusion that his father and my grandfather had not only fought on the same side in the spanish civilwar but both had been captured by german troops and brought to a war-camp on the french side of the pyreenes. and not only that. both had also escaped and went to live in hiding in marseille that winter. the winter of 1938.

we sat looking at eachother. the owner filled our glasses. noone could believe this was happening.

after some years his father settled in santander and lived a quit life as a carpenter, raising four children away from the ww2, whereas my grandfather took a joint brigade through the balkan as a soviet cononel, before he settled in skopje and did the same. well, he also raised four children, one being my father, but then got called to the moskovskij kreml for some time before finally moving to split with me which is another story.

but like i said. i like to travel by car across europe.

what else is news? a cultural associate from the english embassy invited me and a few others out for dinner in san sebastian. our third meeting this year. the discussions are progressing, somewhat fruitful, i could argue. yet, it's also very slow in some aspects but still. and the seafood in town? forgettit.

okay. here i'm waiting in the lobby. soft music coming from hidden speakers. charles aznavour, i believe and so i start contemplating: this is a good life, lukasz. people are friendly. and look at that painting. do i have milk? i need milk.

i looked around. why was noone greeting me? but but but. as usual i had been the last one to arrive so i was actually waiting for people who had already left the building!

let me guess, said my greek colleague to everyones amusement when i finally got to the restaurant. it was the tie?

some people have to live like this and they work until they get fired and they are all over the world and you see them all the time and their lives consist of problems and all kinds of trouble and police is always a constant and socialworkers come and go and men beat up their wives or kids and things get stolen or get lost and it's always somebody elses fault and they get aggresive over nothing because nothing is something they know and it's all they have so they protect it with a fierce you rarely get to meet outside a warzone and so you better look out you, you with the camera, fuck you!

this is the outskirts of cordoba and a little kid threw a rock at my car

i love this game. pilota. or pilotaleku. or pelota. all depending on the region. well, it makes absolutely sense as a sport, i think.

a ball. and a wall. and they just use their hands because that's easier.

i sit hours and watch them crack it against the wall. young and old, doesn't matter to me. the sound is like a pistol being fired. i sit and jump all the time but everyone is use to it. it's just part of the noise in the city, like carhorns or shouting and so forth.

the dogs or cats never even look up?

this picture is. well, i'm on my way to the beautiful but rather dull city of san sebastian. once again i recieved a call and once again i mistakingly took it meaning that i'm suppose not to work but i mean. it's not always easy.

but yes. i went to a meeting between various independent groups, it was oddly enough a UN-funded gathering and i was there with belgium-representitives for an independent flandern and wallonien. there were also groups from euskadi, katalunia, wales(!), lombardia, a greek-kypros delegation and others.

and all of a sudden. around guernika i was back in liège! the stretch on the highway lasted about five minutes and it was filled with old cars and cranes, rubbish piles and broken signs and so forth. it was the outskirts of liège and it was in the north of spain and i took this photo with my cellphone doing 100 miles an hour because i was late and whatelse is news and maybe that why i need a break so come on lukasz!

bilbao this afternoon: humid. cloudy with chances of rain. i'll be in my room, reading klaus mann, smoking a cheap cigar and maybe having a tio pepe with it. tomorrow i'll visit friends in casco viejo.

sep 09.

i was in town so they asked me and sure. today, i've been ghostwriting a speech for belgium diplomate xxx who is giving a small private lecture at guggenheim on european culture prior 1985. in the background, of course, is the museum. my family have endorsed substancial fundings over the years so it was an honour to finally meet juan ignacio vidarte and alicia martinez.

in the kitchen in my home in genève i have a framed picture of my father and i together with antonio milososki when antonio and i were boys. antonio always talked about buildings and the great german architect mies van der rohe. today antonio is minister of foreign affairs in my home country the republic of macedonia and he has been in my thoughts today looking out at this spectacular building from the terrace of the hotel.