Who would like to buy a damburger?

Since 'Meet the Parents' that I didn't laugh so much during a movie. 'The Pink Panther' with Steve Martin is a must! He is perfect in the role of Jacques Clouseau! His over the top French accent was perfect. The highlight of the movie was Inspector Clouseau's English lesson! Enjoy.

How does the Spanish ride usually end?

The Spanish media usually has a blindly enthusiastic view about their national football team.
Just before the WordCup started I went on a daily basis to the web site of a Madrid based sport newspaper to follow up the perspective our hermanos would be exposed to. European and World Cups usually work as a roller coaster for the Spanish team - they go really high really fast and then it all comes to a sudden stop, leaving the audience astonished by how once again their team is out of the ride so soon.

Buckle your belts and get ready for a very special Spanish WorldCup ride that will take you from June 14th to June 28th. All of the following are front covers of the Marca sport newspaper (for some strange reason that I don't understand I'm only able to load one image cover. So you will have to trust on my translations).

JUNE 14th

BRAZIL, FRANCE, ITALY, ENGLAND, ARGENTINA, GERMANY, NETHERLANDS HAVE ALREADY PLAYED...

Have you seen any team superior to Spain?

JUNE 15th
SO MUCH BRAZIL, SO MUCH ENGLAND, SO MUCH ARGENTINA, SO MUCH GERMANY... AT THE END WE ARE THE BEST
We are going to win this WorldCup...
YOU HAVE LEFT THE WORLD WITH THE MOUTH OPEN

JUNE 17th
ARGENTINA PUTS HERSELF AT THE SPANISH LEVEL
We'll see eachother at the final
If we are both group champions we can only meet in Berlin - It would be the dream WorlCup duel

JUNE 20th
THE FANS NEED TO SEE ANOTHER BIG GAME SO THEY CAN STOP PINCHING THEMSELVES...
You'll see it wasn't a dream

JUNE 23th
AL-DEAYEA, THE SAUDI GOALKEEPER IS ONE OF THE WORST OF THE WORLCUP - FOUR YEARS AGO GERMANY SCORED EIGHT GOALS TO HIM- TODAY HE'LL HAVE TO FACE AN UNSTOPPABLE SPAIN
You are going to take a lot

JUNE 24th
We are going to retire Zidane
WE'VE MANY PAST ACCOUNTS TO RESOLVE IN THE BEST GAME OF THE 1/8 FINAL
1-0 TO SAUDI ARABIA - WE WIN EVEN PLAYING BAD

JUNE 27th
YOU HAVE A STRANGE SENSATION IN THE STOMACH - YOU ARE IMPATIENT - IT'S HARD FOR YOU TO SLEEP - YOU FEEL LOST - SOMETIMES YOUR LEGS SHAKE - YOUR HANDS SWEAT - YOU DON'T HAVE APPETITE - YOU MOUTH IS DRY - YOU HEAR VOICES
You are afraid,
France is in
PANIC!

JUNE 28th
DON'T CRY
WE HAVE A TEAM AND WE'LL BE BACK

What is the umbrella for?

Went happy for a London business trip thinking I could escape for some days Bologna's inhuman temperatures. The worst aspect of the weather in the Emilia Romagna is the humidity. In Portugal it can get much warmer but but it's dry - one sweats under the armpits and on some other less ventilated areas, but that's it! In Bologna the sweating is not that localized.

On July 19th I got the hottest July day in London (36.5C , 97.7F) since the British started keeping temperature records. It was warmer in London than in Miami, Athens, Ibiza, Crete, Malta, Nice, Tenerife and Saigon. The prenvious hottest July day was in 1911, when Epsom, Surrey, reached 36C (This curious info and refreshing photo courtesy of the BBC and The Times).

The hottest place in Portugal and one of the hottest in Europe is the small village of Amareleja where the temperature usually arrives to the mid 40s during the summer months. It seems that the hottest temperature ever registered in Europe was in Sevilla in August 4, 1881 with 50C. Amareleja is very near the Portuguese/Spanish boarder and about 160 Kms from Sevilla.