Taking Smartie for a Spin – An off-topic indulgence

This entry has very little to do with music, but I wanted to share it with you anyhow.  Miki and I decided to ‘supersize’ our daily visit to the swimming pool in Vera, by turning right instead of left after our swim. I’d spied an ad in the local free paper which mentioned a mysterious ‘pink house’ which served a number of interesting comestible for just a euro each. Everything. Just one Euro. I conveniently ignored the fact that it would probably cost us 20 euros in fuel to get there and back as it was tucked away off the Autovia in a place called La Concepcion.  I ignored it because of one magic word in the ad. Waffles.

As any of you who have read  Cafe Crem will know, we became addicted to the waffles served up by the Waffle house chain in the States, so it was imperative that we at least try something similar to ease our craving.  It was also a chance to go for a blast in Smartie, which I had studiously cleaned the day before.

Top down, with Donald Fagen‘s luscious Morph the Cat album insinuating itself from the speakers, it was a wonderful afternoon out. The Smart Roadster really revelled in the winding roads that greeted us as we left the highway, and I was reminded of what a pleasure it is to own a maneuverable little rag-top like this down here in sunny Almeria. It’s driver’s heaven – miles and miles of empty roads!

Miles and miles of empty roads - Lovely!

Miki opts for the alternate air-conditioning system

When we finally arrived at our destination, we found that the food was great, not just the waffles, but the falafel and baguettes too. But the Pink House was much more than a cafe, it was treasure house of the bizarre and peculiar!

Not yer average Slumberland, this. Egyptian ceremonial bed, quite naturally, adjacent to the cafe.

Egyptian beds, Moorish chairs and tables jostled for space with a fully complete beautifully carpentered pulpit and staircase and female shaped lounge chairs that perhaps started life in a brothel. It was a very cool place, and a perfect stopping off point on a drive out.

Blue Smartie, Pink House

On the way home, Miki wanted to photograph the Yedesa factory. It’s a bit of a local oddity. It looks to me like the owner lives on site, in a Moorish styled house complete with prayer tower, and he’s livened up his factory by painting it in a host of colours and surrounding it with trees!

The Yedesa Factory. I think I'll write to David Cameron and ask him to make the ICI plant in Middlesboro' psychedelic....

All in all, it was great to get out and about. It’s something we forget to do, and it’s easy to take for granted what a great part of the world we live in. We should always make time to enjoy it.

Me, enjoying it.

The Smart Roadster, quite possibly purpose-built for the open roads of Spain.

Kev Moore