My best and Worst Neighbours

I have lived in quite a few different houses and flats in my life what with having moved around the world a lot and so I have had quite a few different neighbours: Seamus, the Irishman who used to come to our house every Sunday to play cards with us when I was between the ages of 13 - 18; the young couple who lived in the flat downstairs from us in my first flat in Portugal who were constantly (and justifiably) complaining about the noise; the sweet old lady who lived next to us in Granada, who had an enormous portrait of General Franco in her flat!!(We found this out after she had mysteriously disappeared and  the workmen who were doing up her flat left the door open for us to go and have a snoop. However, I am going to tell you about the best and worst, both of whom were my neighbours when I lived in Spain.
Lets start off with the worst: When I was about 27, I moved into a flat in San Sebastian in the Basque Country with a neurotic nurse and a student called Gonzalo. It was in an old building and I remember Ana (the nurse) warning me about the neighbours downstairs, a man and woman who were in their fifties or sixties and were apparently bother and sister. Ana told me to take my shoes off in the flat because the noise travelled and these people downstairs were a bit obsessive about that kind of thing. Well, little did I know how insane these people were.
On one occasion, they caught my flatmate Gonzalo on the stairs and "accused" him of opening drawers too noisily! For my part, I tried my hardest to make as little noise as possible, but obviously they had zero tolerance, and in the end it became uncomfortable just arriving home because they would be waiting on the stairs to complain about "walking around the flat in shoes" and other ridiculous things. On one occasion two of my sister's friends came to stay, Tim and Bubbly. They were very colourful people - he had spiky blond hair and looked a bit punky, and she was a very attractive Indian hippie type. When the woman downstairs saw us going out one day, she launched into a tirade about how could I bring this "scum" into the building!! And of course, I remember well the day I moved out. As I was passing her door with my bags, there she was waiting for me, with a large kitchen knife in her hand if I remember rightly, and shouting something like "Good riddance to you and don't come back!"
As for my best neighbours, they were two students called Igor (from Italy) and Sean (from Chicago) who lived downstairs from us (me and my flatmate Martyn) the first year I lived in Granada. Well actually, Igor was a student and Sean had just gone over to Spain with his guitar to busk and hopefully get some classes from one of the Spanish guitar maestros. We all hit it off immediately and practically every evening either they would be in our flat eating and drinking, or we in theirs. We were all pretty young and Granada is a big student town, so we had a pretty good social life, but I remember that Sean often had no money, so we would pay for his drinks all night if we went out to bars just because we wanted his company. Actually, he is still one of my best friends. I went out to see him in Chicago a couple of years ago, he's been here to visit me twice, and we might be meeting up for a week this summer in Colombia or Ecuador.
I wish I had a photo of us all to show you but in those days, I was too busy getting drunk and having a laugh to worry about taking photos ;-)

Task
Write a description of your best and worst neighbours, with a little introduction like mine about some of the neighbours you've had and then a paragraph about the best, and a paragraph about the worst. Remember to say who they were, what period of your life you had these neighbours and why they were so good or bad.

Also, remember to comment on at least 3 other students' posts.

A Place I Spend a lot of Time

Being British, I am much more of a tea drinker than a coffee drinker, but having lived in Spain for eight years, I really learned to appreciate the café culture of the Mediterranean region, and so I learned to drink coffee, not so much because I liked the drink, but because I liked the culture that went with it. So, I like spending time in cafés and one that I really like to spend time in is a Uruguayan café near my house, called Café Palermo.

I have been going there now for about three years probably. I initially started going there because it was open on a Sunday and weekdays until eleven o'clock. That sentence may sound strange to people from another place or another time, but when I first came to Chile, one of the worst shocks for me was how difficult it was to find a café open on a Sunday. I was reminded of that Morrissey song "Every day is like Sunday" as I walked around on a Sunday afternoon unsuccessfully trying to find a place that was open.

Of course, it wasn't just the opening hours that I liked. The way the place was decorated also caught my eye. The decoration is very artistic (not that I know anything about art) and also very cosy inside, which makes you feel happy to sit there for hours. I remember that after I had been going in there for about a year, I noticed that they had put a bath tub in there with flowers growing in it and a glass top which turns it into a table - It's one of my favourite things in there.

I go there just to get out of the house sometimes. I read, do my marking, or just do a bit of people watching - it's better than watching the television. I have to mention that they do a really great passion fruit cheesecake in there, which I think I am addicted to and also that the staff are really friendly. As for the coffee, I guess it's ok, but as I said, I am not a connoisseur - for me the drink is secondary to the experience.

So if you get the chance, I suggest you check it out (I am not on commission!!) You'll probably see me in there!
http://www.cafe-palermo.cl/

Instructions
Write about a place (outside of your home and workplace) where you spend a lot of time. Include:

1. A description of the place
2. When you first went to this place
3. Why you go there and what you do there
4. What you like about it

Then comment on 3 other people's posts, both on the content and the language.