Remembering Running with the Bulls
Guido was rummaging in the attic last weekend and found his old blood spattered pañuelo and faja (the sash and neckerchief worn by the runners in Pamplona). This week is the festival of San Fermin and the news this morning that a runner was gored to death made Guido feel a bit misty-eyed. The second week of July every year for a decade from Guido’s mid-twenties to his mid-thirties would see him in Pamplona doing the run, usually with his brother or friends. As a veteran of some 30 runs it is fair to say it was an adrenaline addiction – partying all night and running for your life in the morning. Hangovers clear fast when you hear the rocket fired that signals the release of the bulls.
In a sterile world of safety belts, safety helmets and safety nazis, the Pamplona bull run is a glorious celebration of the irrational side of the human spirit. They say that an old man who has not risked his life for his country feels less of a man than an old soldier, so to have never risked your life must be far worse. To risk your life makes you feel more alive. Guido prays the cloak of San Fermin will protect los corredores who will run this week and wishes he was with them. May God have mercy on the soul of the corredor who so vicerally lost his life: Saludo!
There’s an awesome photo in the Metro as a bull jumps over loads of lads shitting bricks.
That is in the ring – you crouch in front of the pen gate and they open the door and the bull comes charging out – if you have the balls you stay put and hope the bulls jumps over you. It is hard to keep your nerve and your instinct is to jump out of the way in the face of half-a-tonne of beef coming towards you. Sometimes the bull just ploughs into the crouching corredores…
Pamplona hospital’s emergency room is super efficient. Guido can personally vouch for it. They sewed his face up with some skill.
Guido: “Pamplona hospital’s emergency room is super efficient. Guido can personally vouch for it. They sewed his face up with some skill”
Proof though that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear…
And I hope you paid for treatment of your self-inflicted injuries!
Nice to see the Spanish have a responsible attitude to health and safety.
I’d pay good money to watch Ed Balls take part. But if he’s called Balls, he ain’t got the cojones.
guido, just read about your adventures at Pamplona. You must be a bit sick to be prepared to bate animals in that way! There must be other things you could do to give you your ‘kicks’. Having spent a large part of my life in Spain, I can say that the ‘sport’ is not looked upon by most Spaniards as anything but an ancient ritual (like bull fighting) that is continued for the sake of inane tourists. Sorry, but I feel very strongly about this, and am also very much against bull fighting.
Short of a few Bulls to stage your own Pamplona run ?
Why not find a few drunken idiots and persuade them to run about the middle of a busy road away from the oncoming traffic with you ?
Jobs a goodun.
bearskinhoontessa: I wouldn’t fancy your chances against a bull in a game of chess. Best stick to the headless chicken act, eh?
I would forego the ‘skill’ comments if I were you, Guido! beauty is in the eye of the beholder – so I wonder what the fair Mrs Guido ever saw in you!!
Presumably all that bull-running kept you slim in those days. Pity BS nowadays doesn’t have the same effect!
Nonsense. I’ve seen you on telly. You should have sued the buggers.
Bravo el matador. Mais Mais.
Meanwhile the unctous, odious ElBeebo W@1 dragged up some spotty Scots lassie married to a Spaniard in Madrid to decry the whole fiesta as “cruelty to animals”.
B*llocks.
The number of interfering do-gooder expat Brits fanned out across the continent demanding (in loud English tones to the exclusion of all other European tongues) an end to bullfighting and corridas a la Pamplona, while giving succour to mangy pestilent alley cats in catteries they set up in every blasted village where they regrettably settle, closely followed by a donkey sanctuary and associated fund-raising fetes with more noise about outrageous exploitation of manky donkeys everywhere in Europe (except the sanctimonious UK), soon associated with an anti-hunting, shooting and fishing league, followed by a give-a-lost-baby-wild-boar-a-home campaign, is nauseating.
If these people paid as much attention to loving and caring for kids and dining en famille as the Latins do, they might find their children far better and more enjoyable company than all their shonky anti bull fighting tosh.
I say- “when in Rome ….”,
if you donta lika da bullfighta donta go to the bull ringa.
Forca forca, el glorioso matador el Guido Rebentar con todos.
We were there last year locals just love to see the canon foder
run with the bulls especialy turists, the Police are on hand with
long sticks just in case you fancy taking some pictures of the
bulls while they charge at you .
Perhaps we could organise something similar through Westminster.
I was thinking that – but the animal rights brigade would go mental…
Perhaps we could strap some horns to Harriet Harman, pump her full of crank, and let her loose in the commons.
Interesting idea.
Harriet Harman with a strap-on horn – spare me please – the image will be stuck in my head all day, unless Guido comes up with a good caption competition photo
The only person allowed to see Harriet Harman with a strap-on is Jack Dromey, and that’s only if he turns around.
Are you sure only Kack Dromey has that pleasure? You might think that, though I could not possibly comment…
Westminster is so full of bull and bulls..t, probably nobody would notice the real bulls………….
Bullocks!
Speaking of Bullocks: “In the midst of a financial downturn, the UK government is planning to tighten regulation of its banking sector, including greater oversight of bonuses paid to staff…….
……….Industry experts are unhappy with the government’s decision of not splitting the troubled banks. Stephen Spratt, Chief Economist at New Economics Foundation, commented: “We have only 170 bank branches per million people in the UK, compared to 520 in Germany and 960 in France. This is hampering our recovery and undermining enterprise and will only be worse after the crash unless the government sets out plans to break up the failed banks to create the new regional banking system we so urgently need.”
http://www.banking-business-review.com/news/uk_to_overhaul_banking_sector_regulations_090709
The Hemingway of bloggers.
Afraid I’ll be cheering on the bulls old boy.
Me too. Leave the bulls alone FFS you stupid Spaniards!
Fuck off you anonymous Huhne!
No. Why don’t you run along and hopefully get gored to death as well? I think it’s pretty unlikely you’ll have sired any children (you have to have full sex with a lady for that), so your timely demise will have the added benefit of removing your animal-torturing genes from the pool. Arsehole.
Gored to death by a bull, or bored to death by a fool. Which to choose, which to choose?
Blunket tried it with a cow and got creamed.
Here, we couldn’t even tolerate something as tame as foxhunting. We tried to ban it, not because it caused pain to the fox, but because it gave pleasure to the hunters. Fortunately the ban has been defeated by the bravery and dedication of many who valued freedom, but not without loss of life at the hands of the Puritans.
What a load of bollocks.
You could try it again now, instead of being misty eyed…
The bulls might have a better chance
Mrs Fawkes wants her children to have a father.
How about the mothers who want to keep their children? How do you think your mother would have felt if you’d been gored to death? I doubt she’d have been too impressed.
Sorry old bean, but it’s not a sport, it’s sanctioned borderline-suicidal recklessness.
I doubt anyone would approve if the crowds were told to go running barefoot through streets of discarded hypodermics with a few used and infected ones thrown in for good measure.
You may point out that I’m a nasty old safety nazi. And maybe I am. But I’m also concerned with more than just the effects on the individuals who harm themselves. It goes far wider than just mindless but ultimately self-imposed idiocy. And just perhaps there’s a little too much of the anarchist about you?
Generally, I agree with most of what you write. But not in this case.
More B*ollocks.
Stay home and watch English footie hooligans if European traditions cause you so much angst.
My word. Safety Nazis from 1991.
Guido. I think that you have bought to the fore a very important point and a defining line between NewLiars and those that see through them.
NewLiars at every turn try to suppress the Human Spirit, suppress Individuality and ultimately reduce the individual to a clone for the State, and I for one fucking dislike them and that intensely.
We are born with an inate sense of wonderment and adventure. That should be nurtured and allowed to develop not be seen as something to be controlled.
you didnt click on the link did you?
Did now.
I was careful with my words not to mention any party affliations. Perhaps I should have said Politicians in general. It’s just that I feel this particular mob seem intent on manipulating the masses to the nth degree. Fucking Killjoys.
Trying to be a dispassionate observer on these things: health and safety seems to grind on whoever is in power. Just nice to remember the last lot didn’t like dogs or parties in fields.
I don’t trust the newspapers either, they like nothing better than a fake story about banning conkers (from memory, they should have banned it at our school. I’d have been more confident with a playground full of spanish bulls).
Another candidate for a Darwin Award…
What a dumb thing to do. Isn’t living in ZaNuLab Britain dangerous enough?
Wot with less traffic police (though lots of revenue cash scameras) to maintain order on our roads, police officers killing bystanders and beating peaceful protestors, etc. etc.
Bread and circuses.
The displaced rage of the suicidal might better be channelled into completing the original Guido’s unfinished business.
Pamplona would have been a good place for Blinky to have visited. You can just picture the blink count going off the scale as the bull rampages towards him. Great place for Labour to have a party conference!
This risk of your life is such an important aspect of living – and the sort of people who support Nu Lab just don’t understand it.
I ride my motorbike at silly speeds sometimes just to remind myself of what is actually important in life – the possibility of dying within the next few seconds helps you focus!
The alternative is sending a bull into the corridors of Westminster and removing the ultimate cause of my stress – possibly more fun, but a hell of a lot more hassle!
Stop bullshitting, you fat bastard. You couldn’t run to save your life.
you from Labourlist?
Shame about the sacrificial killing of a bull before the run. Very brave of all concerned … not.
Do they eat it?
Probably has to be well hung, like me!
Don’t you mean ‘hanged’?
Shame about the sacrificial killing of hundreds of British soldiers and thousands of Iraqi civilians, then bottling out and leaving the country in the clutches of an unelected Scottish sociopath!
But at least little foxy-woxy was saved to scavenge urban dustbins!
Stilyagi, do you know Ann Arbor?
It’s where the Stooges came from – that’s all I need to know.
foxy-woxy … urban and stuff – oh come on, say what you really mean.
Dr. Johnson said: “Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”
These NuLabour ministers. Have they ever taken a real risk? Have they ever really stuck their necks out? Have they ever had to get their hands dirty? Apart from one or two, have any of them had to live the life of the working class for more than it takes to get through university and in to the luxury of a cosy political appointment?
Sod the Pamplona bull run, give them three months at the sharp end in Afghanistan. It might have a salutary effect on the UK’s foreign policy.
Hang on, the summer recess is coming up. Hmmmmm… that gives me an idea!
How about sticking the king of bullshit, Gordon Brown’s, head up the rear end of an angry Bull so he can be shit to death?
Running with bulls is dangerous but not as dangerous as running with scissors.
Gore blimey!!!!
At my school we were told not to run in the corredors.
Shouldn’t that be correodors?
Looks like an ‘elf ‘n safety nightmare. I’m surprised they allow it.
Well PN, the EU has most probably issued a safety directive against such practices but the bold Spaniards have most probably ignored it.
However, if the EU did the same for cheese rolling in Gloucestershire on the grounds of Elf ‘n’ Safety, ‘cos somebody might get hurt, we’d cave in and abolish a great English tradition.
elf n safety, Spain, I think not
My top hat Bollinger chums and I always chortle at johnny foreigners feeble animal cruelty antics. They have a bally long way to go before they reach the dizzying heights we fox torturers achieve. Hearing an innocent canines agonised screams as it is torn limb from limb is the best way to get wood, one knows.
Yep, the screams are similar to the noises made by the chickens massacred by Red Reynard on my farm. Sixteen killed and only one eaten, cruel or what?
Sir, might I respectfully suggest you are more confused than Prince Harry on Fathers day? Animals never kill for please, only our tally-ho chanting betters are reserved that privilege.
What, like those mink you released years back? Go dig up a granny, you athropomorphic twat! Cats do it all day long!
My cat does. So did my excellent Jack Russell, who absolutely loved killing rats. As does his replacement terrier. His biggest joy in life is to lurk around until a rat is stupid/brave enough to put in an appearance and then kill it. Dead. He also kills baby rabbits, which he eats. But rats, he just kills ‘em and looks mightily pleased about it. He and I have a lot of fun killing the rats and putting the shits up the local rabbit population.
My chicken keeping acquaintances also assure me that foxes like killing chickens.
A question DC, which takes longer to die, a fox caught by hounds or a fully grown cow ritually slaughtered by having its throat cut?
Which practice have you had the courage to ban in the UK?
Don’t know much about animals, do you? They wouldn’t be nasty like that, would they? Because they’re all too fluffy and cute.
My Matalans suit sperm-drinking International Marxist Group comrades always chortle at the way useful disposable idiots leap to our defense when animals are mentioned, and forget the children being murdered every single day as the direct result of our ideological plans! More guinea-pigs to torture, Mr Livingstone?
It’s not about risk at all, it’s about freedom. Elf n safety wrap it up as ‘risk’ but what they’re really about, and their New Labour masters is restricting freedom. Freedom is entirely incompatible with the lefty bureaucratic state and must be stamped out. So they’ve developed two arguments – risk, and a new religion, MMCC. Nice combination designed to trigger the flight or fight reaction and to fill that little gap for Faith that exists in all of humanity.
Not me of course. And I suspect not many of you either. I am a heathen petrol head with a freedom problem. Well, more of an authority problem really. Do some good. Be a bureaucrats nightmare.
On the subject of risk Lola, I had a conversation with a chap. He has no neck, his head is shaven, he weighs about eighteen stone and much of is body is tattooed. He also has a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. I asked him why he had a “Staffy” he said it made him look hard. I suggested a really hard bloke would have a miniature poodle. He got the point and laughed, he still has the Staffy though.
Hats off to you Guido! Has to be said though, running with the bulls in Pamplona will have helped you prepare yourself for running against the bullshitters who infest troughminster and their media milk cows who routinely take it up the jacksy from the heifers of spin. Then there’s all that bullocks to content with. I think we should have a ‘running with the cows’ event here in the UK. Lets start with a line up of all the remaining ‘Blairs babes’ and make them run along Millbank, we could all wave our willies at Harperson that’ll get her mad as bull!
Any Spaniards in the running ?
Seems like they got neutered once Aznar left.
Yeah, I was gonna say that running with the bulls in Pamplona would be good preparation for working in our office, although the latter is a slightly more dangerous environment, due to the presence of a number of feminists.
I can vouch for pamplona hospital too , my mrs broke her leg last year , they did an excellent job on it .
long may it continue , you can guarentee it would have gone the same way as fox hunting has if this shower had any say in it.
In my day the other memorable sight in Pamplona was the ‘dry humping’ in the town park. Never saw it anywhere else.
As they say – “Can’t stand a joke – shouldn’t have joined”
Nice one Guido
Shouldn’t that be viscerally?
A regular little Ernest Hemingway, this Guido character!
Fuck Hemingway, thank the Caudillo for sparing Europe from communism.
descanse en paz
Short of a few Bulls to stage your own Pamplona run ?
Why not find a few fellow alcoholiic morons and persuade them to run about the middle of a busy road away from the oncoming traffic with you ?
Jobs a goodun.
Ah, if only the bulls got a few more! Sharpen the horns and tie down the idiots.
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