| On a blisteringly hot day in Malaga in the | | | | you're sitting in the sun or the shade with |
| summer of 2001 whilst away learning Spanish | | | | the latter obviously being the most coveted |
| in the Andalusian city, I resolved to see my | | | | and therefore most costly. As the afternoon |
| first bullfight. With my father being a long | | | | sun cast its light over half of the arena, I |
| time Spanish teacher I had often heard about | | | | looked around and noticed that the bullring |
| his trips to the bullfight with his students | | | | was by no means full as the first bull came |
| and I also had vague recollections of a | | | | skidding and pounding out of the enclosure. I |
| television programme watched whilst on | | | | was at once struck by the sheer size and |
| holiday in northern Spain commemorating the | | | | power of the creature, specifically bred to |
| death of a matador - a horrific goring was a | | | | be as aggressive and unpredictable as |
| shocking sight to an eight year old boy and | | | | possible and weighing somewhere in the region |
| had left me with mixed feelings about ever | | | | of 600kg. Straight away the giant animal |
| going to a bullfight. Part of me attracted by | | | | crashed into the wooden fencing surrounding |
| the spectacle and what it symbolises in | | | | the bullring, smashing a hole and rendering |
| Spain's cultural heritage, and part of me | | | | itself unfit to fight on account of it's |
| reviled slightly as a young man with a fairly | | | | injuries. A replacement bull was sent out and |
| weak stomach for gore and blood. | | | | the spectacle was underway at the second time |
| | | | of asking. I sat back with my bag of |
| Tickets were secured early in the afternoon | | | | sunflower seeds and my beer (trying to look |
| for a surprisingly large price. I discovered | | | | the part at least) to watch the drama unfold. |
| prices varied massively depending on whether | | | | |