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