The Catalan Way is on the road for the next couple of months.

I am travelling around the UK visiting family and friends before arriving in Cornwall and celebrating The Feast of Saint John in Penzance. Otherwise known as Golowan!  Midsummer is  a big celebration in Catalunya too and also centres on the  feast day of Sant Joan but I thought it would be lovely this year to have it in the UK. And there will be several Catalans coming over too. But more on that later!

I have slipped behind with posting – not from lack of ideas but time has suddenly speeded up and I don’t like the feeling of trying to catch up so I am going to just start where I am, right now.

Which, today is Glasgow

 I arrived yesterday at Prestwick airport and as always was surprised by the emotional impact of landing in Scotland. I haven’t lived here since 1980 – 34 years – but I still get a feeling of fullness in my chest when I arrive whether by train, car or plane.  I worked in the airport cafe when I was 16 but it is totally unrecognisable now.  I like this feeling of things changing – when you stay in one place it happens slowly but as soon as you move away it seems to speed up.  I say I like it but sometimes I am not so sure – change means excitement but also loss and I need to feel the balance is right between change and stability otherwise I start to lose my footing.  This visit there will be a lot of change to take in – including storm damage in Penzance, my friends new home in Norfolk and my Cornish cabin with no animals beside me

There is always a feeling of coming home when I arrive in Scotland.

Home.  What does that mean?   There are so many off pat answers but I am still exploring it.  Wouldn’t it be nice to really feel that home is wherever you put your hat?  

I always enjoy the first moments of speaking English and not having to think before I open my mouth. When the man at the sweetie counter said “See you later” I felt something different than when people call out “Hasta luego”  but I don’t really understand why.

Troon station with its new translation into Gaelic which seems odd as noone there speaks it. We are not in the Highlands – it’s Ayrshire!

 Glasgow Central station is impressive as always.  A metallic palace.  Opened in 1879 and now a listed building.

You don’t see so many women wearing headscarves as you used to when I was young

These tiles are a little reminder of Barcelona, as you walk out of the station

There was a chill wind out on the street while I waited for my sister to come and pick me up. Weather and where to live – that is yet another interesting line of thought.   How much does the weather really matter and why was it fine for me when I lived here and now I seem to be all soft and weak and want sunshine? 

I am in the afterweek of my birthday and as always it makes me think too much about age, time and change

Add to that the strong sensations of returning to my birth country and also that I am to travel for a month and you will see that I need perhaps a large whisky, a hot curry and an evening of playing cards with my niece. which is exactly what I have to look forward to this evening! 

See you later!