Author: Kate Wilson

Tomorrow

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Tomorrow – Friday – we can have a virtual vermut together if you would like to join in!

Oreneta said she might be able to come! And perhaps Bodhi Chicklet as well. Everyone is very welcome and you don’t need to bring anything but a friendly face and a smile.
What does it mean?
Just that I will have a real vermut and perhaps a little bowl of olives and will tell you some of the things I might say if we were really sitting outside in the sunshine sharing a drink. A Friday evening wind down.
The weather is forecasting rain all over Catalunya so perhaps we will need to sit inside and listen to the patter of raindrops on the terrace. How cosy!
See you then….

Plastic bags

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

It is a bit cloudy and windy here today. I cycled to the gym and had a reasonable session while watching last nights football game on the large TV screen. It made a change from the gyrating girls and iron pumping music. But I was wondering how they could bear to watch it again knowing that Barça lost. Surely they weren’t Madrid supporters??
On the way home I saw a large black plastic bag flying high above the tallest flats, filled with air and heading purposefully towards the river. I wondered where it would end up and if anyone would ever take it to the recycling bins that dot the city.
Cycling against the wind meant I had to half close my eyes to avoid the small bits of gritty dust that seem to permeate the Granollers air.
Just as I got closer to home, cycling on the pavement to avoid crossing to the other side of the road, I slowed down for two children with their grandparents. Both boys were on little bicycles and the bigger one – perhaps 4 years old – was wearing a plastic bag over his head!
I was so intensely schooled in the idea that PLASTIC BAGS CAN BE DANGEROUS that I almost fell off my bike in surprise. Noone seemed troubled by this small head totally enveloped in plastic. Was this yet another example of how over protected British children are? When I was young I remember my mother putting holes in all plastic bags in case we suddenly got the strong urge to put one over our heads and take a sharp inbreath.  For me it spelled INSTANT DEATH but for them it was obviously only a pretend helmet.

Somewhere to eat in Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

(I am sad to tell you that this restaurant has since closed down)

Thanks to Tiffany we went to try out the Lebanese Restaurant Baalek in Granollers. What a joy to be able to choose from different vegetarian dishes instead of asking for something meaty to be adapted for me. We started with Baba Ganoush and Falafels and then there was veggie rice or couscous

The woman serving was actually from Morocco – a long way from Lebanon but she said the owner is Lebanese.  There was absolutely noone else there at lunch time but apparently it gets full in the evenings when men come to use the hubble bubbles.
Why didn’t I take a photo of the Baclava? It was delicious and so was the hot sweet mint tea

Duna Goes to Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ 6 Comments

We went to the Earth Fair in Barcelona today.
On the programme they suggested arriving in a green manner – by bike, on foot or in a train.
So we walked to Canovelles station (I didn’t know it existed before today!)  and Duna took her first journey by train

 We got off at Arc de Triomf which is right beside the entrance to Ciutadella Parc – a place that is full of tango memories for me. There is a bandstand there called La Glorietta where you can dance for free every Saturday in the fresh evening air. But the park has a darker history as a whole neighbourhood was destroyed after the 1714 defeat of Barcelona by the Spanish King Phillip V. He built a large fortress to house the invading army – a star shaped citadel or ciutadella. This was demolished after 1869  when General Joan Prim (famous street name in Granollers!) handed it back to the city. They started to create the park in 1872 and now old arsenal of the citadel houses the Catalan Parliament.

Duna took it all in her stride – the people, the traffic, the other dogs. But her favourite bit was the long row of food stalls.

The Middle Eastern Tea tent offered Mint tea, a bit of shade and some peace from the crowds

and a little bowl filled with biscuits

Then the train home and by now it was familiar so no wild eyed staring at every station.
Home and dinner and sleep. Not really a city dog she would have preferred taking the train in the other direction to Vic and the mountains and maybe that will be the next trip.



Where to Live?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

We went up to Montseny again today to give a friend a lift to her old home in the hills. Everywhere I go at the moment leads to thoughts about where we can live. Where can we find a home with a garden? Do we want to be near the sea? In the mountains? Close to Granollers? Is it best to buy or rent? What about the boy?
And so on and so on…..
Nice place today with friendly cats, a national footpath going past the garden, beautiful views over the vallley and beds of iris. But it wasn’t a possibe home, just a chance to dream

To get there you drive up a windy road and then along bumpy unmade tracks.  It is quite isolated although there are some other houses which are only visited at weekends.  There is a river running down the hill with beautiful pools and waterfalls.
Duna was ecstatic – how much she wants to live somewhere more in nature!

It’s good to imagine Blue and Bonnie and Duna sleeping happily on the terrace while we potter in the garden, make things and listen to the birds.  But for the moment it is only a dream