Author: Kate Wilson

Sant Josep

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

If your name is Joseph or Josep or Josephine or Joe then today is your Saints Day. As I am not a Catholic this is something that I only found out about recently.  I wrote about it rather wearily at Christmas in relation to Sant Esteve or Saint Stephen whose day is on Boxing Day.  However March 19th is the special day of my partner who doesn’t want presents and isn’t interested in the Catholic significance of the day but is nevertheless happy to celebrate all things Josep and to enjoy the connection with all the others who share his name.
It’s a bit like a birthday – you can have special things on your saints day and people who know you send messages to wish you Felicitats (Happiness)
The Catalan tradition has been for many generations to name the first born son after his paternal grandfather and the second after his maternal grandfather.  So if you are a Josep it is highly likely you will have a grandparent who was also Josep and for years perhaps you celebrated your saints days together with a family meal. If he in his turn was named after his grandfather and so on then you can see how the long line of namesakes brings a special energy to the name. Perhaps it links you in other ways too – personality traits or physical attributes. Naming is such a mysterious thing.

Joseph of course is the father of Jesus so this saint is special for fatherhood, and for carpenters, and perhaps for men whose wife has been chosen by God?  Some people believe that if you put a statue of St Joseph in a house it will help you sell it – could be something useful in these times.
In Valencia there is an important celebration on Sant Josep called The Falles with processions, music and lots of fireworks.
It is traditional in Catalunya to eat Crema Catalana on Sant Josep which is what we are going to do tonight. For supper we had fish and chips in Penzance and as it was such a glorious day we celebrated by taking the dogs for a walk with some friends along the cliffs at Porthgwarra.

Vaig Vagar Sola Com Un Nubol

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

 Thank goodness for the cold I’ve had. It made me relax, stop and start to enjoy the days here.
While it has been raining in Barcelona and Granollers – it has been sunny and dry here in Cornwall.
Colder of course – but dry!
I’ve been trying to speak Catalan every day but it’s shocking how strong is the pull back to English.
And when I do force my brain to engage in another language (it feels like forcing – like I am pulling a hungry dog away from the discarded sandwich he wants to eat) it just spouts out a mixture of Catalan and Castellano and sometimes French in a sort of sulky ” there you are then, any old foreign word will do!”

A man in a cafe yesterday spoke to us in Castellano.  How long did he live in Spain? – three months!!!!!
He sounded very good to me – oh God why can’t I learn quicker?
And my dear partner?  He too is speaking fluently and understanding almost all he hears. Yes he makes mistakes and continues to use he/she rather randomly but he doesn’t stop to struggle with almost every verbal tense he needs. Nor does he forget the words for teaspoon, saucepan, wheel……
In a years time will I be fluent?  I am beginning to doubt it.  I know the answer is Speak Speak Speak.
And most important SPEAK IN CATALAN or PARLA CATALA !


Two Collies on Two Different Days Out

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Two trips out with the dogs.
First to Trengwainton Gardens in Penzance where on arrival and after paying £6.50 to get in Blue developed a limp and stopped every few steps to look baleful. 
We had plenty of time to look at the magnolias

 …….very closely

 time to take recumbent dog photos

 and to lean our backs against a hot wall beside a bed of anemones

It was a different story at Long Rock beach the next day

Blue danced like a puppy and chased in and out of the sea totally forgetting her 15 years and arthritic joints. Bonnie as usual never took her eye off the ball.

Happy dogs! I think they prefer the beach to the gardens.

Sorting things out – I hope

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

Since I got back to Lamorna –  two weeks ago – I have

  • lunched and dinnered with friends
  • had my eyes tested and ordered new glasses
  • spoken to doctor and got more asthma drugs (ones in Catalunya too strong)
  • walked the dogs every day – twice on the beach in the sunshine
  • spent a day in St Ives
  • seen dolphins
  • had my eyelashes tinted
  • been to Truro hospital for an X ray of my kidneys
  • tried to fix the kitchen taps
  • finally got in touch with a plumber
  • seen my accountant about last years tax
  • done some acupuncture
  • fixed the hoover
  • had my hair cut and coloured
  • seen a financial advisor about my pension
  • taken van to have new brake pads fitted
  • cut down brambles
  • had two bonfires
  • been up to Devon for tango
  • danced tango in Penzance
  • had the keyboard replaced on my MacBook
  • seen The Kings Speech in the Savoy Cinema
  • and much much more…

Perhaps that’s why today I have a streaming cold!
Why is it always like this when I come back – is it me?
I can’t control the lists of things to do. And I feel bad about all that I haven’t yet managed to do. 
This time I was determined to spend more relaxed time just living here, being with the dogs and seeing friends without the feeling of cramming them in.  I didn’t want to approach the end of my ‘holiday’ with an impossible long list of stuff to fit in on the last days. But….the list of what is still to do is not much shorter than the one above.  Will I ever get this right?

Oh well, I think it’s time to just stop and listen to the birdsong.

8 Things That Annoy Me – or used to

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

It’s funny how even on a lovely day you/I can get irritated by small things. Today I tried to notice what these things were and laugh at myself a little – life’s too short for all that but sometimes you can’t stop that silent gritting of teeth.

  • people who try to open the toilet door even when it says ‘engaged’ or has a red line
  • shop keepers who give you the change with the coins on top of the notes so they slide off as you try to put the note in your purse
  • people who stand on either side of a narrow lane when you are trying to drive past

We had an amazing lunch today in the Porthgwidden Beach Cafe in St Ives. but while enjoying grilled sea bass with a roast potato cake and two delicious sauces – one green and one red……. I couldn’t stop myself thinking of three things that annoy me in Catalunya!  I know it’s better to live in the present moment but instead I had a mini rant about –

  • how hard it is to get vegetarian food in Catalan restaurants
  • menus that always have more or less the same set of dishes instead of experimenting
  • the lack of awareness about organic produce and free range meat and eggs

To balance things up I need to record the really annoying thing about ticket machines in the UK

  • for some reason they never give you change. They normally inform you with a little message ‘This machine doesn’t give change’  Why not?  If they can do it in Catalunya then why not in the UK?

And for my eighth thing here is one that used to annoy me a lot and now doesn’t bother me at all!

  • men leaving the toilet seat up. What a liberation – this used to infuriate me but I can honestly say that I have let it go. Totally. No tooth grinding at all!

Today was a lovely day – apart from one of the best lunches I’ve had in years – did I mention the cheesecake? We also watched 6 or more dolphins swim across the bay just offshore from the beach.
Magical.