Author: Kate Wilson

The Perfect Hideaway

~ Kate Wilson ~ 6 Comments

Things have been a little stressful recently so we were glad to have the holiday which here is called El Pont de L’Immaculada. Pont means bridge and the name comes from the fact that there is a public holiday on December 6th as well as December 8th  so the middle day, the pont, is also taken off.

Without any hesitation we decided to head for the hills.
North of Vic and before you reach the Pyranees there is an area called Llaers which is not as well known as other places and so even at this pre christmas holiday it was very quiet.

The Hotel de Serra is very simple, very relaxed, very welcoming to Springer Spaniels, and very peaceful.
The area is full of oak woods and the floors and beams in the hotel are old oak.  There are lots of little nooks with log fires which invite you to spend the evening reading or playing cards.


The food was very basic – chunky bread, hot soups, goats cheese, country sausages for breakfast and large carafes of strong red wine.

Outside they have goats and ducks and geese and peacocks.

Calm confident dogs potter about and there are cats in the barns.

There are walks to nearby castles and when you come home it is the sort of place that doesn’t care about a little mud on the stairs from your boots. I think it was Duna’s best holiday EVER!

 

Rice Pudding

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments
A lovely Saturday – sunny and with nothing special planned. So, after a trip to the shops to buy Christmas lights (yet again succumbing to the cheap prices in the Chinese Bazaar as for some reason the market stalls charge about double for the same thing) I retreated to the kitchen. With Radio 3 playing flamenco jazz in the background I pulled together these ingredients

 And made this

Such comfort food for a December day as we approach the solstice.

And the score was……

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5-0

That means Barcelona – 5 goals  Madrid – 0 goals

I don’t want to lose all those of you who aren’t the slightest bit interested in football but please do listen to this commentary on another Barcelona-Madrid match.  The commentators really do sound like this – I’ve never heard anything like it before in any language. It’s very funny.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!!!!!!!!

Barcelona – Madrid

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

The streets are  unusually empty. Where are all the cars and people and dogs?
No mystery – there is a big football match tonight.
It started at 9pm local time – Barcelona is playing Madrid at Nou Camp Barcelona.
Now if you are a big football fan, STOP reading now – there will be nothing to interest you here.
I am writing for those people who like me know very little but have a slight interest.
The matches between Barcelona and Madrid are classics. Like Celtic v Rangers. They are about more than football. You can be a passionate supporter but not really interested in the game.
Barcelona FC is worshipped here in Catalunya. I am Scottish and I remember how important the team was to our sense of identity but here – it is different – it affects more people, it crosses gender and class and age. It also helps that they are so good. They win!
I decided a few weeks ago that as I live here I really must take it all more seriously. And become a fan.
So here is my first idiots guide to the team
1. The slogan ‘Mes que un club’  
What does that mean?  The web site says it means many things – that the club represents the ‘country’ (remember that officially Catalunya is not a country but used to be and wants to be again) It is like an emblem, a vision and a symbol of Catalunya. There are also many thousands of supporters worldwide who feel passionate about the team and so the club is not just for Catalans but for anyone who resonates with their ideals.
The club has a special relationship with UNICEF and wears the logo on their shirts, donating money to the charity and also giving a percentage of income to support international development.They have never advertised any commercial on their shirts which makes them unique in the football world.
2. History
The club founder was Joan Gamper who in 1908 announced he wanted to run it as more than a football club, he wanted it to be pro-Catalan and work to serve the country. Many people became Barça supporters because of its role in defending and supporting democratic rights and freedoms. One famous episode was when in 1951, in Francos time, there was a tram strike and all the supporters who left the stadium after the match refused to take trams home, preferring to walk.
3. The Coach and Team
Now if I am to become a serious supporter I need to know at the very least all the names  but I’m still only a beginner so I’ll admit that I can only recognise the coach Pep Guardiola and also Messi. Guardiola is very attractive, is Catalan and used to play for Barça. He may be leaving soon as his contract runs out next January.  Messi has a wonderful name, is not the one with curly hair and scores goals and more goals and more goals. And I think he’s Argentinian. (I’ve just looked it up and the one with curly hair is Puyol who is Catalan)
4. Interesting Fact
According to Wikipedia the supporters of Barça are called culés, which comes from the Català word cul=arse. It’s thought to have come from the early stadium where supporters sat with their bottoms hanging over the stand.

It is all silent outside. The score at the moment is 4-0 to Barça.  I am writing this instead of watching it on TV because of a father-son standoff about homework. Sometime this season I will go to watch a reall game live – my first football game ever.
Will let you know how it goes.  But now I am waiting for the blaring horns and scarf waving cars to blast the silence of the evening.