Author: Kate Wilson

A Ragged Diagonal

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

It feels like Spring – look at that blue sky!

Those trees that I photographed a few days ago are now almost in full blossom

It is the kind of weather when you don’t know what to wear.  A coat and hat makes you feel too hot but go without and it is too chilly in the shade or the late afternoon. Here’s me looking hot and bothered in Granollers – it is also time to start carrying sunglasses and of course I hadn’t!

I went up to Barcelona today to sort out some papers in the British Consulate. That was an interesting experience as security measures now mean you feel you are visiting a prison – at no time was I in a shared space with another human being without a pane of reinforced glass between us. I had to give up my mobile phone at the entrance otherwise I would have taken a photo of the amazing views over Barcelona to the sea from the Consulate office.
I had an idea that Primark might be interesting and as I am looking for a new dress to wear for Swing, I took a long and complicated journey down to Diagonal Mar.
The British Consulate is at 477 Diagonal and Primark is at 4 Diagonal. Don’t let this give you the impression they are close to each other!
Diagonal is not very pleasant to walk along in the day time as it is so noisy and busy but there are some wonderful buildings that would be a shame to miss.

There is that blue sky again! I love that dome and the round balconies.

There were green parrots squawking up in the trees and I felt drawn into this garden where they had an exhibition about Wales. It all looked very sunny and tempting.   This place is called Palau Robert and it was the Catalan Ministry for Culture between 1936 and 1939, then returned to private ownerhip after the civil war and later bought by the Government.

Inside was a small show about a man called Joan Triadu` (1921-2010) – teacher, writer, literary critic and Catalan activist. He was professor of Catalan for two years at Liverpool University.   I love wandering around in Barcelona and coming across unexpected and interesting exhibitions

One of his books is called The Adolescent Teacher. He was sent to Granollers to teach age 16!

Primark was a disappointment but the journey was worth it because I took the tram for the first time from Marina to Diagonal Mar. I don’t know this part of the city very well and I still have no idea what the Gerkin is all about!
Here is a closer detail of the Zurich building on Diagonal – I walked past it without noticing the first time and only on my return trip saw the amazing pictures on each rectangle and the reflections

The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire.   William Alger

March comes in

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

This week so far has been peaceful and quiet.
March has brought rain and colder weather but there are also signs of spring.
Walking up on the GR5 towards Turo´ de l’Home there was sunshine and puddles

The trees in our street are beginning to blossom with pink buds emerging

I am getting very good at seeing only the flowers and fading out the rubbish bins!

Up on the Montseny there was snow on the mountain tops at the weekend

so that today when the temperature rose a little, the river Congost was flowing fast and strong

I like these signs on the platform at Passeig de Gracia – top in Catalan and bottom in Castellano

I pass through there every Monday on my way to and from the swing class in Swing Maniacs. I had a very good twirl there this week – it is very enjoyable!

Vermut and Kisses

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Last night there was a big jazz band playing at the Casino and about a 100 people came to dance Swing and Lindy Hop.  As you might know, I am learning Swing in Barcelona but I don’t have much chance to practise so I was quite excited.  Granollers swinging at last.
And the best thing is that my friend Montse Marti is going to start teaching classes here in Granollers. After Easter I will be going there and am very happy that Pep is going to come too!
For more information go to Bigpotters Swing on Faceboook.

This is a Virtual Vermut so here is a sign I saw in Barcelona last Monday when I went up for my Swing class.

Vins Cava Vermut i Petons!    Wine Cava Vermouth and Kisses!

This tiny bar with the sign is in the Barri Gotic and is owned by a  Scottish lady called Katherine who has a cheese shop and decided to expand into the the space next door to create a simple bar with wine and cheese.   After many many years of living in Barcelona, she still has a beautiful rich Scottish accent. And of course she speaks Catalan and Spanish as well.

Sometimes I take Bonnie for walks around the town, looking for old buildings and signs of Granollers history. This was an old  liqueur factory, now derelict.  I like this style of sign writing; there is a lot of it in Granollers.  It’s in Spanish as you can see from Montaña which would be written as Montanya in Catalan.
An Arab woman happened to be passing by when I took the photo.  I read in the local paper today that while the last ten years have seen a huge increase in the number of immigrants here in Valles Oriental, in the last year there has been a decrease.   This is due to the fact that people who came from Latin America are now returning home. Work is hard to come by here and in Latin America there is a strengthening economy.   Over 18% of the population of Granollers are from other countries originally.  By immigrants I mean all people who are not of Spanish nationality, including me!

Two other stories from the week
1/ Ant invasion
The ants have come back. We have tried everything but they are winning. Sometimes they withdraw to build up strength and numbers for the next campaign. But they never really go away.
We cleaned out the cupboards yet again

We spread cinnamon around all the entry points

We hung bay leaves as apparently they don’t like the smell

We squished with our fingers the scouts that they send out in advance of the main army
And of course we have tried to negotiate and ask them to go away.
They are fascinating creatures – if you get down close and watch them it becomes very hard to do them harm.

2/ Drawings

Pep did a clown performance and helped present prizes at a drawing competition for the local cancer charity. Before Christmas children had done drawings of…..guess what?  Yes, caganers,  the Catalan addition to all Nativity scenes. So we wandered around looking at about one hundred depictions of little red capped men – shitting!    I am sure the children had a great time!

So that’s it for this week. Happy March to you all!

Dog friendship

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Since Duna went to her new forever home in Norfolk, Bonnie has been blossoming in confidence. She has always been a nervy dog and not used to lots of people or noise or traffic. But every day she gets more comfortable with city life here in Granollers. The route through the narrow streets that takes us down to the river is now very familiar and she knows every crossing and corner. When we arrive down at what we call the New Park she is running around as soon as she comes off the lead.

Because she had months of anxiety here when Duna was attacking her in fits of jealousy, Bonnie totally lost trust in other dogs and when we met one in the park she would take a wide circle to avoid them. Azlan the black and white collie was the first who managed to play with her and make friends.
But look at her here with her friend Grace in Cornwall!  She is a friendly dog at heart.

But I noticed yesterday that she has relaxed a whole lot more because when a large brown dog came bounding over, Bonnie stayed put, only stretching out her nose to say hello.

Their subsequent conversation went something like this:

Brown Dog       ‘Hi there, you’re new, can I sniff your bottom?’
Bonnie              ‘OK…… I don’t know why you lot always want to do that’
Brown Dog       ‘Mmmmmmm‘
Bonnie              ‘That’s enough now – I’m going to have a pee’
Brown Dog       ‘ Me too!’
Bonnie              ‘Hey this patch of grass smells interesting?’
Brown Dog       ‘OH YES!! I like that. Just let me pee on it’
Bonnie               ‘Me too’
Brown Dog        “I’ll have to do another now. Can I sniff you again?
Bonnie               ‘No, that’s enough – leave me alone’
Brown Dog        ‘Are you sure?’
Bonnie               ‘Bugger off I told you!’
Brown Dog        ‘Bye then!’

And so we walked on.

Taking your dog to live abroad

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I took Bonnie for our normal walk this morning. We don’t always go to the same place but 4 or 5 times a week we go to the Park by the river.
First we crossed over the little square Jacint Verdaguer where there are nice large beds of sand around the tree trunks, used by many dogs as their local toilet.
(Just in case you are not a dog person and are beginning to breathe rapidly and get all worked up about dog shit, I will add now that although some people do not ‘pick up’ the vast majority do, including me!)
There is a colony of pigeons that live in the trees that circle the fountain and today, like most days, they were eating some food left by a neighbour

We went along narrow streets until we arrived at the green space near the river.
I wondered where the swallows are now – of course it is far too early for them to arrive but when they do, this is the place I watch them flying and feeding.

There is a lot of human rubbish all around this zone and I have to defocus otherwise I would be walking every day in a steaming tizzy.
I have a plan to work one day a month clearing up this path – it doesn’t look too bad here – but it is!

I’ve got the bags and just need to contact the council to ask them where I can leave them when they are full. I am attracted to the idea of being ‘that crazy British woman who picks up rubbish’

We passed the vegetable plots and the wild and chaotic yard where Lola the Border Collie lives. She wasn’t there today so we couldn’t do our normal greeting from afar – HOLA GUAPAAAAA!  QUE TAL?  WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF in response.

People do stare at me – I have a secret exhibitionist trying to get out, I think.

We said hello to the little dog who lives on a balcony in one of the flats that look out over the river. Many people here have dogs that spend their days on the balconies, barking at every passing dog. I feel sorry for them but try to cope with it by shouting hello when we pass.

In the park there are always lots of dog walkers and this is one of our favourite places. I don’t usually throw balls and Bonnie just gets on with her newly discovered addiction to sniffing around on the path. She never used to do this in Cornwall – she was too busy running and playing with friends and balls. But now she seems very happy with her head down, checking out who has passed by and whatever other secret messages dogs leave in their pee trails.

This all set me thinking about how we both have adapted to our new environment. We lived in a beautiful paradise in Cornwall, beaches, fields, woods, peace and fresh air. Now we live in a polluted and noisy industrial city, surrounded by rubbish and graffiti, with few green areas to walk in unless we go further afield

But we both seem to have learned to get on with enjoying life. I look at the flowers and the birds and enjoy the view of the distant mountains. She gets very excited by all the new and strange smells and obviously loves the way every day brings more news from the doggy world

This is the funny face  she makes when she is sniffing for scents – her mouth hangs open slightly

At least once a week we can go to the beach or the hills and get more into wild nature.  We have the Pyranees and the Mediterranean on our doorstep.  Granollers is not our perfect dream place to live but in general it is fine.  I worried about all this before bringing Bonnie to live here but like all dogs she lives in the present moment and I don’t think she spends any time dreaming of Cornwall and our past life. She also adores Pep and so long as we are all together and there are new things to explore, she is happy.  Me too!