friends

Saturday night much needed Vermut

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

As Fly Lady says, ‘you are not behind, just start from where you are’   So……

I’ve just had a friend to stay with me here in Granollers who I haven’t seen for two, or is it three years?  We had one of those wonderful weeks where there is plenty of time to catch up with everything but not in one great gulp.  We let the conversation meander between memories of when we were 6 and first met, to recent life changes, to current concerns, to music, back to families, stories from when we were teenagers, drugs, books and poems, kittens and dogs and everything else in between.

I’ll try to do the same thing now with you, letting the subjects rise and fall in their own rhythm.

Diet
I gave up my fasting diet for the week and ate and drank solidly throughout. It was lovely but now I’ll be returning with pleasure to the 5/2 diet where for 2 days a week you reduce your calories and feel hungry for a change. I’m pushing myself to get fully into kilos and grams and let go of pounds and ounces in more ways than one!

The Foot
Every morning this week I cycled to The Mútua for physiotherapy on my foot.
The journey up through France and north to Scotland then back down again caused a repetitive strain tendinitis in my left ankle.
I now know that this is a common injury and could have been avoided if I had rested more.   It didn’t start hurting until it was too late and by then I still had to drive and walk so compounded the problem.  For two months now it has been hard to walk, not helped by my impatience to take Bonnie out so that as soon it gets better I overdo it again.
I am having Laser and Ultrasound and Tens daily. It’s a sort of DIY system in the clinic where you clean the equipment and get your own ice-packs thus freeing up the staff to spend more time chatting with each other at reception

Art at Last
My friend Christine and I went to an art class in Granollers this week. It is amazing and is exactly what I have been looking for since I arrived but before I could only find classes for children.
We practised mixing colours in acryic paints which was like a meditation and totally absorbing

 I’ve always ended up before with mud brown and now I know why.
For days afterwards we were ‘seeing’ colours all around us. Look at this street corner in Granollers

Did you know that Malva is the Spanish word for Mauve?   And the Malvinas?

Now to get to the biggest theme of the week. The car.
In brief (which is difficult to do when something is obsessively churning around in your head) I bought a left hand drive Spanish registered car when I was in the UK. We drove home in it which meant that I could rest my ******* ankle.  It is a lovely car but when we went to Sabadell to register ourselves as the new owners, we couldn’t. We don’t have the correct paperwork from the UK dealers.
This is Spain. You need the correct papers and lots of them.  It is all a terrible muddle and errhhhh!
It has driven me crazy these past two weeks.  Very luckily we were able to get it through the ITV which is nothing to do with television but is the Spanish equivalent of the MOT.   You don’t need  to be the owner at the test.  The car is insured but that is it –  we don’t legally own it, there are several outstanding debts on it, we are not able to pay the road tax as we are not the owners…….. and the phone calls to the dealers are no fun.  I’m sure there will be a follow up to this saga….

That’s it for now then. If you are interested in seeing lovely photos of our town then can I invite you to take a look at the Facebook page Aboutgranollers?   I am building up a collection of images about what was called in the Guardian, this nondescript Catalan town.
And a last picture from today’s walk/limp in Montnegre. These are the trees that give us cork – they look so naked and unprotected after their outer bark has been taken. Think of them when you next open a bottle of wine.  But meanwhile, Salut and have a happy weekend wherever you are.

Thanking Old Friends

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Going through old letters here in the cabin in Lamorna. Well, it is raining and a good day for sorting.

I don’t keep them all but it is good to hold onto some of them and especially now that letters are so rare.  All my friendships from the 1980’s and 90’s are represented there – reminding me of small events that otherwise would have disappeared into oblivion.

One of those friends was Val Phillips – my longtime healer and friend who died some years ago – far too soon, too young, still very missed. Of course I miss all those who have since died but Val is the one who makes me ache still from the unfairness of it. She had a huge influence on the way I work and sometimes when I am  doing acupuncture I get a strong sense of her presence which brings tears to my eyes. Who knows if it is just a memory or really a visit of some part of her spirit?  All I know is that one moment I am standing with my hands perhaps hovering over a needle, to give it extra punch, and the next I have tears streaming down my face.  Which is actually quite nice in a way and luckily the patients are usually dozing off at that point so they never know.

She was the first person who ever was able to tell me in a way that I could take it in – you are alright!

Anyway, I found these two cards that she sent me – I think of her laughing wickedly and snorting and how in fact she made me laugh much more often than she made me cry.

Here they are – the first one is the taster – it is the second that really is funny for me! Hope you like.


Flexible Friends

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Today we didn’t go to the mineral baths after all.
The timings weren’t quite right and it would have meant racing to get ready, a rapid journey and squeezed in dog walks so we just decided not to do it.
I love being able to change plans and no-one minds.
For me it was just perfect being with my friend and doing my ordinary things with someone to keep me company. She is the first person to come and stay who hasn’t wanted to go to Barcelona.
Obviously I understand that is important for many people but it often leaves little time for wandering round the shops in Granollers, or walking the dogs, or lying in bed in the morning chatting about life, or baking a cake, or sitting for hours over lunch while finishing off a bottle of cava.
We did all those things today and it was another lovely day.
Tomorrow…..perhaps…..we will go to the mineral baths!

And Blue had one of her best days yet. She was smiling and grinning, hopping and dancing, wagging and wiggling, sniffing and snuffling, snoozing and snoring. She likes having familiar visitors too.

I am a Vampire waiting for fresh blood!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

I have an old friend arriving tomorrow. From Britain.
I will go and meet her at the airport. I love doing that!
What a good excuse to really clean the house and to delve into some of my boxes which are still  stored in a dusty abandoned room along with my furniture and paintings.
There’s not much room here for my stuff you see!
But as I prepare her bedroom I see it needs some sculptures and some bits and bobs to make it more homely. My home-ly!

I love preparing a bedroom for a loved guest. Choosing books for the bedside table as my own aunts used to do when one of us arrived to stay in their cottage overlooking the water in Tighnabruich

I am so excited it is worrying – I hope I don’t drown her in a flood of words and emotions.
Or suck out all her juices in the first five minutes and leave her exhausted and desi-kated!  

 Do you think perhaps I need more friends here and something more resembling a social life?

Hanging out Washing in Public?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

This week was very busy and although I took photos and thought about things to write about here it seemed impossible to find time to actually do it.   And recently I have been having a battle with myself about the blog – what is the point of it?  who reads it?  is it just a self indulgence? 
One of the busy – and nice  – things this week was that two friends arrived from England and spent five days here in Granollers. Or, to be more honest they stayed in Granollers but spent a lot of time in Barcelona.  We were working in the summer school so this was a good arrangement but it did make me realise that when I think a visitor is coming here to my home town, in fact many times they are imagining a holiday in Barcelona!  It’s better to know this before you get disappointed.
I went up to town with them one day.  We walked through the old streets around Princessa, looking for shade and finding places I have never noticed before like this old convent which is now a civic centre

After seeing Santa Maria del Mar where I had a sleep in one of the pews, we had lunch in tiny Bodega Palma for the menu price of 7.50 – very good in this area! Then I wanted to find the place where you can have your feet massaged by little fish nibbling your toes in a tank. Two friends gave me a voucher for my birthday and it seemed like the sort of thing you don’t do alone – more fun with a couple of companions in tow. But the streets were hot and narrow and we wandered for what seemed like hours

 I felt responsible for my friends who were looking for some expert guidance and I realised that when I go to Barcelona I tend to follow my nose rather than a set plan. This is fine for me but doesn’t work when you have others trudging behind you. So Carrer Correu Vell…..see you next visit!
We then went and walked up the Ramblas in the full heat of the sun which is not my idea of a good time in any language.
However I did get a photo of the Miro mosaic

We also managed to buy two pairs of cotton gloves in this lovely shop of sheets and towels

 You can see from the door that it is not Catalan – the sign says Cerrado and not Tancat.

One of my friends said how great it was to see some of the places that are now in my life. I asked her if she had not ever seen this blog – that there are lots of photos of Granollers and my favourite parts of Barcelona.  She said that no she doesn’t like blogs and the internet and facebook and all that speaking with strangers and talking about your private life in public. It was interesting as she is very much a book person, which surely is also a way of communicating with many other people,  but somehow the internet brings out a different response.  What I find liberating and exciting for her is deeply suspicious.
If you are reading this then perhaps you are more like me but if you know what she meant then do let me know…..what is it about blogs that makes some people feel so wary?