Granollers

Bon Nadal

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Phew!  A marathon of card making and writing and posting is almost over.

I send fewer since leaving the UK.  People here don’t have this custom and as time passes I don’t get so many from ‘home’.

I enjoy the process and it always feels like a special day remembering friends and family while writing messages.  But it is also a moment for thinking about those who have gone – some because they have actually left the planet or others who have just slipped out of my orbit.

I’m getting much better at letting go of those people who never reciprocate.  I used to send cards to all my old friends, hoping to keep contact even when they were obviously trying to shake me off.  But I am pleased to find I now am much more philosophical – and I can even send them love as I scratch out their names from the list!

And I have finally stopped trying to write little personal notes inside each card. It was all – too much!
Today I sent around 30 cards – there was a time it could be as many as 150!  I expect to receive about 15 if I am lucky.  Perhaps it wouldn’t be any different even if I was still in Cornwall?  Times change.

I went to the Correo at 8pm and found it empty!

Swanned in, got served straight away and  it was all done in 5 minutes.

It cost 33euros to send three parcels and those 30 cards. That seems reasonable to me and I like thinking of how nice it is to get a real envelope popping through the letterbox – sending pleasure!

On the way back through town there was a bell tolling and I looked up to see a little chapel that I’d never noticed  before.

It is squashed in between two houses.

Santa Esperança is a tiny chapel  which was moved from the old medieval walls and re-erected here in the shopping centre

As we get closer to this exciting and powerful solstice I wish everyone lots of hope and send my best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a very wonderful New Year.

 

Christmas lights

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

The Christmas lights are up in our street.

They start at our house and go all the way into the centre of town

I like them although I know that they probably use up a lot of electricity and, of course anyone anti-xmas will scowl and mutter about waste and hypocrisy.
They make me feel happy when I come out of the house with Bonnie.
I wonder if they will do the usual piped Christmas carols this year blaring out from the lampposts?

It’s hard to believe it is December  10th already. I have done nothing at all to prepare except buy some Turrons to send to the UK and book a cottage at Sant Nicolau to retreat to for the festive week.

I will send out cards even though I know they will arrive late – I haven’t even started making them yet!
It is  something I love doing but this year I’ll cut down on numbers – I think after three years here I should begin to accept that there are people who have slipped away out of my life, leaving only memories.  It does make me sad but perhaps it is the natural way. I hate losing people and only today was searching yet again on google for three old friends who have ‘disappeared’. No luck though!

What do you think?  At what point do you just let go?  Can you ever really stop missing old friends who disappear?

Election Day Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I took a walk this morning around some of the voting stations – schools and civic centres which are used for elections. It was a quiet morning, sunny and warm but autumnal. People were steadily drifting in and out of the stations, arriving on crutches and in wheel-chairs, accompanied by dogs and children. As is normal for Granollers people were dressed conservatively, in mainly blacks and blues

There are no banners proclaiming POLLING STATION. No political workers handing out leaflets outside the gates. Noone asking ‘who did you vote for’.
No cars driving around covered in banners and shouting through a megaphone ‘Have you voted?’
It was all quiet and discreet. There was a policeman outside one of the colleges but I didn’t see any others except a police car in the Porxada.

It’s rude to ask people what they voted, isn’t it?  My mother refused to tell me for many years who she voted for – though later when she began to support the Scottish Nationalists she was happy to talk about it. But I have asked several people today who they voted for as it is interesting in this election. Many were floating voters, wanting to really think about it before deciding

Older people often opt for Artur Mas. The one 18 year old I asked went for the Iniciativa-Greens in this his first election. And many other friends were strongly pulled towards the CUP. 
Who are they?
It is a fairly new party; left-wing, pro-independence, ecological, and committed to a more thoughtful democratic process. They are already represented at the municipal level – four towns have CUP mayors. But this is the first time they have stood for parliament.  They have promised that, if elected, their candidates would only serve one term, earn no more than 1600€ a month, and would base their decisions on the opinions expressed by local assemblies. They also promised not to request any loans from banks, so as to avoid being influenced by financial groups and economic élites.

So, that is my research for today. I am looking forward to sitting up tonight and watching the results. It is something I used to do with my mother when I was young and I remember election nights in 1966 and 1970 with us both sitting up into the early hours, unable to stop watching.

Matagalls to Granollers – a little walk!

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As well as being election day, today is the 23rd Big Walk from Matagalls to Granollers.

A distance of 40km, mostly downhill!  People have just started to arrive at the sports shop opposite our home where there is a stall to get their card stamped and to have a drink and a pressie

Perhaps next year?  But I think it might be too far for Bonnie’s paws.

It’s one of the advantages of living in the centre – there’s always something happening right outside. A few minutes ago I heard horse’s hooves clopping along the street. No idea what they are doing here

Cesc Gelabert

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

We went to the theatre twice this weekend.

The first outing was to see a play called Incendis and I’m afraid we left at half time. It is a struggle for me to watch a long piece in Catalan and it was a very wordy production;  very long scenes of talking talking talking and very little action. Also the theatre was totally full and it felt a bit claustophobic. The man sitting beside me had decided to come along in spite of his streaming cold and I was leaning more and more in the opposite direction to escape his viral loaded breathing.

But our second try tonight was a great success. We went to exactly the same place in Granollers, the Teatre Auditori de Granollers, and had better and more spacious seats near the front.  The audience was smaller than the other night but made up for lack of numbers by their intense interest in the dance.

And the sneezers were much further away!

The show was by Cesc Gelabert who is an incredible dancer with a body so fluid and expressive I didn’t see one moment that he was not 100% present. He danced solo and in between the acts he spoke about the dance and what it meant for him. It is incredible how he can change his form from one moment to the next. Also he comes across as a really intelligent and humble person.

The first piece was amazing – a large amorphous white form was moving and changing and gradually out of it emerged the artist, shedding one skin to move into many others.

I came out feeling better than when I went in which is one of the things Cesc says he aims for.