Nice places

Virtual Vermut

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

I am terribly behind in these posts – every day there is something new I want to write about and yet by the evening I am either tired and lazy or too engrossed in Trollope to download the photos.
So I thought a quick Virtual Vermut could be the answer and I can tell you lots of unrelated bits of news in one post!
For those who don’t know, Virtual Vermut is my name for a post written as I might chat to a friend over a drink in a cafe. It’s a chat, a chance to catch up with life.
So, although it is very late on a Sunday or more truthfully very early on a Monday, would you like to join me for a quick vermouth?

There is so much to tell you.
Home Life
As part of a much larger plan to make home life flow better as regards the Resident Adolescent, the three of us went bowling again a week ago. On Wednesday nights there is a special deal where you can play a large number of games for not too much money. The only catch is that the games are for two teams.  So with three people it meant two against one and we kept changing the combination so at one point I played against the two males and although I didn’t win, neither did I shame myself.
 It was only my third time at a bowling alley and my first time not using the side-guards. 
There is something very meditative about bowling and I need to breathe and centre myself before throwing otherwise I make a mess of it.  So true for many other things in my life as well!

Sant Nicolau again
The following weekend included a public holiday. Some people here worked through October 12th – Columbus Day –  as it is celebrates the Spanish State and the armed forces and so doesn’t have a good feeling in Catalunya.  Especially at the moment.
 But it is also my friend Tiffany’s birthday so well worth celebrating!
We took the chance to get away and go back to Sant Nicolau to look for mushrooms.
Blue’s statue is looking good and has a lovely solid presence in the garden

 The flowers were incredibly vivid in the intense autumn light

 There were some edible mushrooms in the woods, as well as a wild boar and a solitary hunting dog with big bloody jowls and a large bell around its neck. But the weather wasn’t really cold enough for a lot of ‘bolets’ although there was a beautiful line of them leading down to where Blue is buried


Back to Granollers and to our relief the house was fairly tidy and clean.  Perhaps adolescence really does begin to fade away in the late teens?  Or is it to do with the New Deal we have created?
The weather began to cool down and the shops to fill their windows with pumpkins and panellets

 Walking
At last we managed to organise a walk with Oreneta in the hills above the Maresme.
We reached a viewing point above Barcelona from where the city looks quite neat and small

Barcelona
Last Monday I went down for the evening to dance tango.  Wandering around Gracia before meeting my friend, I thought that if I ever get a flat in the city it should be here.   
It feels like Stoke Newington by the Mediterranean.
There were lots of Catalan flags hanging from windows.

 Imagine having a Palestinian restaurant nearby!

Milongas finish late so I came home for the first time on the night bus.
There are several that come to Granollers and I caught the 72 which takes 40 minutes from Plaça Tetuan to Granollers bus station.  What a peaceful way to travel and it only cost 3.70 euros. It is just as comfortable for sleeping as the train to Passeig de Gracia in which I can rarely keep my eyes open.

There is so much more to tell you but I know you have to get going soon so I’ll finish with a story about cats and dogs that happened today.
More Walking
Montnegre is a mountain range lying behind seaside towns such as St Pol and Arenys de Mar.  It is much quieter than the Serralada Litoral where we met Oreneta or the Montseny where we often go to the woods. After parking in St Iscle de Vallalta we followed a path up into the hills, passing a large property called Mas Olles. What the book didn’t warn us about was the pack of dogs that live there. First one barked in the distance, then another and another. One by one they all came thundering over the land towards us. I couldn’t count them – perhaps there were 15 or 18 – all large and all rather excited to see two people and a dog walking by

Luckily there was a stout fence but it’s impossible to know the stoutness of a fence until you have tested it. Once safely past, we discovered we had taken the wrong path so had to go past them again. Of course they had left an early warning party waiting by the fence just in case we did just this. I imagine it has happened before and this is their main enjoyment of the day.
It isn’t a place I would walk past on my own.
Later we found these wild cats on top of a ledge

 They looked very well but when winter comes I imagine they have a hard life.
So now good night and thank you for visiting and listening to these odd bits and pieces of life.
Have a good Monday – it is now definitely Monday morning!


Caldes de Montbui – Part Two

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

The third performance was within an ancient water pool – another safareig but this time more private. We had to walk along an old passageway with a high stone wall on one side. Then there was a gate in the wall, leading into a small low ceilinged room with a large pool of water.

The audience were invited to chose from different ‘menus’ to provide the dancer with a emotional theme, some music, and  a type of movement. There would be two dances – one by a crazy woman and the other by a woman in a suit.
I wrote down my choices – I wanted the crazy woman to dance fear, with continuous movements accompanied by a waltz.  The pieces of paper were put in a hat and a young girl picked one  – it was mine!  Such a great feeling to be chosen, almost as if it was a gift specially for me

Watching her dance was incredible. It reminded me of a recurrent dream I have of a madwoman, with wild hair and desperate eyes. Some of my dreams take place in an underground water cave and this performance was like a presentation of a part of my inner world.
At the end she threw herself back into the water, her arms now thankfully free and moving, and she emerged smiling and very wet!

Canet de Mar

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. We set off to look at flats by the sea on the Maresme.
It is a recent plan – that instead of looking for a new home to move into, we stay based here in Granollers and also rent a small flat, mainly for me to use as a peaceful retreat and as somewhere to put my ‘stuff’.  Stuff which is still in packing boxes one year after moving it to Spain.

There is a train line that goes along the coast from Barcelona and ends up at Blanes where it turns inland. If we could find somewhere along that line it would mean an easy trip to and from town – big town I mean.  There is a problem with getting across to Granollers – there are no easy connections by public transport so it would mean driving, and more importantly, parking!

And then there is the problem of the coastal towns. They were heavily developed in Franco’s Spain and so appear to my Cornish/Scottish gaze, pretty ugly and sprawly.
But their horrible industrial, modern, high-rise exteriors often hide a central area that is beautiful and more village-like

Canet de Mar is one example of this. Of course there is the busy road and the railway line which cut off the town from the sea but there is also a long sandy beach and on the other side, a town with some interesting Modernist buildings and a peaceful seaside atmosphere

There is a resident radical theatre company called The Comediants.
And posters around town advertised drawing classes and dancing.

My favourite place would be Sant Pol.  It is near the beach that we go to regularly and is like a jewel on the coast, the road has turned inward and so the town is much more peaceful. The water is blue and the streets are narrow. We looked at a few flats – one too expensive, one too big, one too dark.  There was a lovely one for the right price close to the beach, but far away from shops and cafes.
We picked up a free smile to keep in the car

And then went to the beach for a glorious afternoon of sun and sea air. There was hardly anyone else there – a Friday in October – a gift from the gods

What’s Not To Like?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 8 Comments

I am back at Sant Nicolau and although I was supposed to go home today I am still here!
It’s the light.
It’s waking up to birdsong.
It’s the pleasure of letting Bonnie out into the garden for her morning pee without having to get dressed to face the people of Granollers.

I called this post What’s Not To Like?  because I’ve always loved that strange phrase, learnt from my old friend Hannah in London.  Being here in Sant Nicolau makes me feel that way.
I love being here.
Helen and Francis are such warm generous people, the little cottages for rent feel like home from home, the resident dogs and cats are friendly and chilled, the gardens are beautiful, the swimming pool is inviting, there is healing energy in the air. We are near the lovely beaches of the Costa Brava and from the Mas you can walk along quiet lanes with the Pyranees and Mare de Deu del Mont in the distance.
Here there be light and love and magic!
The only thing that would make it perfect would be if Pep was here too!
This is the walk that Bonnie and I take most days from the house.

Volver

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I went back to Sant Nicolau today with Tiffany and Bonnie.
Lots of ideas flowing – plans and projects!

We had a lovely lunch with Helen and Francis and practised our translation skills, trying to explain some of our crazy English conversations to Angie who is from Honduras. She was one of the participants at Blue’s burial and will never forget her first dog funeral, something that would be totally eccentric in her own culture.
One of my reasons for going up for the day was to deliver my Blue Dog sculpture to her new home. She will watch over Blues grave and be a solid presence in the beautiful garden.

What a lovely place!  It was wonderful to return.  Blue – you good dog you!