Personal Reflections

Being taken to the Cleaners in Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

One of my challenges this week was to take the van to the cleaners.
There is a car wash business on the little square where the dogs go every day.
My indoor parking space is a few hundred metres down the same street.
So not such a big deal!
Well….. for me in my new state of anxiety about little things……it felt like something I had to build myself up to.  The hard parts are – getting the van out of the tiny parking space, knowing what to do in the car wash building – where to go, when to pay etc etc (A good chance to revisit that female discomfort when entering a masculine world), getting the van back into the tiny awkward parking space. And of course speaking all the time in castellano.

One of my lessons this week is ‘If there is an easy way, chose that one!’
So Pep came with me for the first part. I did all the driving and speaking but I felt more confident that he introduced me to the place where obviously they know him.
Is this the 21st century?  Are you almost 55?  For goodness sake woman!

Actually the bloke doing the cleaning jumped into the van to drive it onto the ramp and had to get out again immediately when he found he was in the passenger seat.  First time for him in a UK van.

They were all very friendly and it cost 15 euros for inside and out which I thought was reasonable.

They have a huge conveyor belt so no one has to drive the vehicle as it passes through.
The machine was called CHRIST

At the end there was a dryer which puffed out hot air as it raised up to let my van pass through.
I wished I had someone with me to share the joke – Christ is Risen, Hallelujah!

Great confidence afterwards so Bonnie and I drove to a further away country park, Mil Pins, for a peaceful  and green walk.

Dog Listener

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Today a vet is coming round to try and help us with the problem between Bonnie and Duna.
It’s not been good recently and it’s now impossible to let them be in the same room unless Duna is tied up.

On Thursday night we returned from a peaceful supper with family (in itself a miracle) and as we unlocked the front door Duna somehow got out of the patio and attacked Bonnie who was in the living room.
Blood.  Mostly Duna’s but she doesn’t mind losing, she just wants to fight.
Yesterday I took Bonnie for a long walk – 11 km – to relax her constant anxiety a little. And mine.
We came home, walked through the front door and Duna like a hound from hell launched herself at Bonnie with ferocious teeth and raving eyes.
I then went bonkers!  I can’t cope with it. I feel so powerless and so desperate for peace.

So the vet is coming.  I am not really hopeful but am interested to see what she says. All I hear from friends and on the internet is that it is one of the hardest things to resolve and probably one of them must go.

It won’t be Bonnie – unless I go with her.

On a happier note, for those of you who know something of my life here, I want to whisper that there is a girl upstairs in bed with the Resident Adolescent.   Today is also Day 1 of our new family-together-all-the-time life. By this I mean that his mother has gone back to Brazil and he is living with us permanently.

Is this something hopeful?  Perhaps showering will commence?

Life is But a Dream

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Sorry! 
I’ve had a blog block.
And some lovely friends here to stay, with lots of chatting and adventures but less time for hovering over the computer.

But I’ve got a fresh approach now to writing here – not quite the ‘I’m doing this for me so who cares if anyone comments or not’ but more of a ‘there are people out there who enjoy reading it but have their own reasons for not writing anything in the comments section’
So, if at least I can relax and stop worrying that I am getting it wrong, perhaps I can find my way back to writing about what I find interesting in my life here.

However, now it is late and I want to sleep so here is a photo of Granollers where there was no Thursday market due to the General Strike

 Some shops were open and others were closed. It was sunny and there was a large and peaceful demonstration which we watched for a while before taking all the dogs out into the countryside. We all had a lovely day walking in the woods and eating in the little restaurant at Santa Fe

Back home everyone helped me prepare for my singing group tomorrow by singing Row Row Row Your Boat in four parts.  We were wonderful.

 And if life is really just a dream, let’s make it a beautiful one!

Little bits of news from my part of Catalunya

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Only one photo and sorry no drawings (although I am planning on doing some of those very soon)
Just snippets of news

  • On Friday I led a workshop for people wanting to sing songs in English.  I had the idea a few months ago and since then have been choosing songs and thinking about how singing can help language learning.  My friend Marta was excited by the idea and she helped organise sessions in Barcelona so we had the first one there, thanks also to Isa and Pati Llimona in the Barri Gòtic.  Of course it was much more scary and complicated than I had imagined – how to decide what songs are interesting and not to hard for non English speakers who won’t know the tunes? But I think in the end it was ok and we are doing it again next week.
  • Tonight we went to Sant Celoni to see Anna Roig singing live. I love her songs and especially this one. It’s about a woman who went to Paris with her lover and they didn’t have a good time. So she decides to paint a red moustache on his photo to take away some of the sting and sadness.
  • The cafe at the station was still open after the concert so we had a beer and something quick to eat. I love that place – it always makes me think of Brief Encounter.
  • You can imagine things happening there. Love affairs starting……….……..or ending
  • I drove to Orrius this week in the car – ALL BY MYSELF!  I wrote here about my reluctance to drive in Catalunya and so this was a huge step forward.  Bonnie and I went to meet up with Oreneta, a friend I met through our blogs,  and Chuck her gorgeous dog,  to have a little walk in the hills with them – part of their four hour trek!
  • Talking of facing my fears – the singing group and the driving were part of my current personal challenge to extend my comfort zone rather than hide away inside it. I am inspired by this man whose blog is full of wonderful suggestions and life observations.
  • Lastly – tomorrow we are having a family picnic to celebrate two birthdays and one saints day. At last I think I have cracked the sponge cake problem and right now two halves are cooling in the kitchen and awaiting chocolate filling. Also thanks to my friend Francesca I am looking forward to wowing the Catalans with chocolate cornflake biscuits.  I managed to make a mess of that recipe as well on first trying it but second time round I am now on a par with the five year olds who specialise in making these treats.

Well that’s all for now – there is always so much to say and yet recently it has been hard to string together a sentence. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to write – and what to leave unwritten.
Let’s see what next week will bring!

Two Dogs

~ Kate Wilson ~ 6 Comments

Two dogs – Border Collies

lived all their lives in Cornwall

until they moved to Catalunya

when they were 15

and 9

they swam in the Mediterranean
slept in the sunshine

scoured the rocks for discarded sandwiches

with a new companion who shared this interest
One overcame her fear of strangers
and fell in love all over again

And the other found her legs could walk further and further
taking her to places – she’d never been before

(as I typed that she jumped onto the sofa without a  worry)