Mince pies and whisky

I’ve just had my first mince pie!  So now it is officially Christmas time and I can begin to believe it.
I’ve done nothing until tonight – now there are the beginnings of cards lying around on my desk. I always liked to make my own but living here means I have no other choice as sending cards is not a Catalan tradition.
Mince pie. Glass of whisky. The drawing pencil and a cutting board.  We’re off! (I know I’m late!)

Mince pies arrived thanks to my lovely friend Janet who was here for a few days. Those six days have passed in a rush and a blink. I started off with a terrible head cold and felt slightly panicky at the idea of having to spend days in bed when there was a rare opportunity to spend time with an old friend. But I recovered after my usual medicine of sleep sleep and more sleep, and we managed to do all we’d planned.
We went to a spa in La Garriga, had our energies cleansed by a healer in Barcelona, wandered round Granollers market buying long strings of sausages to take home to Norfolk and drove up to Tossa del Mar for lunch. We also raced into Barcelona one evening to buy dresses in a shop in Gracia which I have found has exactly the design I have always been searching for. There are different fabrics and colours but the shape is the same and each one fits me perfectly. I now have three and I can fantasize about getting rid of all other clothes and only wearing dresses from The Piano! Life would be so much easier.
Evening drawing in at Tossa…….

 More soon – this was just to check in and let you know I am still here.

Catalan language

Please excuse me today for only sending you a link to another blog, written by Liz Castro.  I have many things I want to write about but today it seems important to give you information about the recent attack on the Catalan educational system and in particular the policy of language teaching. A minister from the Spanish government wants to make radical changes, as part of a policy of ‘spanish-ising Catalunya’

Here it is.  I will be back soon!