The Big Easy

One of the nice things about living here is that going out and enjoying yourself is so easy.

It's the hassle factor in London that always bugged me; ordering an expensive cab and wondering if it would turn up, factoring in the unreliability of public transport to get to a film on time or locating and paying through the nose for car parking.

Here the public transport works, taxis are cheap - it's hard work to pay more than €10 from mountain to sea - and the city is littered with huge and cheap car parks. Indeed car parking is that much cheaper following a new law which makes it compulsory to charge by the minute - it's often up to two hours in London. So we picked someone up today from the airport, parked for 20 minutes and paid a grand total of 27p.

And you can get into the best bars without being vetted, negotiating bouncers, being a member or being presumed to be a criminal and having your credit card kept behind the bar.

Last night I went out with some Catalan friends and ended up at the Ideal Cocktail Bar (Aribau 89) which forms a neat triumvirate with my established favourites here - Boadas and Dry Martini.

All are heavy on the wood, the leather, the barmen in white jackets and bow ties who know one end of a cocktail shaker from another. And very fine gin and tonics they mix too.

It rounded off a truly lovely evening which was to celebrate the promotion of one of my friends across government departments.

The cocktails followed one of those great Catalan pica-pica suppers of manchega cheese, serrano ham on tomato bread, small fried fish, patatas bravas and steak and chips, all dished up in the middle served up at La Moreneta (Cartagena 234) which is well worth dropping in on if you are near the Sagrada Família.

Bicing in Barna

There's a great new initiative launched in Barcelona today - Bicing.

It's a municipal scheme to encourage bike usage. You pay €24 a year for a card which allows you to unlock a bike from a fleet of what will eventually be 1,500 bikes sited at 100 stations around town.

You then pay 60 cents an hour for two hours and €3 an hour after that, all charged to your credit card. It's €150 if you don't bring it back within 24 hours at which point you might as well keep the thing and spray paint the Bicing logo and keep it.

How cool is that?

Cricket is more popular in Barcelona than football

Well some aspects of cricket and some aspects of football.

The papers here are covering the Bob Woolmer murder in reasonable depth. And why not? It's a cracking story on any level and there is indeed a sizeable Pakistani community in Catalonia. Of course they have to fill in the back story about what cricket is and how Pakistan losing to Ireland was like Barca losing to some stiffs from the 4th division.

Meanwhile the Football Story That Died through Lack of Interest is the England v Andorra game being played here at the Olympic stadium next week. Around 13,000 fans will be in twon apparently and will be joined at the stadium by some 400 Andorra supporters and a handful of neutral residents.

Nose news is good news

Thanks for all the calls and emails re the nose.

Which gives me the chance to use the headline above. It is much better now and the steristrips bandages should be off in a couple of days.

Another blissful weekend ahead of the cold spell now making its way across Europe which should bring us more snow in the pyrenees. highlights:

- a first visit to the wonderful Museum of the history of Barcelona. A wonderful
collection of the ruins of what was Roman Barcino. Beautifully laid out if a
little too large.
- Seeing the Arctic Monkeys live. Yes we were probably the oldest people there but nothing wrong with that. There were some 3,000 people younger than us going mad at Razzmatazz. Great music though as Sarah says, nothing that the Clash weren't doing 30 years ago.
- Going to the beach today at Casteldefells with friends for a truly teriffic paella at Patricio's, one of the moste emblematic beach restaurants in these parts. No booking for the outside tables so you get there at 12, grab some seats and read your papers
until they start serving at 1.30. worth every minute of it.

- ah yes. Football. 8-1 and 8 great goals at that. Four for United and four for Barca. Even better, as we speak, Real Madrid at home are barely scraping past Nastic 1-0, bottom of La Liga by some distance and with a man sent off. As one disgruntled fan puts it on the Marca.com bulletin board in a rant directed at Madrid manager Capello:

fuera!!! fuera!!!! fuera!!!! yo ya saco mi pañuelo blanco delante del pc!!!! jajajajaja

'Out! Out! Out! I have my white hanky out (the traditional F*** off sign in Spain) and I'm waving it in front of the PC'

I've been a bad blogger

Mea culpa. the last two weeks have been a void filled by travelling, getting a very nasty virus, friends visiting and some deeply depressing football by Barca.

One door closes and the next one slams in your face - that sort of thing. And literally in my case yesterday when I walked full on into a glass door and broke my nose. Blood everywhere and now feeling very tender with ice packs etc etc.

Immensely cheered last night my Messi's third, last gasp goal, which secured a vital draw in a hell for leather, harum scarum classico against Real Madrid, a game in which the two managers saw fit to dispose of their defences.

But the sun is shining and Ben scored his first goal for his futbol sala team so there is much to be happy about. More soon.

Hot media news

From DWPub JournAlert, a service on what's happening in the media.

Teddy Bear Times has merged with Teddy Bear Club International Magazine, published by Ashdown.

Dolls House and Miniature Scene has incorporated Dolls House Projects. Janet Kirkwood is editor.

two good results last night

Man U 1 Lille 0
Ben's futbol sala team (his debut) 11, opponents 2

make that three
PSV Eindhoven 1 Arsenal 0

let's hope for a fourth tonight at the Cam Nou!

Samuel Eto'o and Nina Simone

I now see it. Samuel Eto'o, gifted football striker, is the new Nina Simone, chanteuse, pianist and diva.

Like Ms S, Samuel is moody, petulant and given to massive sulks that from time to time explode into torrents of abuse directed at the ones he supposedly loves. Just like Nina in fact, who was given to missing her own concerts on occasion when she wasn't in the mood.

On Tuesday, Eto'o hijacked his own charity awareness event by letting rip at his manager Frank Rijkaard, his teammate Ronaldinho, former Barca officials and the cat who the groundsmen emply to chase the field mice. Sanctions seemed likely followed by a likely exit at the end of the season.

Then yesterday, Valentine's Day, peace and love reigned again at the club. Some nice diplomatic footwork by club captain Carles Puyol calmed everyone down. Samuel shook Frank's hand, hugged Ronnie and resumed training. Let's hope he sits down at the piano again and scores some goals. he's been out through injury for several months and Barca need him badly.

News from here

It’s been a long gap since the last blog so here’s a quick catch up.

Despite the Al Gore like temperatures and the lack of snow, Sarah and I snuck off to Masella for a couple of days of skiing. The Gods of artificial snow had laid down enough of the white stuff for blue runners like us to use and we got enough of the buzz, scenery and mountain air that we could have wished for.

Ben meanwhile went off on ski week with his school to Andorra, came back having a brilliant time having jumped over moguls and skied reds backwards.

We had our first night at the Barcelona opera at the stunning Liceu. Not just any run of the mill work but Verdi’s epic Don Carlos which runs to five hours in its full five acts. That meant the performance started at 8pm – almost a matinee by Barcelona standards – and finished as the clock struck one.

There was some weak singing – especially Don Carlos – but the staging of the (Vienna State Opera) production was amazing. It switched between original and modern settings including a surreal interlude in a 1960s suburban house which had the Catalan audience booing.

Even more extraordinary was the royal gala party which was stages as a modern televised event with the guests arriving through the theatre’s main entrance, up the stairs, through the magnificent hall of mirrors and on into the auditorium where the guest of honour were marched up the central aisle and on to the minimalist set where a black tie cocktail party was in full swing. That the audience did love.

The incredible spring like weather has returned – 18C and above. Sadly, Sarah and Ben were in rainy London but Bex and I had a great time; a long walk on Saturday morning through the nicest and quietest streets of the old city.

We found a beautiful doll’s house shop where the miniature details extended down to tiny newspapers and racks and miniscule umbrellas and cakes. We then dropped in at our favourite cheese shop (run by Scotswoman Katherine McLoughlin) and meandered down for lunch at Txakolin, which remains our tapas venue of choice.

It was also a good weekend for old and new. Old staples - Boadas for cocktails and Jamboree for live music (last night was Cuban rumba singer Xiomara Laugart, for a measly 12 euros) - and new finds - Dostrece in the Raval for late night copas and Arroseria Xativa, 10 mins walk from where we live, for the best paellas/rice dishes in town.

And tonight? Eto’o and Messi are back for Barca at the Camp Nou.

It doesn’t get much better than that …

UPDATE: just back from the game. they won 2-0 and looked pretty sharp indeed. Messi ran around for 20 mins and started to look the business. no eto'o yet.

biggest cheer of the night was for Barca's basketball team beating Real Madrid in the Spanish cup final in Malaga. Basketball is the second most important component of Barca bu it's fair to say that there would have been a smilar cheer had victory been chalked up in any other club sport such as indoor football, hockey or baseball, or indeed in any event where there is a winner and loser eg tiddlywinks, donut eating ...

'Madrid, cabrón, saluda al campeón ... ' as folk round here like to say ...

Fiestas aren't just for summer

We were walking last night through Gracia (one of Barcelona's more Bohemian neigbourhoods) after watching Flags of Our Fathers (v recommended if a little bloody in parts) when we came across one of the district's largest squares packed with people, a huge bonfire in the middle and knots of people barbecuing sausages and steaks all around.

It was, we found out today, la Fiesta Sa Pobla, which apparently began some years back as a cultural interchange with Majorca. Why they fixed it for late January who knows. But it did get everyone out on the streets on a cold saturday night ...

Adios, porteras

La Vanguardia today has a nostalgic look at the decline of the portera - the apartment block door men and women. 40 years ago there were 11,000 of them, today the numbers are down by 75%. Electronic security systems and the advent of working mothers have been the main causes.

Many blocks, like our old one, now only have live-out porteras who work mornings, Monday to Friday. Our new block, altogether grander, has the magnificent Jose who works 8-8 on weekdays, with the traditional long break for lunch and siesta between 2-5pm when he pops into his flat on our premises.

Smartly suited while on duty, Jose handles all the deliveries, takes all the rubbish out, polishes the handle of the big front door (literally), sorts the post, helps take the shopping up and liaises with the many live-in chicas (maids) and visiting workmen. A committed Barca fan, he also leaves his copy of the Sport newspaper for all to read when he has finished with it. At weekends he is replaced by another portera, as are the others on the street, who seems to be very second division and possibly not unaquainted with the joys of alcohol.

We wouldn't do without Jose. But it has to be said that for an awful lot of the day he has very little to do and plenty of time to read La Vanguardia and Sport.

One day no doubt the flat owners of the building will look at their community service bill and wonder whether Jose might do fewer hours or even have the security part of his job done by the closed circuit TV system which is already in place. But let's hope that doesn't happen for a while.

The furs are out

It's chilly - hardly Arctic and still very sunny - but at least it is cold enough for the good ladies of Turo Parc to get their furs out after the exceptionally mild winter. And they have done so in droves; I counted at least six on the way to the paper stand this morning. There are two or three fur shops around hear and neither they or the wearers seem at all worried about being attacked by the anti-furistas as would be the case in the UK. And very fine they look too; these two dears are just on their way back to their flat for a nice cup of tea and a pastry after a none-too-taxing stroll around the park.

A big weekend for football

Today Liverpool vs Chelsea which saw the Roman Empire further disintegrating. Great stuff.

Tomorrow its Arsenal vs United at 5pm followed by a very quick dash down Avenida Diagonal to the Camp Nou to watch Barca play Gimnastic of Tarragona, a team that thrilled every Catalan last year by winning promotion after 50 years and will break their hearts by going straight down this year; they have won just one of their first 18 games.

Gimnastic are 13-1 against to win the game. Pretty good odds in a two horse race until you consider that they lost the last away game with Barcelona 10-1 back in 1948.

The end of the Indian summer?

It was around 67F today and yet again beautifully sunny - the latest in an Indian summer that has lasted for almost four months. Beautiful for us, disastrous for the ski slopes.

The forecast is for a big dip in temperatures and rain. We all need it and hopefully it will bring some snow for Ben's school ski trip. We shouldnt worry too much- spring is not far away ...

What's in your paper?

Spanish newspapers, like those elsewhere, are facing falling sales and the drift to the web. But they are fighting it in some rather intriguing ways.

Extras are big things here, but rather different from the give away DVDs and CDs you find in British papers. I find those rather strange ways of getting people to papers. They are expensive, require large sums of TV advertising to promote and seem to have little long-term effect. If you buy The Times only because you like its 40 Diva Hits CD you’re not likely to buy it again.

Here you have to work for your extras, either by collecting coupons day by day or ponying up some extra dough. Last Sunday, for example, you could have had the following:

La Vanguardia – a very fine stainless steel kitchen ladle, part of a 12-piece weekly set. Four coupons from papers during the week plus 50 cents. I am collecting these religously.

El Periodioco - A free album for historic photos of Barcelona. The trick being that you have to buy the paper every day for two months to get the pictures to fill the album

El Pais - The first in a series of Jazz CDs at €1 with the rest twice a week at €5.

ABC – The first in a series of kids' DVDs, €5 each.

The sports papers are not excluded. One of the two papers that follow Barca here is offering the ‘authentic’ Barca jacket and the other one the ‘real’ one. Either way you need something like 28 coupons to go and get one.

Some of these offers are fairly upscale. You can get a volume of the Larousse encyclopaedia with La Vanguardia every week and from tomorrow, a CD and book set on the great operas of the world. Papers here still have some notion of trying to better their readers rather than just feed them pap about Big Brother.

As a result the newsagents of Barcelona sometimes resemble junk shops with CDs, books and egg whisks. But it does seem a better way of engendering loyalty than just giving away endless DVDs …

The elements of a perfect weekend in Barcelona

1. Peerless weather - blue skies, sun, 16C all weekend
2. A holiday weekend - three kings - so no shops open
3. saturday morning walking along the Passeig de les Aigües in the Collserola hills above the city
4. saturday afternoon on the beach in town
5. saturday evening watching another Powell Pressburger classic I know Where I'm Going
6. And then catching the 2nd half of Zaragoza - Seville, one of the best games of the season
7. Sunday morning with the papers on an outside table at the Bar Sandor in Plaza Francesc Macià, "sin duda la mejor terraza de Barcelona."
8. Sunday afternoon cycling along the Diagonal cycle path to Parc Cervantes along with a 1,000 children trying out their new bikes
9. Then a great FA Cup Tie watching Henrik Larsson score his first goal for United. How they miss him here.
10. to wit, Barca could only draw a nasty fixture at Getafe, sans Eto'o, Messi, Ronaldinho, Deco and more
11. But Real Madrid lost
12. er, that's it ....

Dear Three Kings

It is Three Kings on Saturday, which is when all good Spanish children get their real presents. Forget Christmas Day, this is the big one.

All this week La Vanguardia has been printing a selection of letters to the kings from children where they specify what they want and why. They are cute as hell. I especially like this one from Miguel, 6, who starts off pleading for his baby brother.

I'd like it if you bring Sergio lots of games, although he has been very naughty.

OK. enough about naughty Sergio. Now me:

I've been very good and I'd like a book on the planets, a batman, a robot, a remote control car, a remote control motor bike, a Spiderman, a Superman, a sword and a videogame.

Some good news

1) The number of deaths on Spanish roads dropped 10% last year - including a 15% drop from when a UK style points system was introduced in July.

2) Cava sales have recovered to previous levels after being hit in 2005 by the prissy metropoltian elite who took umbrage at Catalonia's new autonomy charter. Which shows they're either too feeble to make a boycott stick or they like cava too much.

Buried among the storms and the New Year

was the news that ETA - allegedly in peace talks and having declared a ceasefire - let off a huge car bomb at Madrid on Saturday which meant that two innocent Ecuadoreans never made it into 2007.

As the La Vanguardia columnist put it today:

ETA has now eliminated two dangerous enemies of the Basque people. That just leaves six billion people on earth.

Nice work guys.

It's goodbye to 2006...

From a humungously wet and windy Glasgow. Even the Scots say it's pretty rough out there and who am I to argue with that?

Three highlights of 2006? Try these:

1. Dinner at El Bulli with Sarah
2. Barca winning the Champions League
3. Not being 50 yet