King Juan Carlos has announced he is going to Paris to cheer on Barca in the Champions League final. It's a fine gesture from a smart royal who has had a very uneasy relationship with Catalonia.
Although he has a grown up child living here, and is very fond of the skiing in the Pyrenees, many Catalans distrust him because of his heir of Franco role. And while he ushered the country back to democracy, and showed his strength in the attempted coup of 1981, he still got a good booing when he came here for the Olympics in 1992.
So good for him. And can you imagine the Queen, or indeed any senior member of the British Royal Family, shifting their arses and taking the Eurostar to Paris to support Arsenal?
Monday, May 08, 2006
people everywhere
whoever was at home in the city at the weekend please raise their hand. on a very hot saturday evening, 1 million crushed on to the beaches to watch the red bull air race. at the same time around 90,000 others were heading to the camp nou (ben, bex and i included) to watch barca beat espanyol 2-0 and more importantly, parade the league trophy in front of their adoring fans.
it was a great evening which climaxed with speeches from the players (with some crowd pleasing catalan nationalism thrown in), a lap of honour and some terrific fireworks. the ovations for the departing larsson and gabri, both hoisted in the air by their teammates was particularly touching.
Sunday, just as hot, saw 1.2 million line the streets for the team's open top bus parade. ben and i made the mistake of heading to pl francesc macia near the end of the route which went way over schedule. we waited over an hour until we got too cold and went home. just wait till they bring the big trophy home from paris ...
it was a great evening which climaxed with speeches from the players (with some crowd pleasing catalan nationalism thrown in), a lap of honour and some terrific fireworks. the ovations for the departing larsson and gabri, both hoisted in the air by their teammates was particularly touching.
Sunday, just as hot, saw 1.2 million line the streets for the team's open top bus parade. ben and i made the mistake of heading to pl francesc macia near the end of the route which went way over schedule. we waited over an hour until we got too cold and went home. just wait till they bring the big trophy home from paris ...
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Rockin' Ray
Ray Davies last night was sensational. Two hours of rocking from the godfather of Britpop at Razzmatazz. He might, as Sarah said, look a bit like Bill Nighy's wrinkly rocker in Love Actually but at 61 he is still the genuine article, particular when he got down to the old Kinks hits at the end such as You Really Got Me, All Day and Lola. And looking like he was having a great time as well.
He alluded to having bumped along more than a few potholes along life's highway but seems to be on the straight and narrow now.
He seems to have a much bigger following here than I thought, although what they made of his ramblings about English life I don't know. He only got it wrong at the end when he said Arsenal would stuff Barca in the Champions League final.
He alluded to having bumped along more than a few potholes along life's highway but seems to be on the straight and narrow now.
He seems to have a much bigger following here than I thought, although what they made of his ramblings about English life I don't know. He only got it wrong at the end when he said Arsenal would stuff Barca in the Champions League final.
He's not Gary Neville
Oleguer Presas that is. Splendid article in the Guardian by Sid Lowe on the Barca player who is an 'ecowarrior, Catalan nationalist and intellectual' while also being a very effective member of the la Liga winning squad.
Oleguer also launched his recent book in a Barcelona squat. Can't imagine Gary Neville visiting a squat (or indeed writing his own book) unless they were occupying one his many properties and he was there to tell them to 'fook off'.
Reviewing the book in The Indy, Charlie Mitten described it as a:
mmm, definitely not our Gary. Taking Barca as a whole there are certain inconsistencies in the whole More than a Club/Catalonia schtick. As has been pointed out often, Barca has never followed the example of the top Basque teams of only fielding local players (which would leave a gigantic hole in the side as constiuted right now).
And what would happen if Catalonia really did get independence and has its own national league. How long would Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Deco et al hang around for the dubious pleasure of banging six past the likes of Vic, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona every week?
Oleguer also launched his recent book in a Barcelona squat. Can't imagine Gary Neville visiting a squat (or indeed writing his own book) unless they were occupying one his many properties and he was there to tell them to 'fook off'.
Reviewing the book in The Indy, Charlie Mitten described it as a:
... political volume [in which] Oleguer pontificates over childhood anorexia, the global anti-fascist struggle and the involvement of a previous Spanish government in the Gulf War. Savaged by the Madrid press, who have labelled him a hypocrite for being prepared to play for Spain despite his desire for Catalan independence, the book has been acclaimed by Catalan academics.
mmm, definitely not our Gary. Taking Barca as a whole there are certain inconsistencies in the whole More than a Club/Catalonia schtick. As has been pointed out often, Barca has never followed the example of the top Basque teams of only fielding local players (which would leave a gigantic hole in the side as constiuted right now).
And what would happen if Catalonia really did get independence and has its own national league. How long would Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Deco et al hang around for the dubious pleasure of banging six past the likes of Vic, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona every week?
Rebecca
So.
It's been eight months since I came to live in Barcelona (and almost eight months left) and....
Um. It's 10am here and I'm not properly awake and therefore the end to that promising sentence eludes me.
Oh, I've started to forget my English. Or rather, I've become very unsure of it (is 'leave me in peace' a real phrase?) despite my lovely english teacher from Newcastle constantly reminding me what the 3rd conditional is.
And Mum is going to the television Bafta's. Which I'm guessing you are aware of since if you read this blog chances are you are either a family member, a family friend or someone who works with/for my father.
That wasn't meant as a nasty comment.
And I'm worryingly out of touch with english pop culture (for instance, who is this Chico that you speak of? And isn't Shane Ward a cricket player?) and regularly have to ask my friends to explain who Chantelle and Preston are etc etc.
So not much has actually changed; I still miss camden market and still have two eyes (now with contact lenses incidentally) and the only major change is a noticeable improvement in my languages (I even managed an Excellent in German last term, which wouldn't have been so odd if I actually did German classes).
Oh yes, and of course the weather is much better than wherever you are now.
Kiss kiss, spit spit,
Rebecca
It's been eight months since I came to live in Barcelona (and almost eight months left) and....
Um. It's 10am here and I'm not properly awake and therefore the end to that promising sentence eludes me.
Oh, I've started to forget my English. Or rather, I've become very unsure of it (is 'leave me in peace' a real phrase?) despite my lovely english teacher from Newcastle constantly reminding me what the 3rd conditional is.
And Mum is going to the television Bafta's. Which I'm guessing you are aware of since if you read this blog chances are you are either a family member, a family friend or someone who works with/for my father.
That wasn't meant as a nasty comment.
And I'm worryingly out of touch with english pop culture (for instance, who is this Chico that you speak of? And isn't Shane Ward a cricket player?) and regularly have to ask my friends to explain who Chantelle and Preston are etc etc.
So not much has actually changed; I still miss camden market and still have two eyes (now with contact lenses incidentally) and the only major change is a noticeable improvement in my languages (I even managed an Excellent in German last term, which wouldn't have been so odd if I actually did German classes).
Oh yes, and of course the weather is much better than wherever you are now.
Kiss kiss, spit spit,
Rebecca
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Campeones!!!!!
Barca have won La Liga again and the centre of town has gone mad with thousands of fans taking to the streets with flags, horns and fiireworks to celebrate. Here's a pic from my smart new Sharp phone. Next stop Paris!
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
One nation divided by two languages
Whether or not Catalonia and Spain are/will ever be/should be two different nations, Catalan and Spanish are most definitely two different languages. To paraphrase The Guardian Pass Notes, Don't Say to a Catalan: 'So it's a dialect of Spanish, then?' Having said that if you have O-level French and starter Spanish like I do, you can get the gist of a Catalan newspaper story.
But the two languages come together in the strangest ways. El Periodico, a Catalonia daily, publishes identical editions in Spanish and Catalan - a blue masthead for Catalan, red for Spanish. I think this is unique in the world and I would be very keen to watch the production process unfold.
Then on Sunday I was watching the football highlights and chat programme Gol a Gol on Catalan TV33. They usually have a hack or two on as guests and up pops John Carlin, former Independent colleague and now at El Pais.
With a Spanish parent, John is fully bilingual but has little Catalan. But having a presenter speak Spanish on Catalan TV is not on, so the questions were fired off in Catalan and responded to in Spanish.
In John's words 'I just guessed what they were asking and answered as best I could.'
But the two languages come together in the strangest ways. El Periodico, a Catalonia daily, publishes identical editions in Spanish and Catalan - a blue masthead for Catalan, red for Spanish. I think this is unique in the world and I would be very keen to watch the production process unfold.
Then on Sunday I was watching the football highlights and chat programme Gol a Gol on Catalan TV33. They usually have a hack or two on as guests and up pops John Carlin, former Independent colleague and now at El Pais.
With a Spanish parent, John is fully bilingual but has little Catalan. But having a presenter speak Spanish on Catalan TV is not on, so the questions were fired off in Catalan and responded to in Spanish.
In John's words 'I just guessed what they were asking and answered as best I could.'
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Young Town
Barcelona seems to have more than its share of wrinkly rockers coming this summer. We start off with The Eagles soon (never liked them after the swapped country rock for cock rock many years ago), then The Stones at the Olympic Stadium (tempting but v.ex tickets and we saw them at Wembley years ago) and then Jethro Tull (puhleeaze...).
But I am sorely tempted by The Who at the end of July, without quite knowing why, and, yes, yes, yes, Ray Davies who plays Razzmatzz next week.
But I am sorely tempted by The Who at the end of July, without quite knowing why, and, yes, yes, yes, Ray Davies who plays Razzmatzz next week.
Si Si Si! Nos Vamos a Paris!
Barca were brilliant last night and now go on to meet the Evil Empire of Highbury on 17 May.
Gooners aside, I can't think of any right-minded football fan who loves the beautiful game, and the way it is played by Ronaldinho et al, who would want anything but a Barca victory.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
St George's Day
Completely ignored in England, St George's Day is very big in Catalonia where San Jordi is also the patron saint. Each 23 April, every man has to buy his loved one a rose and will in turn receive a book.
This year falling on a Sunday, the day was bigger than ever with every inch of Barcelona's big thoroughfares covered by book stalls and rose sellers. The streets were packed with women and girls of all ages carrying their roses. It was utterly charming, a picture of uncommercialised innocence that would be hard to match.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Ghosts of Spain
If you haven't read Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, the Guardian's man in Madrid, then do so. It is a wonderfully written account of how Spain took its return to democracy in it stride and simply forgot about all the truly horrific things that went on under Franco.
No truth commissions, no mass confessionals, no gigantic lying on the shrink's couch to get the collective pain off the country's chest.
It is also very funny about the key aspects of life here ranging from the role of children to the compliant TV media, the industrial scale consumption of cocaine and stern rule of the medical profession which brooks little deviance from the norm, particularly when it comes to childbirth.
Giles was up here yesterday for a book reading. Not only is an exteremly nice man but he says the book is selling like hot cakes in Britain and may be translated into Spanish.
No truth commissions, no mass confessionals, no gigantic lying on the shrink's couch to get the collective pain off the country's chest.
It is also very funny about the key aspects of life here ranging from the role of children to the compliant TV media, the industrial scale consumption of cocaine and stern rule of the medical profession which brooks little deviance from the norm, particularly when it comes to childbirth.
Giles was up here yesterday for a book reading. Not only is an exteremly nice man but he says the book is selling like hot cakes in Britain and may be translated into Spanish.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Happy in the Bar Mandri
If there is a better place to watch a big football game than in Barcelona's Bar Mandri, take me there.
We were there for last night's stunning victory over Milan. The place was packed to the rafters with fans watching on three screens, including several dozen on the pavement, while the overworked waiters squeezed through to serve bottles of Damm beer, patatas bravas (the best in town it is said) and croquetes (and trusted you that you would stick around to pay). The place went wild after Giuly converted Ronaldnho's stunning pass but without any of the aggression, real or imagined, that you get in an English Sky pub. Wonderful.
We were there for last night's stunning victory over Milan. The place was packed to the rafters with fans watching on three screens, including several dozen on the pavement, while the overworked waiters squeezed through to serve bottles of Damm beer, patatas bravas (the best in town it is said) and croquetes (and trusted you that you would stick around to pay). The place went wild after Giuly converted Ronaldnho's stunning pass but without any of the aggression, real or imagined, that you get in an English Sky pub. Wonderful.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Decorous Deia
Onwards and westwards over the stunning mountains to beautiful Deia, the beloved village of poet and author Robert Graves who lived here for years and is buried in the tiny graveyard at the top of the village. We have a gorgeous sunny flat with the mountains high to our left, olive tree terraces ahead and the sea to our right.
Graves’s legacy is a miniature British arts and music community and the super rich owners of villas (£2 million here) and guests at the nobby La Residencia. But it is very quiet and magical and you can walk down the hill to Deia’s tiny cove by the crystal blue sea.
Among other pleasures, a Sky dish brings untold pleasure to TV deprived Ben, who catches up with the delights of Scooby Doo and Basil Brush. Bliss
Graves’s legacy is a miniature British arts and music community and the super rich owners of villas (£2 million here) and guests at the nobby La Residencia. But it is very quiet and magical and you can walk down the hill to Deia’s tiny cove by the crystal blue sea.
Among other pleasures, a Sky dish brings untold pleasure to TV deprived Ben, who catches up with the delights of Scooby Doo and Basil Brush. Bliss
Friday, April 07, 2006
Holiday time
Majorca, or more precisely the Sonbrull, near Pollenca in the north east corner. Thoroughly to be recommended if you want two days of 5 star relais and chateaux luxury, if I may say so. It’s sited in an old monastery which has been completely transformed inside with very hip black and slate gray modern bedrooms and great bathrooms.
It’s the first time I have been in Majorca since we came en famille when I was eight. I remember little except that we stayed in a very nice hotel in Palma and that the real British tourist trade (‘full English breakfast, football results by 6pm’) was very close nearby.
Plus ca change. Spin forward a few years to today and the British in Majorca have bifurcated further. There are hotels like the Sonbrull and villas at £1 million and above. Then there is Puerto Pollenca with the perennial full English breakfasts and a range of cuisines ranging from Tex Mex to Indian. Instead of Sports Report on the BBC World Service there are Irish pubs with seven games on Sky every weekend.
A glimpse at the local English language prints reveal the frightening self imposed isolation of the English community who have moved out here to settle and run the pubs and clubs. The letters column is like reading the Daily Telegraph from 40 years ago with their moaning about how Britain has gone to the dogs.
Actually make that the Rhodesia Herald of 40 years ago. One writer harks back to the golden holidays of youth in the Isle or Man when the threat of the birch mean violence didn’t exist. The rest of the paper is all darts nights and pub quiz nights
It’s the first time I have been in Majorca since we came en famille when I was eight. I remember little except that we stayed in a very nice hotel in Palma and that the real British tourist trade (‘full English breakfast, football results by 6pm’) was very close nearby.
Plus ca change. Spin forward a few years to today and the British in Majorca have bifurcated further. There are hotels like the Sonbrull and villas at £1 million and above. Then there is Puerto Pollenca with the perennial full English breakfasts and a range of cuisines ranging from Tex Mex to Indian. Instead of Sports Report on the BBC World Service there are Irish pubs with seven games on Sky every weekend.
A glimpse at the local English language prints reveal the frightening self imposed isolation of the English community who have moved out here to settle and run the pubs and clubs. The letters column is like reading the Daily Telegraph from 40 years ago with their moaning about how Britain has gone to the dogs.
Actually make that the Rhodesia Herald of 40 years ago. One writer harks back to the golden holidays of youth in the Isle or Man when the threat of the birch mean violence didn’t exist. The rest of the paper is all darts nights and pub quiz nights
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
A sad day for British politics
Nothing to do with the Blair Brown dispute but the passing of former Tory MP Sir Anthony Beaumont-Dark, the leading member of the 1980s backbench battalions who could be relied on to proclaim that 'it's an outrage' whatever 'it' was - political correctness, Sunday shopping, equal pay, end of capital punishment in schools etc etc
In fact so reliable was Sir Anthony in his trenchant views that he gave licence to Chris Moncrieff, political editor of the Press Association to quote him in a story on any such topic even if , in those days before email and mobile phones, he hadd failed to make contact with him.
They don't make them like that any more; apparently the wood just isn't available...
In fact so reliable was Sir Anthony in his trenchant views that he gave licence to Chris Moncrieff, political editor of the Press Association to quote him in a story on any such topic even if , in those days before email and mobile phones, he hadd failed to make contact with him.
They don't make them like that any more; apparently the wood just isn't available...
Monday, April 03, 2006
Good news ...
A very good friend's ghastly ankle problem has been hugely ameliorated by acupuncture, as has my brother's various back ailments. So if you are at the end of your tether pain wise, go forth and get punctured
... bad news
For the fourth week in a row, I learn that a friend of a good friend has bought the farm in the 40-50 age range. Not so much the dying of the light as it being shut off in a flash as spouses leave home without a care in the world and return an hour later to find their future simply extinguished.
Moral of the story. Switch off the Blackberry and open the wine and/or play with your children. Citywire's wonderful new deathometer says i should make it to 85, but I am not taking any chances.
Moral of the story. Switch off the Blackberry and open the wine and/or play with your children. Citywire's wonderful new deathometer says i should make it to 85, but I am not taking any chances.
Not so classico
our fairy godfather dropped in again at the last moment with tickets for the barca-real madrid classico on saturday night so an escstatic Ben and his ever so calm father hoofed off to the camp nou for the 10pm kick off.
An amazing atmosphere crowned before the game when we all raised coloured sheets of paper above our head to create the barca and catalan flags. as a game the spectacle failed as a hopelessly off colour barca attack couldnt score against a flaccid real madrid lacking roberto carlos who was sent off after 26 minutes for bone headedly telling the ref and the linesman "you and you are both shits"; Carlos himself maintains that he said "you and you don't understand shit." so that's alright then ...
The only Barca goal came from a penalty and that means according to el mundo deportivo (a paper so laden with stats that it makes the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society look like te beano) that they have now had 59 attempts on goal from open play and not scored once. All thoughts turn to a United like whimpering exit from the champiosn league vs benfica on wednesday night.
An amazing atmosphere crowned before the game when we all raised coloured sheets of paper above our head to create the barca and catalan flags. as a game the spectacle failed as a hopelessly off colour barca attack couldnt score against a flaccid real madrid lacking roberto carlos who was sent off after 26 minutes for bone headedly telling the ref and the linesman "you and you are both shits"; Carlos himself maintains that he said "you and you don't understand shit." so that's alright then ...
The only Barca goal came from a penalty and that means according to el mundo deportivo (a paper so laden with stats that it makes the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society look like te beano) that they have now had 59 attempts on goal from open play and not scored once. All thoughts turn to a United like whimpering exit from the champiosn league vs benfica on wednesday night.
Friday, March 31, 2006
World Cup fever
or not. there is not much of it here, to be sure. Earlier this week, Spain's 6th free to air analogue channel, la sexta, launched (the 2nd such channel this year. not much sign of an analogue switch off here, mrs jowell) with the astonishing news that it had won the rights to show half of the 64 world cup games with the other half being shown on digital canal+.
had this happened in the UK - ie none of the games on the established channels - pages 1,2,3 etc would have been cleared and questions asked in the house. here? it barely made page 25 of the sports paper. how many people will actually see the games on la sexta is another question. we get a very bad picture here and the channel is offering a free aerial booster to all block of flats . how and when it will get done i dont know.
The causes of world cup apathy are two fold. first, too much energy goes into supporting club teams for there to be any left over for the national side. second, spain are diabolical underperformers at the world cup. they nearly always qualify but never get past the quarter final. ranked sixth in the world, this explains their odds of 12-1.
of course other factors apply in barcelona. we are, er, not actually in spain as far as many are concerned, while with Xavi still injured, we may see Spain take the field with just one Barca player, the monumental Puyol, or the same number as Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina ...
had this happened in the UK - ie none of the games on the established channels - pages 1,2,3 etc would have been cleared and questions asked in the house. here? it barely made page 25 of the sports paper. how many people will actually see the games on la sexta is another question. we get a very bad picture here and the channel is offering a free aerial booster to all block of flats . how and when it will get done i dont know.
The causes of world cup apathy are two fold. first, too much energy goes into supporting club teams for there to be any left over for the national side. second, spain are diabolical underperformers at the world cup. they nearly always qualify but never get past the quarter final. ranked sixth in the world, this explains their odds of 12-1.
of course other factors apply in barcelona. we are, er, not actually in spain as far as many are concerned, while with Xavi still injured, we may see Spain take the field with just one Barca player, the monumental Puyol, or the same number as Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina ...
Friday, March 24, 2006
Having a crap day? This story will cheer you up
Indian farmer D Jaggalah died after drinking bootleg booze. Villagers at his cremation raised a glass to toast their friend, but used the same batch of alcohol that killed Jaggalah.
Ten funeral goers were poisoned. And died.
From popbitch
Ten funeral goers were poisoned. And died.
From popbitch
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Ronny and Becks
A friend was in town to shoot a TV advert and told me this story.
Most of the crew was local and their bread and butter is doing the local version high budget Nike/Pepsi/whatever ads featuring Ronaldinho, Beckham and the like.
Ronny they said was an utter delight to work with. All smiles, happy to pose for pictures and prepared to sign autographs until his arm fell off.
Beckham? They all had to sign a contract saying they wouldn't talk to him take his picture, ask him for a photograph or basically disturb him in anyway during the shoot. If they didn't sign, they didn't get the job.
Most of the crew was local and their bread and butter is doing the local version high budget Nike/Pepsi/whatever ads featuring Ronaldinho, Beckham and the like.
Ronny they said was an utter delight to work with. All smiles, happy to pose for pictures and prepared to sign autographs until his arm fell off.
Beckham? They all had to sign a contract saying they wouldn't talk to him take his picture, ask him for a photograph or basically disturb him in anyway during the shoot. If they didn't sign, they didn't get the job.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
reasons to be cheerful
- Barca won last night to go 14 points clear in the league.
- Eto'o scored twice to pass 100 league goals
- Ronaldinho was 26 yesterday
- The Estatut giving Catalonia more autonomy took one step closer to reality after being approved by a Parliamentary commission in Madrid
- The mercury is nudging up
- Best of all, ETA has declared that from Friday it will observe a permanent ceasefire
The fossa's penis
Worth taking a look at who gave a lecture yesterday about the size of teh fossa's penis. Click here
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Disco Ben
Ben went to school camp in the week where they camped out, fed goats and generally had a brilliant time. But the outstanding event of the camp was the disco where he was voted joint best dancer out of 120 children! His friend Fernando was the other winner...
John Travolta eat your heart out...
John Travolta eat your heart out...
Monday, March 13, 2006
is it just me...
... or is James Blunt not really, really crap? And is 'You're beautiful' not an utterly tedious dirge? And how did it get to number 1 anywhere, let alone the US?
Apart from being a turgid moanathon, the song, as my razor sharp children point out, is down plain contradictory. One minute 'I've got a plan' and the next 'I don't know what to do'. Give up mate is the answer....
I'm with Paul Weller on this one who said "I'd rather eat my own shit than do a duet with James Blunt". Even allowing for Weller's huge case of wrinklyrockercus grumpicus, it's hard to naysay such a sentiment.
Apart from being a turgid moanathon, the song, as my razor sharp children point out, is down plain contradictory. One minute 'I've got a plan' and the next 'I don't know what to do'. Give up mate is the answer....
I'm with Paul Weller on this one who said "I'd rather eat my own shit than do a duet with James Blunt". Even allowing for Weller's huge case of wrinklyrockercus grumpicus, it's hard to naysay such a sentiment.
Crapulent Oldies
barcelona's radio stations tend play a pleasantly inoffensive selection of oldies but occasionally will fixate on something really awful. one station this week seems to be playing 'just another day' by wings whenever i get in the car.
a truly ghastly, minging song about some bedsit spinster secretary that was Paul mccartney's worst song until he came up with the buttock-clenchingly embarassing, so PC it ached, 'ebony and ivory.'
a truly ghastly, minging song about some bedsit spinster secretary that was Paul mccartney's worst song until he came up with the buttock-clenchingly embarassing, so PC it ached, 'ebony and ivory.'
And that was before she got to play a duet with james blunt...
Sad, so sad
Sometimes she feels so sad.
Real warmth
the sun put its proper hat for the first time this weekend (and yes i know it was freezing in britain and if it is any consolation it was manchester style mizzle today). we had friends staying in the flat in el born and all was basically well with the world.
we ate on friday night at Arrel del Born, very close to the flat on the (as usual very good) recommendation of Andrew Swift. Not failed us yet and this time was no exception. great fish which apparently the chef's uncle catches and delivers personally every day.
i took ben to play football in the park with his friend Fernando and he ended up spending the day with him. this is always amusing because he comes back speaking with a very heavy spanish accent. sarah and bex went to the diane arbus exhibition at caixaforum which they said was teriffic.
we also crossed another rubicon by going en famille to a pop concert for the first time - Jack Johnson - who was playing at a giant basketball stadium just out of town. sarah and i did our best not to embarass the children by not dancing. tempus fugit ...
we ate on friday night at Arrel del Born, very close to the flat on the (as usual very good) recommendation of Andrew Swift. Not failed us yet and this time was no exception. great fish which apparently the chef's uncle catches and delivers personally every day.
i took ben to play football in the park with his friend Fernando and he ended up spending the day with him. this is always amusing because he comes back speaking with a very heavy spanish accent. sarah and bex went to the diane arbus exhibition at caixaforum which they said was teriffic.
we also crossed another rubicon by going en famille to a pop concert for the first time - Jack Johnson - who was playing at a giant basketball stadium just out of town. sarah and i did our best not to embarass the children by not dancing. tempus fugit ...
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
98,436 afortunados ...
... as mundo deportivo described those lucky enough to at the camp nou last night. Two of them were ben and I after our fairy godfather (or St pepe of pedralbes as he is now known. Thanks pepe) secured two late tickets for us, curiously almost in the very same spot where I watched United win the Champions League final in 1999 (and doesnt that see a long time ago ...)
It was a great night if not a spectacular game. Barca cruised it and were in control for virtually all the game. Chelsea never came to the races and ended rather pathetically by putting Thomas Huth, their big fat centre half up front as a desperate centre forward. We waved Mourinho good bye and invited him to go to the theatre.
It was Ben's first ever 'big' game and his eyes were on stalks for the whole evening. Mine was seeing United play Real Madrid in the European Cup semi final of 1968 and I remember every detail as if it was yesterday. Let's hope Ben has similar happy memories of last night in 38 years' time.
It was a great night if not a spectacular game. Barca cruised it and were in control for virtually all the game. Chelsea never came to the races and ended rather pathetically by putting Thomas Huth, their big fat centre half up front as a desperate centre forward. We waved Mourinho good bye and invited him to go to the theatre.
It was Ben's first ever 'big' game and his eyes were on stalks for the whole evening. Mine was seeing United play Real Madrid in the European Cup semi final of 1968 and I remember every detail as if it was yesterday. Let's hope Ben has similar happy memories of last night in 38 years' time.
Monday, March 06, 2006
weekend in madrid
we went abroad (bad catalan joke) for the weekend to madrid and loved it despite the foul weather on saturday when we all got soaked. we stayed at the hotel miau (really) which is as central as you can get and right on the beautiful plaza santa ana. here in no particular order are some of the things we liked:
- the museums - the big three are fantastic and very near each other. ben liked the prado with its very sinister goyas and el grecos and was very swayed by the labours of hercules pictures and saturn eating his son (he has been warned). Becca much preferred the bright modern art of the Thyssen collection and neither cared much for the Picassos of the Reine Sofia
- Retiro Park. Barcelona lacks a really big park and this one is great
- Plaza Mayor. same thing
- El caldero restaurant - great for Murcian paellas cooked like soup rather than stir fried
- The bars of placa santa ana. Great tiled and mahogany wood places with great beer and tapas
- Real Madrid's stadium tour with nine (grr) European Cups on display and a great restaurant.
- The late night life. even later than barcelona and very laid back. hordes of people thronging the streets at 2am and later even in the pouring rain.
- The new terminal at Barajas airport designed by Richard Rogers. The most stunning airport building I have ever seen.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Real revisited
A few weeks ago Spain's business weekly Actualidad Economica ran a readers' contest on how Real Madrid could fix itself on the field having been so succesful off it.
With the help of my esteemed Spanish teacher my entry said roughly that they should copy Barca by selling off all the fat galacticos to cut the wage bill, hire a new manager and leave him alone and put all their effort into finding the best new young talent in the world.
So while Real has been collected its assortment of superstars, Barca has nurtured the brilliant young talent of Lionel Messi, who they brought over from Argentina at the age of 13 and looked after with TLC (he had a a hormonal deficiency in his bones which they foudn the best care for).
Worse still is the talent Real threw away. Eto'o spent three years there with barely a kick and Micahel Owen was neglected then resold becuase the £8 million profit spoke louder than what he could do on the pitch.
With the help of my esteemed Spanish teacher my entry said roughly that they should copy Barca by selling off all the fat galacticos to cut the wage bill, hire a new manager and leave him alone and put all their effort into finding the best new young talent in the world.
So while Real has been collected its assortment of superstars, Barca has nurtured the brilliant young talent of Lionel Messi, who they brought over from Argentina at the age of 13 and looked after with TLC (he had a a hormonal deficiency in his bones which they foudn the best care for).
Worse still is the talent Real threw away. Eto'o spent three years there with barely a kick and Micahel Owen was neglected then resold becuase the £8 million profit spoke louder than what he could do on the pitch.
how many business papers does Spain need?
Spain has a new business daily, el economista, and very smart it looks to with good layout, charts, typography etc. But it's the 4th specialist business daily which to my mind is two or three too many. Britain, with a far bigger financial audience has just one, the FT. As in Britain, the serious general dailies also have good business sections.
el economista has also taken the strange decsion to publish Tuesday to Saturday. Much as I would have loved this in my daily days (working Sundays were a pain, not just because you worked half the weekend but also because there was no news) and I can see the logic. But if you need to buy a business daily every day you'll need to buy one on Monday. As most paper buying is habit, it will be hard to switch on Tuesday
el economista has also taken the strange decsion to publish Tuesday to Saturday. Much as I would have loved this in my daily days (working Sundays were a pain, not just because you worked half the weekend but also because there was no news) and I can see the logic. But if you need to buy a business daily every day you'll need to buy one on Monday. As most paper buying is habit, it will be hard to switch on Tuesday
Top line is vanity, lack of trophies is insanity
A week after a report revealed that Real Madrid had become the football club with the biggest turnover, the man who built it all, Florentino Perez, has quit as president.
Having spent $300 m to assemble a team (sorry, collection - they rarely play as a team) of fat, ageing, over the hill, galacticos that will now face a third trophyless year, the penny has finally dropped. This after a five-day period that saw defeats by a reserve Arsenal squad at home in the Champions League and Real Mallorca, 16th in the table and Spain's equivalent of Blackburn Rovers.
The headlines given to the 'richest club' report by all and sundry were insane. Name me one other industry where success is measured by turnover as opposed to profits, free cash flow, return on equity, dividend growth or market share.
'Top line is vanity, bottom line is sanity' is the old business adage and Real Madrid's bottom line is that it is out of the Spanish FA Cup, facing elimination from the Champions League and 10 points behind Barca in La liga.
Having spent $300 m to assemble a team (sorry, collection - they rarely play as a team) of fat, ageing, over the hill, galacticos that will now face a third trophyless year, the penny has finally dropped. This after a five-day period that saw defeats by a reserve Arsenal squad at home in the Champions League and Real Mallorca, 16th in the table and Spain's equivalent of Blackburn Rovers.
The headlines given to the 'richest club' report by all and sundry were insane. Name me one other industry where success is measured by turnover as opposed to profits, free cash flow, return on equity, dividend growth or market share.
'Top line is vanity, bottom line is sanity' is the old business adage and Real Madrid's bottom line is that it is out of the Spanish FA Cup, facing elimination from the Champions League and 10 points behind Barca in La liga.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Unspeakable (1)
Liverpudlians believe the whole world hates them. er, and they wonder why after this story in The Guardian:
Next time they are 3-0 down in the Champions League final I will be cheering for the other side to make it six.
The reputation of Liverpool fans took another pummelling last night when it was revealed that the ambulance taking Alan Smith to hospital had come under attack outside Anfield. Supporters surrounded the vehicle while throwing missiles and shouting "Munich scum" in reference to the plane crash that killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players, in 1958.
Next time they are 3-0 down in the Champions League final I will be cheering for the other side to make it six.
Unspeakabale (2)
The racism that Barca striker Samuel Eto'o has to endure at some games is beyond words. Particularly at Zaragoza on saturday night where he almost walked off the pitch. And this is meant to be one of Europe's most civilised countries ....
Friday, February 24, 2006
It's Carnival today in Barcelona
Which means costumers for all the children at St Peters.
Ben, naturally, is making the most of it ...
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Marvellous Messi
There is much whinging in UK papers today. Only James Lawton in the Independent hits the nail on the head about the genius of Messi
Those of us lucky enough to see him play this season couldn't fail to agree.
He is ranked alongside Wayne Rooney as one of the great talents of the world game and certainly they both carry huge expectations to the World Cup. These hopes, however, do not exceed the kind of gifts that can be brought to the challenge.
Those of us lucky enough to see him play this season couldn't fail to agree.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Sensational
Everything that was good about Barca's football was on display tonight when they came from behind to beat chelsea 2-1 at stamford bridge. the speed and vision overwhelmed chelsea who were hanging on like a pulevrised boxer by the end. chelsea's dull brand of football was put to the sword once and for all.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Lander's Northern Tour
I've been on a small northern tour to interview financial advisers for New Model Adviser. First stop was Liverpool where the wonderful hospitality of Phil Melville of Argyle Financial Group extended to a visit to Anfield for a blood and thunder 200mph encounter between Liverpool and Arsenal which the home side scraped with a late winner. So different from watching Barca where the crowds are that much quieter and the game that much slower.
Thence to Newcastle via train, taking in some of England's most beautiful scenery in the lakes and Northumberland. Never been here before and it's something of a revelation - great light stone architecture, combining the best of Edinburgh's New Town with the towering bridge presence of Sydney. Great pubs as well - real narrow boozers with great beer of the type that really don't exist in london any more.
Bloody cold as well - not enough however to stop hordes of Geordies taking to the streets in t shirts and minis.
Thence to Newcastle via train, taking in some of England's most beautiful scenery in the lakes and Northumberland. Never been here before and it's something of a revelation - great light stone architecture, combining the best of Edinburgh's New Town with the towering bridge presence of Sydney. Great pubs as well - real narrow boozers with great beer of the type that really don't exist in london any more.
Bloody cold as well - not enough however to stop hordes of Geordies taking to the streets in t shirts and minis.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
mobile barcelona
Off to 3GSM yesterday to wonder at the sheer scale of it all in the massive exhibition halls of La Fira. Barcelona has put on its best face with beautiful clear sunny skies although reports from the airport of long taxiing from the distant runway to the terminal, even longer walks to the luggage carousels and yet longer taxi queues (there are of course thousands of taxis waiting when there is no demand for them...) probably were not the best first impressions for many new visitor.
What was very odd was the total lack of security. There was no body or bag scanning whatsoever and this on a day when the king, queen and Catlonian president were doing their official thing. There was much greater security when we went to the national art museum here
I got within 10 feet of all them when they visitedthe Vodafone pavilion and while there was no shortage of bodyguards, there was no cordon and one could have eaily taken them out.
The FT says 3GSM´s move from Cannes will save delegates €7 million or 22% of their spending last year on taxis, hotels and eating. The bandwagon is here for five years which means by my abacus they will spend around €120 million over that time.
What was very odd was the total lack of security. There was no body or bag scanning whatsoever and this on a day when the king, queen and Catlonian president were doing their official thing. There was much greater security when we went to the national art museum here
I got within 10 feet of all them when they visitedthe Vodafone pavilion and while there was no shortage of bodyguards, there was no cordon and one could have eaily taken them out.
The FT says 3GSM´s move from Cannes will save delegates €7 million or 22% of their spending last year on taxis, hotels and eating. The bandwagon is here for five years which means by my abacus they will spend around €120 million over that time.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
this is serious
barca lose again, 1-0 to valencia, and the lead is now down to 6 points. if i wanted to see my team self destruct i could have stayed in england ...
you know that 3GSM is in town when ...
... all your hear around town are american accents
... restaurants start catering to the americans by serving dinner from 8pm and can get a second serving in
... hotel rates are now £1,000 a night
... restaurants start catering to the americans by serving dinner from 8pm and can get a second serving in
... hotel rates are now £1,000 a night
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Sun and ski
After the beach last weekend it was time to hit the ski slope. Avec my two French copains, we set off from Barcelona at 8.30am and were kitted out, ticketed and on the chairlift at Masella by 11am. the weather was simply stunning and there was tons and tons of snow (far more than the Alps have got this year) for me to fall over in.
I even managed an ultra slow descent down a couple of red runs. A blissful lunch was taken on a terrace en plein soleil consisting of a very bad hamburger (the alps really do have better food) a beer and a cigar, all of which combined to make the post prandial descents rather eventful. All this and back home by 7pm.
I even managed an ultra slow descent down a couple of red runs. A blissful lunch was taken on a terrace en plein soleil consisting of a very bad hamburger (the alps really do have better food) a beer and a cigar, all of which combined to make the post prandial descents rather eventful. All this and back home by 7pm.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
enrique morente
we went to see enrique morente, one of spain's leading flamenco singers, last night at a packed palau de la musica. it was one of the most powerful, emotional concerts I have ever seen - a controlled passion rising up from a semi strangled voice that seemed to combine all sorts of sephardic elements in it.
It was all a million miles from the the traditional tourist flamenco pap - he is seen here as the man who reinvented flamenco here and has worked with African, Cuban and punk musicians. He has also adapted poems by Federico García Lorca and songs by Leonard Cohen.
He is on at Sadler's Wells in London next week. Not to be missed if you around.
It was all a million miles from the the traditional tourist flamenco pap - he is seen here as the man who reinvented flamenco here and has worked with African, Cuban and punk musicians. He has also adapted poems by Federico García Lorca and songs by Leonard Cohen.
He is on at Sadler's Wells in London next week. Not to be missed if you around.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Awful
No Eto'o, no Ronaldinho (and four others missing through injury) no football....
Barca were dire last night as they slumped 1-3 in the Camp Nou to a sprightly Athletico Madrid to end 14 league wins on the run.
'Desastre' said the man on the bus going home. Not sure it is - they still have a nine point lead. but they really need to wake up again. Real Madrid have won four on the run and Barca go to 2nd-placed Valencia next week.
Barca were dire last night as they slumped 1-3 in the Camp Nou to a sprightly Athletico Madrid to end 14 league wins on the run.
'Desastre' said the man on the bus going home. Not sure it is - they still have a nine point lead. but they really need to wake up again. Real Madrid have won four on the run and Barca go to 2nd-placed Valencia next week.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Beach or ski
It was one of those magnificent days when you could have gone two hours north to ski or 30 minutes south to go to the beach. both were packed. we went to the beach at Castelldefels and picnicked among the sanddunes and very nice it was as well.
Friday, February 03, 2006
He's back!!!!!!!!!!!
Colonel Antonio Tejero that is - the man who tried to bring down the government in 1981 by invading parliament and shooting his pistol.
Great piece by Giles Tremlett in the Guardian about him fulminating (along with other soldiers) about Catalonia's new proposed autonomy.
Turns out the government is creasing itself laughing 1) because the chances of a new coup attempt are so minimal as to be zero and 2) because these lot associate themselves with the rather gormless conservative opposition, creating a skunk-like smell which puts off anyone of moderately centrist views....
Friday, January 27, 2006
all over
18 wins on the bounce for Barca (and 25 games undefeated) came to a crashing end last night when they lost 4-2 in the first leg of the King's Cup to Zaragoza. They had rested several players, others were injured and Eto'o is winning the Africa Nations cup single handed for Cameroon. But it all sounded pretty grim.
Stil lit had to happen and better now than against Chelsea. A 2-0 win in the home leg next week would see them play Real Madrid in the semis...
Stil lit had to happen and better now than against Chelsea. A 2-0 win in the home leg next week would see them play Real Madrid in the semis...
3GSM cometh
3GSM is the biggest mobile phone expo in the world. it is coming here in February and during the week you cant get a hotel room for under $500 (unless you are prepared to stay 40 miles away).
Business wise it is the biggest thing to hit Barcelona for years and a huge coup for the city and its event-hosting ability. Tens of thousands of delegates and exhibitors will be here Mon-Thurs and a large percentage will haul their spouses out for the subsequent weekend.
They will fall in love with the city (as long as the weather improves) and tell their friends and/or come back again. I know this because Sarah and I first spent time here after a much smaller trade fair and did thus, going on to buy a flat here then move here for this year.
3GSM moves here from Cannes, the self-styled convention centre of the world which has justly got its come-uppance. Friends who attend the TV/film conferences there have nothing good to say about the hospitality of the French or indeed the long drive in from Nice airport. Delegates here will have some fun.
I have registered for 3GSM as a journalist which means a blizzard of calls from sweet yet terribly ernest PR interns from the US who go through whole lists of journalists going 'Hello I'm Mary Lou Thrackenhack from Mousehole PR and I wanted to set up a briefing with George X. Hackenabush, the CTO of eergizmo inc. which employs the latest bluetooth technology to facilitate one-to-many communities empowering people using mobile interaction...'
Meanwhile Yahoo just announced the launch of a big research centre here. This city is carving out a tech future...
Business wise it is the biggest thing to hit Barcelona for years and a huge coup for the city and its event-hosting ability. Tens of thousands of delegates and exhibitors will be here Mon-Thurs and a large percentage will haul their spouses out for the subsequent weekend.
They will fall in love with the city (as long as the weather improves) and tell their friends and/or come back again. I know this because Sarah and I first spent time here after a much smaller trade fair and did thus, going on to buy a flat here then move here for this year.
3GSM moves here from Cannes, the self-styled convention centre of the world which has justly got its come-uppance. Friends who attend the TV/film conferences there have nothing good to say about the hospitality of the French or indeed the long drive in from Nice airport. Delegates here will have some fun.
I have registered for 3GSM as a journalist which means a blizzard of calls from sweet yet terribly ernest PR interns from the US who go through whole lists of journalists going 'Hello I'm Mary Lou Thrackenhack from Mousehole PR and I wanted to set up a briefing with George X. Hackenabush, the CTO of eergizmo inc. which employs the latest bluetooth technology to facilitate one-to-many communities empowering people using mobile interaction...'
Meanwhile Yahoo just announced the launch of a big research centre here. This city is carving out a tech future...
It's bloody freezing here today
really it is. it is even snowing on tibidabo which stands at 500m over the city. it is a real cold, wet, raw, London type of cold unlike the gloriously sunny dry kind of cold we have been used to over the winter.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Bex is 13 on Sunday...
... which is even more astonishing than me being 50 next year. As she is going on a school ski trip that day, her birthday treat was last weekend - a trip to Rome to do the Audrey Hepburn thing, which she did in great style (of course).
You can see the photo show by going here and clicking on slide show
You can see the photo show by going here and clicking on slide show
Sunday, January 15, 2006
17 and counting
A slightly laboured win at home over Athletic Bilbao (and a sending off for the brainless Deco) makes it 17 wins on the run - a 7 point lead in la liga at the half way stage.
Ben and I didnt fancy getting soaked for a second week on the run so we saved our Euros and watched the game from our English local pub, Dirty Dick's Tavern. Like the best English pubs abroad, this one had not an English soul in (apart from us) but was packed with Barca fans who have developed a taste for Guinness or cold Bass at some stage in their lives. The darts club noticeboard had around 17 names on it, just one of them Anglo-Saxon sounding.
Ben and I didnt fancy getting soaked for a second week on the run so we saved our Euros and watched the game from our English local pub, Dirty Dick's Tavern. Like the best English pubs abroad, this one had not an English soul in (apart from us) but was packed with Barca fans who have developed a taste for Guinness or cold Bass at some stage in their lives. The darts club noticeboard had around 17 names on it, just one of them Anglo-Saxon sounding.
carry on smoking
the only downside to this was that we came back reeking of fags. the new anti-smoking law gives bars and restaurants smaller than 100 sq metres the choice of allowing or banning smoking and DD has opeted to allow it.
Indeed, I have yet to set foot inside one establishment that has banned it and the guestimate doing the rounds is that only 15% have done so.
Boadas, our favourite cocktail bar where we went last night, still allows the evil weed. But it is well ventilated and was relatively quiet last night and my first mojito tasted rather as good as ever while the second was even better...
Indeed, I have yet to set foot inside one establishment that has banned it and the guestimate doing the rounds is that only 15% have done so.
Boadas, our favourite cocktail bar where we went last night, still allows the evil weed. But it is well ventilated and was relatively quiet last night and my first mojito tasted rather as good as ever while the second was even better...
Forces of reaction
The national government, normally pretty wobbly, has been ultra decisive about coming down on the Spanish General José Mena Aguado who implied that the army would be used to safeguard the sovereignty of Spain in the case of an excessive or unconstitutional Catalan Statute.
First he was placed under house arrest and then demoted. The opposition has tried to whip things up on the back of it but there appears to be little appetite for a rerun of little soliders in tri-cornered hats going bang-bang in the parliament as happened in 1981. Spain was just emerging from 40 years of solitude back then and sheep were still driven around the gates of Barcelona. Today the good life here is too good to go back to that.
First he was placed under house arrest and then demoted. The opposition has tried to whip things up on the back of it but there appears to be little appetite for a rerun of little soliders in tri-cornered hats going bang-bang in the parliament as happened in 1981. Spain was just emerging from 40 years of solitude back then and sheep were still driven around the gates of Barcelona. Today the good life here is too good to go back to that.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Sunday, January 08, 2006
The strangest derby game I've ever seen...
We went to see Barca play local rivals Espanyol last night at the cavernous Olympic stadium. Much hype in the papers, managers talking up the game etc.
Now derby games when I grew up in manchester were big things - huge crowds, great atmosphere, big tension and usually crap games.
last night we turn up to find the beautiful old stadium around half full - 28,000 according to the paper or around 7,000 more than Espanyol's normal meagre attendance. There was no crowd segretaion but a big chunk of vociferous barca fans - 600, or 700 perhaps- packed themselves into one high section behind a goal. People by and large just don't go to away games here, no matter how close
There was a bit of tension from a few boozed up Espanyol fans who can be an earthy blue-collar bunch but even if they wanted to dish out a kicking or two, they would have had a hard job finding anyone.
It got ever more bizarre. The game kicked off at 10pm and after 20 minutes it poured and poured for the rest of the match - real deluge, stair rods, monsoon type of stuff.
it was, understandably, not a great game - scrappy (49 fouls in all - now that is like a manchester derby). Barca won 2-1, their 15th win on the trot. Deco scored first when kameni, espanyol's wonderful goalie, let the wet ball squirm through his hands, and Eto'o the other.
Now derby games when I grew up in manchester were big things - huge crowds, great atmosphere, big tension and usually crap games.
last night we turn up to find the beautiful old stadium around half full - 28,000 according to the paper or around 7,000 more than Espanyol's normal meagre attendance. There was no crowd segretaion but a big chunk of vociferous barca fans - 600, or 700 perhaps- packed themselves into one high section behind a goal. People by and large just don't go to away games here, no matter how close
There was a bit of tension from a few boozed up Espanyol fans who can be an earthy blue-collar bunch but even if they wanted to dish out a kicking or two, they would have had a hard job finding anyone.
It got ever more bizarre. The game kicked off at 10pm and after 20 minutes it poured and poured for the rest of the match - real deluge, stair rods, monsoon type of stuff.
it was, understandably, not a great game - scrappy (49 fouls in all - now that is like a manchester derby). Barca won 2-1, their 15th win on the trot. Deco scored first when kameni, espanyol's wonderful goalie, let the wet ball squirm through his hands, and Eto'o the other.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Good things so far this year
- Film: rewatching Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon and Robin Williams. Williams won an oscar for his role as the troubled shrink to Damon's wastrel genius. A truly wonderful, empathetic film. Williams was put on earth to play certain films (this, Dead Poets, Good Morning Vietnam, Mrs Doubtfire). The rest of his output has been mostly dire.
- Music: Jack Johnson. A christmas present for Rebecca. great album - reminds me of Steve Miller. A true original.
- Seeing my niece again - she visited from London for a couple of friends and it was wonderful to see her again. She is 23 and it seems about 7 mins since she was born. None had spent much time here before and spent most of their two days whizzing around the sights. we had a lovely dinner at Senyor Parrelada, one of our favourite places here of which I have blogged before. A beautiful setting and wonderful Catalan food and rock-bottom prices.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
no smoking
honest they have a new no smoking law in spain - and a tough one at that (full details here) - which is astonishing in a country where fags cost around five bob a packet and smoking is practically a national sport. but it's here and working well apparently.
having barely smoked three fags since i got there i was caught on new year's night when i lit up a celebratory cigar in a restaurant in llivia and was told i would have to go to the bar.
having barely smoked three fags since i got there i was caught on new year's night when i lit up a celebratory cigar in a restaurant in llivia and was told i would have to go to the bar.
Happy new year
I hope yours was as good as ours. we went skiing in the Pyrenees and stayed at a beautiful house in llivia, the spanish enclave just inside France, thanks to the huge generosity of our friends pepe and nene.
it was utterly blissful. gentle downhill cruising on the snowy slopes at font romeu, sunny blue skies, extreme cold, open fires and when the snow fell again, snowmen and snowball fights. we toasted marshmallows and watched endless episodes of desperate housewives on the DVD. and all this just two hours from our doorstep...i cant remember a nicer new year anywhere. back today to the warmth of barcelona and work.
it was utterly blissful. gentle downhill cruising on the snowy slopes at font romeu, sunny blue skies, extreme cold, open fires and when the snow fell again, snowmen and snowball fights. we toasted marshmallows and watched endless episodes of desperate housewives on the DVD. and all this just two hours from our doorstep...i cant remember a nicer new year anywhere. back today to the warmth of barcelona and work.
Monday, December 26, 2005
All change
Being the spontaneous people that we are, we have changed all our plans for our week away. The trip to Andalucia is off - the weather looked v grey and murky - and instead we are going skiing in the Pyrenees, taking advantage of the beautiful weather and a hugely kind offer from a friend here to borrow his ski lodge whenever we wanted. It is just 2 hours away
So we are off tomorrow morning and will back on the 3rd January. have a wonderful new year and a brilliant 2006.
So we are off tomorrow morning and will back on the 3rd January. have a wonderful new year and a brilliant 2006.
A Happy Christmas
We had a great time from our Christmas Eve dinner at La Venta, a lovely restaurant on a terrace at the foot of Tibidabo, via a glorious Christmas day picnic on the beach at Casteldelfells with our friends to dinner at home with just the four of us. The weather was gloriously sunny and warm.
Ben rode his new bike, Rebecca read her new book. Santa was v good to me with a beautiful black dressing gown and pyjamas and some great books and CDs.
All the photo evidence can be seen here. I only hope yours was as wonderful.
Ben rode his new bike, Rebecca read her new book. Santa was v good to me with a beautiful black dressing gown and pyjamas and some great books and CDs.
All the photo evidence can be seen here. I only hope yours was as wonderful.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
wrapping the presents
... and listening to Jo Brandon Radio 2 playing quirky Xmas hits, best of all Fairytale of New York by Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl and In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia by laurel and hardie. They don't make them...
Thursday, December 22, 2005
It's this easy...
Ben and I wander down the end of the road and take the number 16 bus. We then cross the massive Avenida Diagonal and follow the human crowd to the Camp Nou, Europe's biggest and best club stadium. And you buy a ticket (£10 to £25 normally) because even with 65,000 there, there are still 23,000 vacant seats.
And you go in, sing the Barca song in Catalan (the words are on the screen) and watch the most stupendous club football on offer anywhere right now from Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco, Puyol, Valdes or the newest star, Messi. You'd watch any team that had just one of them...
It's really nice for Ben. I got both the great years of the 60s and the 90s with United but mostly for him it's been a litany of not quites and dreadful disappointment. Now he has a real team to watch playing football he will remember for years to come....
And you go in, sing the Barca song in Catalan (the words are on the screen) and watch the most stupendous club football on offer anywhere right now from Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco, Puyol, Valdes or the newest star, Messi. You'd watch any team that had just one of them...
It's really nice for Ben. I got both the great years of the 60s and the 90s with United but mostly for him it's been a litany of not quites and dreadful disappointment. Now he has a real team to watch playing football he will remember for years to come....
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Worse than West Ham
I thought it was only ar West Ham where the east end bigots were so stupidly racist that they booed their own black players. Not so - it happens also here. Last night the "Ultras" of Espanyol - the crazy Spanish nationalists - chucked racist insults at their own black goalkeeper. "Es una locura que te insulte gente de tu casa" - it's crazy that they inbsult their own he said with more dignity than they deserve. Full story here in Spanish
Sunday, December 18, 2005
You're sh*t and you know you are
One of the more peculiar traits of the Catalan Christmas is the presence of an 'umble man in background of the manger scene - the caganer - trousers lowered, having a dump.At the Christmas market besides the cathedral, dozens of stalls sell hundreds of tiny figure, each laying a tiny plastic piece of ordure. The story is that the man is returning something to mother earth.
Needless to say, more enterprising folk have rung the changes and now represent all sorts of characters from footballers to politicians doing what comes naturally. Ben and I hunted fruitlessly for a Ronaldinho but alas they had all sold out, so had to settle for Samuel Eto'o, striking, as you can see, a very phlegmatic pose.
One wonders had someone cast a David Beckham (or indeed a Victoria) whether he would have contested the image rights.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Barca Confidential
Fascinating to take a 2nd look at Justin Webster's Barca Confidential fly on the wall documentary. When I first saw it back in the UK I knew much less about Barca and its role here and could not recognise any of the landmarks. On top of that, the film covers the period when Barca were in huge trouble - losing 5-0 to Malaga at one point - and everyone was demanding Rijkaard's head. just two years later they are playing at a level that scarcely any can match.
They have Chelsea in the next round of the Champion's league, a team that stand for everythign I loathe in football today. If justice is served, Barca will wallop them in both legs. Ben and I will move heaven and earth to be at the 2nd game...
They have Chelsea in the next round of the Champion's league, a team that stand for everythign I loathe in football today. If justice is served, Barca will wallop them in both legs. Ben and I will move heaven and earth to be at the 2nd game...
Friday, December 09, 2005
A perfect day
By Sarah:
Today was a perfect Barcelona winter day – crisp, deep blue sky and warm enough to sit outside – but not quite warm enough to eat lunch outside at Agua, our favourite beachside restaurant. So we got the next best thing – an inside table with a sea view.
The day started with my 7.15am alarm call – there was Spanish homework to do before my lesson with Marisa – our wonderful teacher. She is clever, wise and interesting, with a curious take on life growing up under Franco. So simple she said – if you didn’t have political ideas! Well yes, up to a point I suppose but what she meant was that if you didn’t know you were living in a country without democracy you didn’t necessarily know what you were missing.
I can manage a sort of Spanish conversation now and I understand much more than I can say -but compared with the three or four words I knew when we arrived in August, my brain is a treasure trove of them – “muchas palabras” as Marisa would say and when you’re learning a new language, every word is precious.
After two hours with Marisa I set off on the metro armed with my copy of Robert Hughes’ “Barcelona, the Great Enchantress” to meet up with Richard, Pauline, Rebecca and Ben on the beach. You could spend many happy hours travelling round the city reading this book. It brings Barcelona alive like no other and reminds me constantly why I love this city so much. It has a kind of fierce humanity about it which always feels a bit raw round the edges too. Hard to explain but very Catalan!
This is what he quotes from one of Catalunya’s most famous political dictums – “ We, who are as good as you, swear to you, who are no better than us, to accept you as our king and sovereign lord, provided you observe all our liberties and laws – but if not, not.” Simple, eh?
Lunch at Agua was delicious as always and the light on the sea especially lovely – I like this time of year here because there is less haze, the horizon is sharper and the palm trees even more clearly outlined.
Then off in two taxis to the Picasso Museum to marvel – there’s a wonderful exhibition of his drawings and illustrations and it was lovely to be there with Pauline who managed to look at most of them.
Then spent two happy hours wandering round the back streets of the old city and came across a street full of antique shops and a cake shop on the corner where candles were lit - on towards the Cathedral Square where the Christmas Market was in full swing and people were dancing in one corner of the square. Walked up towards Plaza Catalunya as the sun was setting, got on the metro again with Robert Hughes and got out as the moon came up in a perfectly clear deep blue black sky.
Now it’s off to dinner at our favourite restaurant, Cinc Sentits. Being a person who worries constantly about everything there are few days when I feel perfectly happy. But this is one of them.
Today was a perfect Barcelona winter day – crisp, deep blue sky and warm enough to sit outside – but not quite warm enough to eat lunch outside at Agua, our favourite beachside restaurant. So we got the next best thing – an inside table with a sea view.
The day started with my 7.15am alarm call – there was Spanish homework to do before my lesson with Marisa – our wonderful teacher. She is clever, wise and interesting, with a curious take on life growing up under Franco. So simple she said – if you didn’t have political ideas! Well yes, up to a point I suppose but what she meant was that if you didn’t know you were living in a country without democracy you didn’t necessarily know what you were missing.
I can manage a sort of Spanish conversation now and I understand much more than I can say -but compared with the three or four words I knew when we arrived in August, my brain is a treasure trove of them – “muchas palabras” as Marisa would say and when you’re learning a new language, every word is precious.
After two hours with Marisa I set off on the metro armed with my copy of Robert Hughes’ “Barcelona, the Great Enchantress” to meet up with Richard, Pauline, Rebecca and Ben on the beach. You could spend many happy hours travelling round the city reading this book. It brings Barcelona alive like no other and reminds me constantly why I love this city so much. It has a kind of fierce humanity about it which always feels a bit raw round the edges too. Hard to explain but very Catalan!
This is what he quotes from one of Catalunya’s most famous political dictums – “ We, who are as good as you, swear to you, who are no better than us, to accept you as our king and sovereign lord, provided you observe all our liberties and laws – but if not, not.” Simple, eh?
Lunch at Agua was delicious as always and the light on the sea especially lovely – I like this time of year here because there is less haze, the horizon is sharper and the palm trees even more clearly outlined.
Then off in two taxis to the Picasso Museum to marvel – there’s a wonderful exhibition of his drawings and illustrations and it was lovely to be there with Pauline who managed to look at most of them.
Then spent two happy hours wandering round the back streets of the old city and came across a street full of antique shops and a cake shop on the corner where candles were lit - on towards the Cathedral Square where the Christmas Market was in full swing and people were dancing in one corner of the square. Walked up towards Plaza Catalunya as the sun was setting, got on the metro again with Robert Hughes and got out as the moon came up in a perfectly clear deep blue black sky.
Now it’s off to dinner at our favourite restaurant, Cinc Sentits. Being a person who worries constantly about everything there are few days when I feel perfectly happy. But this is one of them.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
depressing
it's hard to feel depressed in barcelona but watching a spineless man united crash out of the champions league tonight did the trick.
ah well had they got through they would have been humiliated by Barca who won their 10th on the run tonight.
still my family (and mother) come back tomorrow.
ah well had they got through they would have been humiliated by Barca who won their 10th on the run tonight.
still my family (and mother) come back tomorrow.
Taverna La Llesca
I stumbled across La Llesca tonight after seeing a movie in Gracia (Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch - well it was ok but ...). It's rustic Catalan cooking at its best - char grilled meat, veegetables, baked potatoes etc, massive pieces of toast covered with pate or ham, unmarked bottles of country wine. The butifarra, in both conventional and black pudding varieties, looked enormous and senational.
I went for the Entercote Girona, a really tender piece of steak. Great ambience as well - full of locals eating early on the bank holiday and walls lined with vintage radio sets old pics of racing cars.
Go see - Terol 6 or another branch in Eixample atTraversa de Gracia 86
I went for the Entercote Girona, a really tender piece of steak. Great ambience as well - full of locals eating early on the bank holiday and walls lined with vintage radio sets old pics of racing cars.
Go see - Terol 6 or another branch in Eixample atTraversa de Gracia 86
fatboy slim .. you have been warned
i am making a short video for the big Citywire conference in January. It features all the brave financial advisers who have given up being the junkies of the life companies to give their clients a fair deal.
now i thought a bit of Fatboy slim's "praise you" would have done very nicely as the intro and outro. great beat, apt lyrics. so we asked for rights.
£10,000. honest.
so we are making do with some poxy royalty free music. adn FS is definitely off my xmas card list - and will soon be off my ipod ....
now i thought a bit of Fatboy slim's "praise you" would have done very nicely as the intro and outro. great beat, apt lyrics. so we asked for rights.
£10,000. honest.
so we are making do with some poxy royalty free music. adn FS is definitely off my xmas card list - and will soon be off my ipod ....
Monday, December 05, 2005
Bonjour
C'est Rebecca
Esta tarde yo voy a Londres para tres noches. Que bien! Me encanta Londres. Yo voy a las tiendas, y Starbucks, y el colegio de South Hampstead y tu no puedes haces nada! ja ja ja!
beso beso
Esta tarde yo voy a Londres para tres noches. Que bien! Me encanta Londres. Yo voy a las tiendas, y Starbucks, y el colegio de South Hampstead y tu no puedes haces nada! ja ja ja!
beso beso
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Senyor Parellada
... remains one of the culinary highlights of barcelona (or indeed anywhere). not only the beautiful setting of a grand balconyed colonial room in the old city, but wonderful catalan dishes (veal carpaccio, duck with figs, honey ice cream) at astonishingly low price - four of us ate there on friday night - aperitifs, three courses, wine, coffee for E120 (£80). like Tragaluz, it is part of a very old family grouping (its wine bar in placa sta maria del mar is also a treat). its always packed to the rafters with locals and tourists. how they do it for the price i still dont know...
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
why a duck?
or why not a duck? why can't you get duck in the poultry shops here? it appears to be a luxury food that is impossible to obtain. We ate in our local Chinese tonight, a rather good place called Shanghai (A favourite of Ferran Adria no less) and duck was on the menu but all the dishes were at least twice as expensive as other main courses. peking duck for two was an astonishing E42 (£24) and carved and served with great ceremony - very different from its quotidien existence in most British chinese restaurants.
any answers welcome.
any answers welcome.
Barca has a heart
More than a team, Barca played its little part in trying to bring peace to the Middle East last night by hosting a game against a combined Israeli/Palestine peace team at the Camp Nou.
Everyone turned out - Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi et al, even if for only a half each - and 31,000 people turned up on a very cold night. Barca won 2-1 with a Palestinian Israeli scoring the goal. Step by step as they say....
News just in - next week a joint Catalonian Spanish team play an Israeli XI in Tel Aviv in an attempt to bring together the two warring parts of the country.
Hold on, let's stick to the merely possible...
Everyone turned out - Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi et al, even if for only a half each - and 31,000 people turned up on a very cold night. Barca won 2-1 with a Palestinian Israeli scoring the goal. Step by step as they say....
News just in - next week a joint Catalonian Spanish team play an Israeli XI in Tel Aviv in an attempt to bring together the two warring parts of the country.
Hold on, let's stick to the merely possible...
Call me a taxi ...
Ok, you're a taxi...
One of the nice things about Barcelona is that not everything is reduced to a market transaction where every last euro is dragged out of you for the service is provided. But sometimes you do miss the invisble hand of the market to match supply and demand.
Taxis are a clear example. Very cheap all the time with just a small night premium. Result - a huge glut in the day and a huge drought at 3am when all good party goers want to head home.
La Vanguardia had a big piece on it this week which charted the imblance. 5pm on a weekday, 7,000 cabs cruise the street while just 3,000 are looking for one. Come 2am Saturday, it's still the same number hunting a cab but they are chasing a total of 900 still plying for fares.
Usual shtick from the drivers - unsocial hours, not enough money, rowdy passengers (although little angels compared with England - you never need marshals to police a late night taxi queue here). The obvious answer is hike the night rates by 50 per cent and the streets will be flooded with them.
One of the nice things about Barcelona is that not everything is reduced to a market transaction where every last euro is dragged out of you for the service is provided. But sometimes you do miss the invisble hand of the market to match supply and demand.
Taxis are a clear example. Very cheap all the time with just a small night premium. Result - a huge glut in the day and a huge drought at 3am when all good party goers want to head home.
La Vanguardia had a big piece on it this week which charted the imblance. 5pm on a weekday, 7,000 cabs cruise the street while just 3,000 are looking for one. Come 2am Saturday, it's still the same number hunting a cab but they are chasing a total of 900 still plying for fares.
Usual shtick from the drivers - unsocial hours, not enough money, rowdy passengers (although little angels compared with England - you never need marshals to police a late night taxi queue here). The obvious answer is hike the night rates by 50 per cent and the streets will be flooded with them.
Monday, November 28, 2005
shares in tragaluz group rose on the news..
We had four friends over from London for the weekend and did the Tragaluz group proud - they stayed at the Hotel Omm and we ate both at the Santa Catarina market restaurant and Agua, still the best place on the city's beach.
We also ate at the sub El Bulli Commerc 24 which again was great - but I get the feeling the first time there is the best as so much of the food is the element of surprise.
Highlight of all was Abac. Much talked about as the best place in town, it certainly would come a very close first in my book. Really great food (foie gras in bamboo leaves, the signature suckling pig and a top cheese plate which is unsual here), coll beech wood decor and terrific service. I still think in London prices and at £70 a head Abac is a screaming bargain.
We also ate at the sub El Bulli Commerc 24 which again was great - but I get the feeling the first time there is the best as so much of the food is the element of surprise.
Highlight of all was Abac. Much talked about as the best place in town, it certainly would come a very close first in my book. Really great food (foie gras in bamboo leaves, the signature suckling pig and a top cheese plate which is unsual here), coll beech wood decor and terrific service. I still think in London prices and at £70 a head Abac is a screaming bargain.
football fallout
interesting how the fall out continues from the barca thrashing of real madrid nine days ago. At a time when Catalonia has presented its 'statehood' draft constiution to the national parliament, provoking a national (if sporadic) boycott of catalonian goods, the sporting behaviour of the real madrid fans may have done something to ease tensions. their applauding of ronadinho et al has been well received here as was the pre-emptive banning of anti-catalonian banners by the real madrid president.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
best and barca
there seemed no better way to pay tribute to george best than to go watch his spiritual successor ronaldinho in action. it was a bitterly cold sunday night in the camp nou and many wisely decided to stay at home. But the barca crowd who turned up seemed much more naimated than usual - perhaps they just needed to shout and clap to stay warm.
ronaldinho by his standards was quiet - he missed one penalty and score another, both provoked by the Racing defenders being unable to cope with his speed - but there were three brilliant solo goals from Eto'o (40 yards, beat five defenders), Messi and Sylvinho, any of which bestie would have been proud to claim. 4-1 and we all went home happy and warm.
ronaldinho by his standards was quiet - he missed one penalty and score another, both provoked by the Racing defenders being unable to cope with his speed - but there were three brilliant solo goals from Eto'o (40 yards, beat five defenders), Messi and Sylvinho, any of which bestie would have been proud to claim. 4-1 and we all went home happy and warm.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
trains and letters
If there's two things I love its grand old railways stations and general post offices (seeing a sign saying 'telegraphs' makes me go weak at the knees). in britain we have managed to screw up all examples of both, converting them into (respectively) shopping/eating malls and convenience stores. and they wonder why people don't respect public services...
barcelona has a fabulous (if underused) classic railway station - estacion de franca - and a great post office which I finally got to look inside Saturday complete with marble pillars and a very high ceiling with stained glass windows and (heaven be praised) a telegraphos sign. I was quite tempted to send a cable somewhere. ben took one look at the ceiling and asked 'did this place used to be a church?'
more, more
Every paper - from the most serious to the most tabloid sports rag - is beside itself today with the stunning victory over real madrid last night and how the madrilenos applauded ronaldinho after his second goal and (those that were left) booed their own off the pitch.this is, remember, just the 14th time they have lost at home to barca in 75 years. back home there were thousands in the streets hooting and waving flags while many others went to the airport to meet the team on their arrival back home.
the boycott of cava and other catalunyan goods can only get more intense...
Saturday, November 19, 2005
'a piece of magic'
3-0 in the bernabeu. I'll run that one again3-0 in the bernabeu to barcelona.
real madrid hardly turned up as two goals from ronaldinho (one that would make the top 10 of anyone's list) and one from eto'o demolished las blancas. beckham hardly got a touch. it would have been 7-0 had madrid's goalie not been on such good form. the stadium was half empty by the end.
As El Mundo Deportivo put it:
El Barça disfrutó jugando al fútbol en el Bernabéu y humilló al Real Madrid en su propio estadio. - Barça enjoyed playing football in the Bernabéu and humiliated Real Madrid in its own stadium.
ben and i watched in the packed Bar Mandri one of the neighbourhbood's rather good bars and emerged to a cocophanous array of hooting motor scooters. only the 14th victory there in 75 years; rijkaard becomes the first barca manager to win there twice.
Rijkaard's verdict: ' [Ronaldinho] estuvo fenomenal'
Ben's verdict: 'Ronaldinho isn't human - he's a piece of magic'
Friday, November 18, 2005
The friday lunch
... is something they do well here. I met up with Orland and two colleagues from the education department (home of this blog's biggest fans) at La Reina, a teriffic bar/restaurant/vinoteca on C. Valencia.
(One colleague, Ramon, had the best ipod collection i have seen including the Ramones 'Sheena is a punk rocker' which I last heard so long ago that some of the Ramones still had a pulse).
The food was great - fried eggs and grated fish, a real Spanish market dish that i could eat very day - and we went through the whole gamut of why catalunya wants/needs/should have independence/freedom from the rest of Spain.
It's not about Catalunya using the word nation (although that's what grates with the rest of Spain I think) to describe itself but the fact that the culture is so different and the economic base so strong that they want to keep the money they earn here and not stump up for glistening motorways in Galicia so that the donkey carts can go that much faster.
It's an intriguing situation because unlike most other cases for independence (formal or otherwise) Catalunya is so economically strong and not a basket case dependent on hand outs (step forward wales, scotland, basque region, cornwall etc etc).
And throw in the language. Virtually everyone here speaks Catalan and it is the language of instruction in all state schools.
Back in Scotland the polemcist Alan Massie once wrote that 'Scotland has probably more households where Urdu is spoken than Gaelic-speaking ones'.
In fact the 2001 census showed 'over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2 per cent of the population) had some Gaelic language ability and that almost half of these people lived in Eilean Siar, Highland or Argyll & Bute.'
Wales is slightly better - 21% - but that's still pretty low (not that it prevents bucketloads of english taxpayers' cash going to subsidise welsh television, gaelic radio, yada, yada)
Catalan outside catalunya (and a few villages in languedoc) may be as useful as a chocolate fireguard but so is finnish outside finland and nobody suggests they drop that.
It's all getting a bit angry with calls in the rest of spain to boycott Catalunyan Cava and other goods, presumably to give the Catalans a little lesson in what it's like to be a foreign nation.
We then moved on to Barca's chances against Real Madrid tomorrow (5-0 to barca according to the most respected sports journalist here. hmmm.) and, curiously, ended lunch around 5.30pm
by drinking gin and tonics from swimming-pool sized brandy balloons.
It comes to something when even the Catalunyans are straying from their Cava.
(One colleague, Ramon, had the best ipod collection i have seen including the Ramones 'Sheena is a punk rocker' which I last heard so long ago that some of the Ramones still had a pulse).
The food was great - fried eggs and grated fish, a real Spanish market dish that i could eat very day - and we went through the whole gamut of why catalunya wants/needs/should have independence/freedom from the rest of Spain.
It's not about Catalunya using the word nation (although that's what grates with the rest of Spain I think) to describe itself but the fact that the culture is so different and the economic base so strong that they want to keep the money they earn here and not stump up for glistening motorways in Galicia so that the donkey carts can go that much faster.
It's an intriguing situation because unlike most other cases for independence (formal or otherwise) Catalunya is so economically strong and not a basket case dependent on hand outs (step forward wales, scotland, basque region, cornwall etc etc).
And throw in the language. Virtually everyone here speaks Catalan and it is the language of instruction in all state schools.
Back in Scotland the polemcist Alan Massie once wrote that 'Scotland has probably more households where Urdu is spoken than Gaelic-speaking ones'.
In fact the 2001 census showed 'over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2 per cent of the population) had some Gaelic language ability and that almost half of these people lived in Eilean Siar, Highland or Argyll & Bute.'
Wales is slightly better - 21% - but that's still pretty low (not that it prevents bucketloads of english taxpayers' cash going to subsidise welsh television, gaelic radio, yada, yada)
Catalan outside catalunya (and a few villages in languedoc) may be as useful as a chocolate fireguard but so is finnish outside finland and nobody suggests they drop that.
It's all getting a bit angry with calls in the rest of spain to boycott Catalunyan Cava and other goods, presumably to give the Catalans a little lesson in what it's like to be a foreign nation.
We then moved on to Barca's chances against Real Madrid tomorrow (5-0 to barca according to the most respected sports journalist here. hmmm.) and, curiously, ended lunch around 5.30pm
by drinking gin and tonics from swimming-pool sized brandy balloons.
It comes to something when even the Catalunyans are straying from their Cava.
Monday, November 14, 2005
barca vs madrid
the first clash of the season (in madrid) is five days away and already the papers are full of it. la vanguardia today has five pages in its sports section ahead of coverage of Spain's 5-1 victory on saturday against slovakia which virtually guarantees world cup qualification. That refelects the obsession with the club game here and the fact that Spain have never done anything in the world cup.
it should be a great game on saturday. if barca win then rijkaard will become the first manager to have coached the team to two victories in this game at the bernabau. in 75 years they have only won 13 times in league games there, all under different managers...
it should be a great game on saturday. if barca win then rijkaard will become the first manager to have coached the team to two victories in this game at the bernabau. in 75 years they have only won 13 times in league games there, all under different managers...
Sunday, November 13, 2005
a game of basketball
ben and i went off to see FC Barcelona's basketball team. basketball is the second most important sport in the Barca firmament and the team, top of the spanish league, duly kept its 100% record against Bilbao.
There was a big following - around 6,000 in the stadium situated right next to the Camp Nou. Of these around 100 were flag waving, drum banging Catalan extreme nationalists who seem to car little about the game but use Barca as a vehicle for their barmy independence dreams. they trade under the "Sang culé" banner proclaiming that Catalonia is not part of Spain and they are pretty nasty. they are probably there in the camp nou in the same numbers but you just dont notice them. tiny in numbers they are a pain in the arse for the club management who have declared war on them.
it's all piss and wind compared to the huge numbers of aggressive supporters at English games but its an unpleasant side to the club
There was a big following - around 6,000 in the stadium situated right next to the Camp Nou. Of these around 100 were flag waving, drum banging Catalan extreme nationalists who seem to car little about the game but use Barca as a vehicle for their barmy independence dreams. they trade under the "Sang culé" banner proclaiming that Catalonia is not part of Spain and they are pretty nasty. they are probably there in the camp nou in the same numbers but you just dont notice them. tiny in numbers they are a pain in the arse for the club management who have declared war on them.
it's all piss and wind compared to the huge numbers of aggressive supporters at English games but its an unpleasant side to the club
Saturday, November 12, 2005
this blog is famous (sort of)
we eat dinner at the house of catalan friends (teriffic tapas - gracias a Lourdes) and it turns out this blog is now becoming well known among the literati of the Catalunya schools IT department for its allegedly lucid views of how this newcomer is settling here (or perhaps it's just because they have blocked the porn sites...)
in any case, they are fascinated by my use of the term 'sparrow fart', a piece of Australian slang which has failed to make it to these shores just yet. For them and others, it means 'dawn' - ie when the sparrow stretches and gets his digestive system in working order for the day. Pacement pizza was new to them as well.
in any case, they are fascinated by my use of the term 'sparrow fart', a piece of Australian slang which has failed to make it to these shores just yet. For them and others, it means 'dawn' - ie when the sparrow stretches and gets his digestive system in working order for the day. Pacement pizza was new to them as well.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Patrick Lichfield
...has died at just 66. I've never cared much for royals but he was an exception - one of the very few who got off their arses to work for a living.
And he was a very good photographer. The Marsha Hunt pic is the 1960s in a flash while the Tommy Cooper one is just priceless.
I met him once when he came to Cambridge to talk to the photo soc. he was utterly charming, and told an extremely funny story about diving under a model's bed to avoid her jealous boyfriend entering the hotel room - and finding david bailey hiding there...
Technorati Tags: photography, roy keane
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Me of little faith
an apology
readers of this blog might have got the impression that my faith in man united was waning (wayning?). Headlines such as 'adios fergie' and 'at least they score goals in barcelona' might have led readers to believe that I assumed that I feared a good hammering from chelsea today.
in the light of today's historic victory I would like to clear up this misunderstanding. As we nominate Mr ferguson for prime minister, president of the EU and the house of lords, expect further headlines such as 'We'll take Barcelona anytime' and 'Who the hell is Ronaldinho anyway?'
readers of this blog might have got the impression that my faith in man united was waning (wayning?). Headlines such as 'adios fergie' and 'at least they score goals in barcelona' might have led readers to believe that I assumed that I feared a good hammering from chelsea today.
in the light of today's historic victory I would like to clear up this misunderstanding. As we nominate Mr ferguson for prime minister, president of the EU and the house of lords, expect further headlines such as 'We'll take Barcelona anytime' and 'Who the hell is Ronaldinho anyway?'
Weekends like this
... can be very hard to beat.
It’s now around 70F max with very blue skies and sunny and the city is looking beautiful. On saturday we went cycling around Ciutadella Park, and ate lunch at Txakolin, definitely the city’s best tapas restaurant.
On Sunday we hung out on Sunday in our local Turo Parc, Barcelona’s equivalent of primrose hill complete with posh prams, yummy mummy and meeting-place playground.
It’s now around 70F max with very blue skies and sunny and the city is looking beautiful. On saturday we went cycling around Ciutadella Park, and ate lunch at Txakolin, definitely the city’s best tapas restaurant.
On Sunday we hung out on Sunday in our local Turo Parc, Barcelona’s equivalent of primrose hill complete with posh prams, yummy mummy and meeting-place playground.
Gorgeous Goldfrapp
Sarah and I also went with friends to see the extraordinary Alison Goldfrapp at Razzmatazz on Saturday night.
Blessed with an operatic voice, she commands the stage like some sexpot commando in gold high heel boots, black catsuit and pink cape. I can’t take too much electronic disco normally but it was an amazing performance that sent the place wild.
We stayed on in the packed upstairs party bar after the concert and she turned up, sin zapateros, a tiny, shy looking woman who patiently posed with every fan who wanted their picture taken. A real star.
Nice story about her in The Observer a couple of weeks back. Apparently she is also backing the turgid Coldplay on their European tour.
Reminds me of the time when I saw Genesis in their pomp with Peter Gabriel playing second fiddle to the ghastly Lindisfarne…
Blessed with an operatic voice, she commands the stage like some sexpot commando in gold high heel boots, black catsuit and pink cape. I can’t take too much electronic disco normally but it was an amazing performance that sent the place wild.
We stayed on in the packed upstairs party bar after the concert and she turned up, sin zapateros, a tiny, shy looking woman who patiently posed with every fan who wanted their picture taken. A real star.
Nice story about her in The Observer a couple of weeks back. Apparently she is also backing the turgid Coldplay on their European tour.
Reminds me of the time when I saw Genesis in their pomp with Peter Gabriel playing second fiddle to the ghastly Lindisfarne…
30 years on (1)
It is hard to remember what a shit-kicking, oppressed, dirt-poor place Spain was under the old bastard Franco. It was all donkeys, oxen, the Angelus and backwardness born of 40 years of fascist rule.
Next year sees the 30th anniversary of his death and the transformation of people’s lives and their standards of living to what there is today is the best testament you could have to the power of liberal democracy (those opposing efforts to bring these delights to the oppressed people of the Middle East, please note) and pari passu, the diminishing influence of the falangist wing of the Catholic church.
Today’s Sunday magazine in La Vanguardia, Catalanuya’s best daily, has a terrific photo essay of ordinary people 30 years on, each telling their stories.
The best are two sisters, Tere and Lois Madrid. The photo from 1978 shows them loading their donkeys on their street in a village in Malaga. Today’s picture shows them all buxom, blonde and blingy, leaning against their Mercedes saloon in the same street.
‘We had no running water and had to pack the mules. There were five daughters and we all had to work in the fields. Compared to those times we live like queens today.’
Next year sees the 30th anniversary of his death and the transformation of people’s lives and their standards of living to what there is today is the best testament you could have to the power of liberal democracy (those opposing efforts to bring these delights to the oppressed people of the Middle East, please note) and pari passu, the diminishing influence of the falangist wing of the Catholic church.
Today’s Sunday magazine in La Vanguardia, Catalanuya’s best daily, has a terrific photo essay of ordinary people 30 years on, each telling their stories.
The best are two sisters, Tere and Lois Madrid. The photo from 1978 shows them loading their donkeys on their street in a village in Malaga. Today’s picture shows them all buxom, blonde and blingy, leaning against their Mercedes saloon in the same street.
‘We had no running water and had to pack the mules. There were five daughters and we all had to work in the fields. Compared to those times we live like queens today.’
30 years on (2)
The Bronx is Burning book is sensational. Again it is hard to remember how truly dreadful New York City was in 1977.
The City was almost bankrupt with bonds unissuable and Federal aid refused. Before being turned out in 1976, Gerald Ford refused a bailout, prompting the gorgeous headline in the Post ‘Ford to City: Drop Dead’.
Some 300,000 jobs were leaving the city each year, large tracts of the Bronx and Harlem were torched and thousands of cops and firemen were laid off. There was looting on an unimaginable scale after a massive power blackout in the hottest August for 50 years.
Oh yes and Son of Sam was on the loose.
The book tells the story through the epic mayoral primary between Ed Koch, left wing firebrand Bella Abzug, liberal sweetheart Mario Cuomo and hapless midget incumbent Abe Beame.
Abzug apart, the contestants got themselves in an unholy twist between appealing to liberal Manhattan and the frightened blue-collar ethnic communities of Queens and Brooklyn. Koch won and went on to rescue the City and help return it to its former glory.
The sub-plot of the book is how Reggie Jackson, the swaggering baseball superstar, joined the Yankees to become the city’s first black sports superstar. After terrible slumps in form and fist fights with his manager, he went on to bring the Yanks their first world series in 12 years by the extraordinary feat of hitting three home runs in game six from three deliveries.
1977 was also the first time I visited New York. Needless to say I fell in love with the City and baseball and have remained passionate about both ever since
The City was almost bankrupt with bonds unissuable and Federal aid refused. Before being turned out in 1976, Gerald Ford refused a bailout, prompting the gorgeous headline in the Post ‘Ford to City: Drop Dead’.
Some 300,000 jobs were leaving the city each year, large tracts of the Bronx and Harlem were torched and thousands of cops and firemen were laid off. There was looting on an unimaginable scale after a massive power blackout in the hottest August for 50 years.
Oh yes and Son of Sam was on the loose.
The book tells the story through the epic mayoral primary between Ed Koch, left wing firebrand Bella Abzug, liberal sweetheart Mario Cuomo and hapless midget incumbent Abe Beame.
Abzug apart, the contestants got themselves in an unholy twist between appealing to liberal Manhattan and the frightened blue-collar ethnic communities of Queens and Brooklyn. Koch won and went on to rescue the City and help return it to its former glory.
The sub-plot of the book is how Reggie Jackson, the swaggering baseball superstar, joined the Yankees to become the city’s first black sports superstar. After terrible slumps in form and fist fights with his manager, he went on to bring the Yanks their first world series in 12 years by the extraordinary feat of hitting three home runs in game six from three deliveries.
1977 was also the first time I visited New York. Needless to say I fell in love with the City and baseball and have remained passionate about both ever since
Friday, November 04, 2005
Bonsoir
Bon dia!
Life in the Lander household (apartmenthold?) is interesting-a confusing mixture of sun, school and salsa (why not?). I can recite all the vegetables (and a poem about autumn) in catalan, and can sing You're Beautiful by James Blunt in Spanish:
Tu eres guapa
Tu eres guapa
Te eres guapa, es verdad
Yo visto tu cara, en un placa apretado
Y yo no se que para hacer
Porque yo nunca ser con tu
As Bart Simspon put it, I am so great, I am so great, everybody loves me cos I am so great!
P.s my blog is much cooler than this one.
besita besita,
Becca
Life in the Lander household (apartmenthold?) is interesting-a confusing mixture of sun, school and salsa (why not?). I can recite all the vegetables (and a poem about autumn) in catalan, and can sing You're Beautiful by James Blunt in Spanish:
Tu eres guapa
Tu eres guapa
Te eres guapa, es verdad
Yo visto tu cara, en un placa apretado
Y yo no se que para hacer
Porque yo nunca ser con tu
As Bart Simspon put it, I am so great, I am so great, everybody loves me cos I am so great!
P.s my blog is much cooler than this one.
besita besita,
Becca
Look smart, drink smart
People tend to be smartly dressed here of a night out and they want to keep it that way. Boadas, one of the city’s (nay, the world's) great historic cocktail bars - all wood panelling and white-jacketed waiters - is determined to keep it that way.
Just off the human zoo that is the Ramblas, the tiny bar is almost always packed, but has no doorman and nor are the dreaed words ‘can I have a card to keep behind the bar?’ ever uttered. In other words, people are trusted to behave nicely and not do a runner.
The owner Jose Luis Boadas doesn’t want to lose that and now says ‘I won’t allow anyone else in with a sleeveless shirt Dignity and decency are more important than the till.’
And who’s mostly to blame? ‘I don’t want any more English people in swimming costumes and tee-shirts across their shoulder.’
Boadas got a hero’s welcome in the press.
Just off the human zoo that is the Ramblas, the tiny bar is almost always packed, but has no doorman and nor are the dreaed words ‘can I have a card to keep behind the bar?’ ever uttered. In other words, people are trusted to behave nicely and not do a runner.
The owner Jose Luis Boadas doesn’t want to lose that and now says ‘I won’t allow anyone else in with a sleeveless shirt Dignity and decency are more important than the till.’
And who’s mostly to blame? ‘I don’t want any more English people in swimming costumes and tee-shirts across their shoulder.’
Boadas got a hero’s welcome in the press.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Andrew Gowers
has resigned from the FT after strategy differences with the Pearson board. V bad news - not only is he one the best journalists of his generation (a great middle east scholar) but he is also great fun - the first rock and roll editor of a serious paper (and they dont get more serious than the FT) .
He was once slim (I knew him at Cambridge) but was posted to Brussels with Reuters, discovered great food and never looked back. Not for him the rushed sandwich lunch....
Lance Knobel writes knowledgeably of about the problems facing the paper and whether anew editor can solve them (answer: probably no).
He was once slim (I knew him at Cambridge) but was posted to Brussels with Reuters, discovered great food and never looked back. Not for him the rushed sandwich lunch....
Lance Knobel writes knowledgeably of about the problems facing the paper and whether anew editor can solve them (answer: probably no).
Barca drive on
while my own United go from bad to worse, Barca have hit full stride. three home league wins followed by a 5-0 thrashing of panathanikos last night. I watched the 2nd half in a local bar and Eto'o's 3rd goal was a sublime lob that had the netire bar applauding.
Espanyol however go from bad to worse - in the relegation zone and the manager sacked.
Espanyol however go from bad to worse - in the relegation zone and the manager sacked.
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