Well actually, no. We’ve not moved to Barcelona itself, firstly it is too expensive for us at the moment, and secondly Espe’s Uni is way outside of the city. So we now call a place called Sabadell home, 20km north of Barcelona. The city / town itself is nothing to write home about, but the surrounding areas do at first glance appear quite special. With National Parks in every direction and the Pyrenees to the north I can think of worse bases.
That said, however, with two impossible deadlines to meet I seem to have done very little apart from work. Something that has been a recurring feature of the last three years. Add to that the fact that Espe has been fully absorbed by her studies and exams, we’ve had no time to enjoy our new surroundings.
I’ve been working from home, which despite all the benefits, has its downsides. It is very easy to not leave the house for several days in a row. And when you do leave it is often just to do something mundane like the shopping. You have little contact with other human beings and therefore have a lot of time alone with your thoughts.
I need more exercise. A couple of games of tennis have helped (being able to play outdoors in shorts and t-shirt in December in the Sun is a definite bonus) but my Bike is still in England so all the wonderful cycling terrain that is begging to be explored will have to wait until the new year.
On the up side, I have been out exploring those wonderful twisty driver’s roads that Michelin so thoughtfully mark in green on their maps especially for people like me. I also met up with Pablo, Ladi and Jordi, sterling fellows and Mongol Rally Veterans. Welcoming me back to Spain with a night of Tapas, Cervezas and (as Ladi pointed out) flamenco music in the background.
I got myself rather wound up this last week about my work. Worrying constantly, about a multitude of things that I won’t list here, and generally feeling pretty rubbish. And then along comes something like this to put it all into context: