Hello old friend

-
It has been so long since I wrote in my blog. I was trying to find the specific reason/ or reasons for not writing and I have none. Life is what happened. Barcelona life has swept me up in her arms and I am living it. I rarely had time to write a blog when I lived in London and the same goes for Barcelona. It has been 9 months today since I arrived and I've now got into a stride which I didn't expect and I am no longer looking for the exit sign. That has to be good.

What is also happening is I am learning a lot about myself, even at 44 there is a lot to learn. I gave my life a mini audit over Christmas. I realized what was important and what wasn't. I've learned to worry about the people who worry about me and nothing more. I've learned to enjoy the things that life throws my way and not worry about the things I am missing. We are masters of our own destiny and I feel I am more of a master than most.

Early evening looking to Mount Tibidabo, March 7
As I sit here, on Via Laietana in central Barcelona surrounded by people from all over the world I think, this boy (inside I am still a Lego loving, cheeky, slightly scared boy) from Sunderland is here, doing his thing, teaching his language, meeting new people, laughing with people I didn't know 9 months ago and putting down some roots, making some memories and who knows what else.
Barcelona continues to seduce me, every week I find a new place or people show me a new bar or café, or a building amazes me. People are the same over. I still have to deal with the snobby rich parents of some students, who are too busy to pay me or can't find any money in their E1000 purses but this could have happened in London, Boston, Sydney or Hanoi, or any of the other great cities I've lived in since 1998. Yes I've lived in all those places. I am proud of that. My grandparents never left the UK, probably due to lack of money and opportunity. I am doing this for them as well as me. I always promised my Nana that I would take her on holiday somewhere when I had money. I was robbed of that chance in 1984, yes we've been without her for almost 30 years now. Sad. Yes this blog is a little sentimental, well I am sentimental; I cry at romantic movies, I cry when kids die on TV, I don't apologize for that.

This is how to do a selfie!

 I am still without romance but I think that is my default position. I spoke to a psychologist friend about it on Friday, I've become so brave about being single that being in a relationship actually scares me. I doubt I could cope and I doubt they could cope with me (back to that big scared kid again).


 I hope to continue discovering Barcelona and her secrets, I've begun reading literature set here to learn more. I now have at least 5 local friends and 2 friends who live here but are also from overseas, a perfect mix.

I am going to continue exploring the old city today, it is March 8 2014 and it is 20c! What could be better!?

 Barcelona
March 9, 2014

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It has been a long long time - Boston and New York 2022

-
Image
I am sitting in a coffee shop in the South End of Boston (Tremont Street), about 2 minutes’ walk from my old apartment on Worcester Square. I lived here for almost 2 years from November 2000 and have some good memories. I have not been back for 16 years.  A lot has changed, a lot has not. The ride to the hotel was much the same although main roads in Boston are almost all underground so you don't see daylight for quite some time and there is nothing fun about sitting in a traffic jam for 30 minutes underground.   I am staying in the Beacon Hill area of the city and it is a cute mix of Victorian era town houses and cobbled streets bookended by the government district and the massive Massachusetts General Hospital. I was supposed to be here with a friend who lives in Quebec but due to him being forgetful etc. he forgot the document he needed to enter the USA so I am now doing this 5 day, 4 night trip on my own, not a total disaster but a very different holiday dynamic.  Last night
Read more

Goodbye Cooperative Bank, it was nice knowing you

-
My bank is in trouble, the great and noble Cooperative Bank has fallen foul of something or someone and turn itself from a mutual into yet another plc, floated on the stock exchange and only 30% controlled by the original owners. A sad day. I've read many stories and many stupid comments but how a US hedge fund managed to be the driving force behind this is beyond me.  A blame game has begun, was it the takeover of the struggling Britannia BS, or the attempts at buying over 600 branches of Lloyds Bank or , as many believe, something more sinister?  We will never know unless there is a major investigation by the financial authorities (which I doubt will happen). As a mutual , Cooperative Bank, had to put customers first, this didn't always work but it certainly won't now. How can company directors at a plc put their shareholders 2nd, or 3rd. This won't work.  What puzzles me more is they believe their own lies.  I received an email (as all customers did) from Euan
Read more

Funerals and birthdays - June 2024

-
Image
I will be glad when June 2024 is over, I am sitting here on June 29th 2024 and I am physically and mentally exhausted from the events of this month.  At the very end of May my Uncle Stan died, he was 83 and prior to his death he was a relatively healthy old man, but a fall and brain bleed and possibly poor care at the Sunderland Royal Hospital led to him fading away pretty quickly, admitted on Friday May 24th and died overnight on May 26th. He was an incredibly kind, funny man and we had a very odd relationship as he would always claim I know everything I know because of him, it was a running joke since my teens and I tried to send him a postcard from wherever I visited in the world as I knew as a former coal miner and shipyard worker, he had never left England and I know he appreciated my postcards.  His funeral was the first I've attended as an adult and it felt odd, being a grown-up can be hard, I comforted my aunt and my mum and had to navigate the usual family politics of a bi
Read more