Monday 5 June
The step-daughter of our friend Christine works for a property developer who has a luxury apartment right in the centre of Barcelona. Chris and Simon had the opportunity to rent it for a week at a very cheap rate, and invited us to go with them. With low-cost airlines, the flights from Leeds to Barcelona are dirt cheap, and we were looking forward to a very economical holiday with our friends.
Chris has never been in good health. Two weeks before we were due to leave, she called to say that she was not feeling strong enough to go abroad. Also, Simon's elderly father was making things difficult for them, and they had decided to abandon the holiday. They suggested that we should look around for another couple to go with us in their place. We were very disappointed, but we half-heartedly sounded out one or two people to see if they might be able to go away at such short notice. Not surprisingly, none of them could.
Then, just a couple of days before the departure date, Chris decided that she was feeling well enough to go, and she persuaded Simon not to let his Dad bully him into staying at home. We left Leeds on a dismal, cold wet day (and it stayed that way there all the time we were away) and we had a week of hot sunny weather in Barcelona, taking in the sights of the city and enjoying the cafes, bars and restaurants. The good weather made all the difference to Christine's health and she returned feeling much better than when she left.
The last time we were in Barcelona was six years ago, and I wrote about it in detail here. Several things have changed since then. The most obvious one is that I was far more energetic in writing my online journal then. The August 2000 page for this journal is impressively long and detailed, and it's interesting for me to read it again now. But I don't know how I ever found so much time for writing then. (Of course, that was before I retired, so I had much more free time then. That's the way it goes.)
The biggest change we noticed in Barcelona was the work being done on Gaudi's Sagrada Familia temple. Work started on this colossal building in 1882, but when we visited it in 1987 and again in 2000, progress seemed very slow and it looked as though it would never be finished. But now things look very different. The interior of the church is a forest of scaffolding and building is going ahead at a frantic pace, perhaps inspired by the Sagrada Familia's listing as a World Heritage Site in 2005. They're even optimistically predicting that the building may be completed in another 35 years or so. I might even live to see it finished.
Another change is the reduction in street crime. When we were there before there was an epidemic of pickpocketing, and I wrote about the run-in that I had with a pair of pickpockets. But the police seem to have got on top of that problem now and we saw practically nothing of it. There was just one occasion when I felt someone brushing against the pocket where I keep me wallet. I grabbed at the pocket pocket and looked round to see a little old lady sidling away as unobtrusively as she had arrived.
That's about all I have time for now. Since we got back, I have been working on the photos I took. They're on the family web site, here.
Wednesday 14 June
The countdown to our party has started in earnest.
Several months ago, we decided to hold a get-together with friends and family to celebrate the various significant events in our lives that are taking place in 2006: we both have 65th birthdays, there's my retirement, and there's our 40th wedding anniversary. We made a list of all the people we wanted to invite, and it was far too long for all of them to fit into our house. We whittled it down to about 60 names, still too many, but we reckoned that not everyone would be able to come. Even so, it would be too much of a crowd to fit comfortably into our house, so we planned to hold the party at the end of June, hoping that the weather would be fine enough for the party to spread into the garden. It will be an afternoon event because several of the guests have a long way to travel, and they'll need to use the morning to get here and the evening to get home again.
We sent the invitations out a few weeks ago.
Most of the replies were acceptances, and we're expecting about 50 people. Liz will arrive this Saturday, and stay for the whole week to help with preparations. Steve, Jo and the boys are coming over from Spain, arriving late Monday evening and also staying for a week. Mary has been the mastermind for the organisation, and has a checklist as long as your arm of things that need to be done: tidying up the house and garden, borrowing chairs, crockery and glasses, lining up a few friends to help out on the day, and a hundred other things. We have been laying in massive stocks of wine and champagne. Yesterday we placed a huge order with Marks and Spencer's catering service. Mary has been doing her best not to get stressed over the arrangements, and I reckon she's doing a pretty good job. She has asked Steve to make a short speech proposing a toast, to which I guess I shall have to respond (not looking forward to that).
So the next week is going to be very busy, making all the last minute preparations. With the house full of family I won't have much time for the internet. After they have all gone home I'll report how it went (with maybe a photo or two).
Thursday 29 June
The party's over, the family have gone back home and we're gradually returning to normal. We are still coming across a few things that were borrowed for the party (garden chairs, drinks coolers) which need to be returned to the owners when we can remember where they came from.
The whole thing was a big success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the food was excellent and so was the champagne, and even the weather improved. For a whole week before the party it was more like February than June, with a biting cold northerly wind and driving rain. We were afraid that we would have to hold the party indoors, which would have been an unpleasant crush. Even on the morning of the party it was still overcast and showery. But by midday the sun came out and the afternoon was really quite warm for these parts.
It was great having the family here for a whole week. The two grandchildren are very cute and have grown quite a bit since our previous visit to them last September. But we are a bit concerned about little David, who is now three years old and not talking at all. He's a happy child with a cheeky smile but he has some odd behaviour patterns. He spends a lot of time playing compulsively repetitive little games on his own, and he's incredibly picky about what he eats and drinks. He had a very difficult birth, and I'm worried that it may have caused some minor brain damage. Anyway, the Spanish medical system seems to be taking his case seriously. They have tested him for deafness, autism and food allergies, and he is due to go to hospital in Seville some time soon for an MRI brain scan. I just hope they are able to diagnose and treat his condition and that it's not too serious. We'll be seeing them again in September when we go to Spain.
Better news from Liz: she had a job interview yesterday and has heard that she's got the job. This means that she'll be able to give up one of her part-time positions and will no longer have a long commute two or three times a week.
In conclusion, a photo of the family taken at the party. Too bad that Liz was blinking and Steve looks totally pissed off (he wasn't really). Also, the grandchildren were nowhere to be seen at the time. If you want to see more party pictures, they are here.
