As any of you know I had my parents visiting this weekend, they arrived on Halloween, (just like last year) and they left yesterday morning...in between all manor of brilliance occurred and I figured I should document it all for prosperity.
I don't know how many people's parents (in their 60's) after waking up at 5:00am and travelling all day would be up for a raging Halloween fancy dress party, turns out mine were! Estrella, Jaegermiester and the obligatory meet and greet with everyone! It made me really happy to see how much of an effort everyone made with them, not to mention how well they did to stay up and party until past midnight! My Mother was slightly confused by my cat eye contacts lenses all night, but aside from that it all seemed within their capabilities!
I, however, did not go to bed at midnight. I think I went to sleep about 6:00am and safe to stay I was fairly dead to the world. Again, many peoples parents may have been pissed off that they had come all the way to BCN to visit their first born daughter and she had insisted on staying in bed until the afternoon with a head full of vodka and sore contact lens eyeballs; not mine, nope! They had preempted that this may be the state of affairs Friday morning so they happily took themselves off to the Bus Touristic bus stop and spent the day sightseeing, adorned with backpacks, camera and bottles of water, bless them and their cute little tourist vibes!
My flat was completely destroyed after the party so when I finally managed to haul myself off of the sofa bed (Mum and Dad took my room of course!) Sarah and I deep cleaned the fake cobwebs and vodka off of everything and the place was back to normal! It got to about 7:00pm and I still hadn't heard from Ma and Da and I have to admit I did feel a bit worried! Their sense of direction not being the best and them looking like the biggest targets for the BCN low lives to pounce on, I was hoping they would get in touch soon! Sure enough I get a call to say that they can't get in the flat, luckily I was just round the corner at La Rouge with everyone so I popped home to let them in.
Jenna and I's conversation at Bun Bo afterwards:
"Your parents are sooooooo British!"
"Haha! What makes you say that?"
"The first thing they said as they got in the front door was: God, I'm desperate for a cup of tea!"
"Yeah, they bloody LOVE tea"
"And just the way they take the piss out of each other and are just so cynical about everything!"
"Yeah, they bloody LOVE the sarcasm!"
Saturday's plan was to escape the city and visit the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres, it happened to be that Shane and Havard (+Norwegian students) were heading that way too so we all caught the train together :) There was a pig on the train. Standard pig on train situation. What better way to begin a trip to surrealism!? Anyone who has visited the exhibition will agree I'm sure, that it is a fantastic day out, so much to observe and absorb! The rock bit is pretty crappy though...a fact that Mum continued to state as we went round! "I don't like this bit with all the pictures of rocks!" Dad's golden moment was made earlier on however, when we were looking at the series along the bottom floor of different skies: "This must have been when he had a lot of blue left over.." hahah! Kills me!
Artisan ice cream before getting the train back to BCN. No pigs this time...I slept all the way home!
Saturday night we headed to Chelas y Burros for the ultimate burrito yummy Mexican dinner, Mum is big into spicy food so she was happy when they gave her extra jalapeno sauce on the side! Amazing food and great company, Sarah and Melissa joined and it was all Mum and Dad's treat...I'm sorry...but what effing legends?!
On the train that morning I had filled up an empty water bottle I found in my room which I assumed was one of Mum and Dads...when I took a massive swig of it on the platform I quickly established that it must have been left over from the Halloween party because it tasted quite distinctly (and disgustingly) of GIN (aka the worst tasting alcohol in the whole universe). This unfortunate occurrence got us talking about gin.."I can't even remember the last time I had a gin and tonic" said Mother wistfully. "They always come in such small glasses so by the time Dad has had two sips of his pint I have already finished it!" Well Mama..you obviously haven't had a G&T in BCN..where they make them in giant goblets, 2/3 gin 1/3 tonic!
G&T, cana, vino blanco and a mango daiquiri were subsequently ordered in Foxy bar later that evening :) It ended up being a really great night with Mum and Dad; Hayley brought some dudes along (as you know...always happy to be in male company of some description!) and we all just got quietly pissed or the terrace talking about life. I just found it so so wonderful to have the Padres there at one of my favorite bars in the city with some of my nearest and dearest friends. Life is remarkable and lovely sometimes....
We sat on a rather windy terrace at Marmalade's for brunch on Sunday morning, my smoked salmon and poached egg feast went down ever so well with my mixed berry smoothie! Yet another perk of a weekend with the parents; guilt free posh breakfast at whatever time you feel like! Jenna baked us heart shaped chocolate muffins (because that is how Jenna rolls) so we met her at La rouge for a coffee and muffin combo after brunch. We then embarked on the epic journey that some how ended up being the highlight of their stay!
Whilst sitting out in smokers corner, Sarah and Dad had decided that the best thing to brighten up our weird little shaft/box/patio would be some plant life. Sarah and I had talked about this prospect before but being us, never actually got around to making this a reality! Cue Maintenance! I was ordered to Google the nearest garden center and I found one on C.Pere IV which on the map looked quite close to Poble Nou where I used to work. Sometimes Google tells lies. Seeing as we had the whole day ahead I suggested we walked from Raval over to Cituadella and catch the tram from the parc out to the random industrial land that lines that side of the city. By the time we got to El Borne Mum as pretty unimpressed by the hole walking idea, her shoes had rubbed the previous day and I keep forgetting that these two drive EVERYWHERE! I remember when I first moved to BCN and I took public transport absolutely everywhere, 1. because I didn't have a clue where anything was and 2. because the "anythings" and "everythings" just looked like they were miles apart! Walking around a city allows you to discover the real joys of your surroundings and when you have got a bit of a mission ahead of you there's always the trusty bike to take you where you need to be! In theory the Parents agreed with me, in reality we took a cab!
The tram was on the wrong line and the garden center was in fact in the back arse of beyond past El Forum! When the cab finally got us to our destination (which was the sole place on the entire street that showed any sign of life) he asked us if he should wait, we stupidly declined his offer and bundled into the garden center. Obviously there was no one there and so the three of us kind of manically ran around laughing at everything we saw, cat grass, horse soil, the distinct lack of seeds! Eventually a guy came out of nowhere to tell us they were closing for the day! In this case we were actually really lucky because we arrived in the nick of time and all credit to this place- what is ever open on a Sunday in this city in the first place?! We decided the easiest thing to do would
be to buy the herbs already grown so we got coriander, chives, mint and another one we didn't recognized but it smelled nice! Got some red pepper seeds for good measure too! Plus cute little white window boxes and a fuck off massive bag of soil!
Miles away from any kind of civilization we walked and walked trying to find a metro or some kind of reference point! We stopped intermittently to take photos of Dad in his red jumper (which he had worn consecutively every day since arriving because he only packed one! ) carrying the soil on his back with a graffiti warehouse backdrop in the sunshine! I managed to get us to diagonal by El Forum and explained we would need to take the yellow line to Passieg de Gracia then change to the purple line then walk back to mine from San Antoni. We got a cab. Obviously.
Dad potted all the little plants and explained to me how to look after them. I just hope my thoughtless arsehole neighbors don't destroy them with falling glass and cans... So far so good, and we had chives on top of our crab and avocado salad yesterday for lunch (ooo errr!)
If you thought that was enough Sunday Funday for the Pages..think again! We decided to go and see a film at Icaria in VO (original version) and the choices were limited to Gravity with Sandra Bullock floating about in Space in 3D or Only the Gods Forgive, with Ryan Gosling in Bangkok doing samurai stuff. I felt like this was an easy choice to make. As much a I love Sandra, 3D makes me feel sick and Ryan Gosling is a smokin' hottie and by the looks of the trailer it could have been like Fight Club in Thailand type of vibe.
Now, I don't think I want to actually waste words going into detail about Only the Gods Forgive. But I will say this, it was easily in the top 3 worst films I have ever seen. I would have walked out after the first 15 minutes and the only reason I didn't was because Mum and Dad were just being so hilariously funny about the whole situation. I was cracking up laughing at the ridiculous reoccurring, seemingly meaningless red motif, "Oh look, he's down here again!", the overtly graphic violence, the fact that the whole film had about 3 sentences in English, the rest in Thai and the way that the main killer guy sporadically broke into song on the karaoke machine. I'm sorry but what the fucking hell was all that about?!
Relieved this traumatic cinema experience was over we wandered along the beach front to a restaurant in Barceloneta, where we enjoyed yummy sea food and nice wine and talked about how horrendous the movie was! We caught the obligatory taxi back to Raval and decided to try out one of my local bars. I think its called El Fernandez or something like that and its really pretty inside, on C. Carretes. I would definitely recommend it! Mum, Dad and I (mainly Mum) got pretty tipsy on multiple cerverza beer and put the world to rights. Or rather, put my life to rights! Easily one of the best conversations I have ever had with Mum and Dad, we talked about BCN, travelling, the future, the past, Ryan, my disastrous love life and my unhealthy obsession with Italian men. They said they were proud of me and that they think what I am doing with my life, living here, teaching, Connect magazine etc is really great.
Can't really explain how happy I was to hear that, but you can imagine :)
Monday was their final day and I had to go to Connect so they came and met me at lunch time, popped into the office to have a nose around and meet the Editor. Again. Shiny, happy proud moment for lil' ol' me there! We then proceeded to our next destination, via two metros (with my bike!) to Encants market on a search for a bedside lamp for my room. Dad spotted a gorgeous blue and red Tiffany style lamp on one of the bric-a-brac stalls which we managed to get for a bargain! I also got a news handbag, a kettle (because ours was too small and dangerous apparently...so what if it was plastic and had no on and off switch..it was only 10 euros!) an a great heart shaped picture frame for my Polaroids. Hands up if you L.O.V.E. Encants Market?! *Kel raises hand* The charm has gone a little bit now that it has been modernized and moved, but the mirror ceiling is totally rad and it is SO MUCH easier to find stuff now!
They got a cab home, obviously! I cycled! 1 euro pinxos on Blai were soon to follow.
Basically I spent all of Monday being totally spoiled to death because then Mum and I went and raided H&M so now I have actual clothes to actually wear that actually fit me! Then Dad and I raided Dia and the vegetable shop so now Sarah and I have actual food in our actual fridge that we can actually eat! When we got back my new clothes were all hung up nicely and my jumper was sewn up too. You just cannot beat the parental TLC.
Curry was on the menu that evening so we went back to Blai to my favorite little kebab/curry house where the food is cheap as chips but so incredibly tasty! Sarah joined us and we feasted on chicken madras, lamb bindi and garlic nahn and all other things excellent. I felt pretty full and sick after but that final nhan bread was so worth it!
I had work on Tuesday morning (not fun after being on holiday since Thursday!) and what made it worse was having to say bye to Mum and Dad who were due at the airport around midday. They took a cab.
It really was one of the best weekends of my entire life and I have only Mu and Dad to thank for it. Ryan and I are so incredibly fortunate to have such generous, funny, cool and downright amazing people as our Parents. All I ever want to do is make them happy. Roll on Christmas time...we won't do anything..just the five of us with too much food and too much drink, but I have no doubt we will just laugh the whole time and generally make the most of being able to spend a bit of time together.
I this is the longest and most substantial Blogg thus far... I hope you enjoyed reading it :)
Dedicated to Mum and Dad
I LOVE YOU
X
It is so incredibly difficult to meet people, no, wait, I want to correct myself there: meeting people is easy. At least I find it very easy to meet people. I make friends all the time. I even meet boys. Sometimes I like them. Sometimes they like me. Sometimes I have sex with them and think it means more than it does. No, meeting people is fine, Barcelona (and the rest of the world) is chock full of hotties of all shapes, sizes and colours; and thanks to the sexual revolution, social media and internet dating and so on we can pretty much just have casual sex and strike up 'relationships' left right and center if we put our minds to it. This isn't the issue though. The issue I have is that is is SO difficult to connect, to meet someone who you are really drawn to, who ignites the fire, sends sparks flying, makes you laugh, makes your stomach flip and who feels equally as intrigued by you. This kind of connection, one that is real and true and utterly life altering and knee trembling is nigh on impossible to find. From my past experience when I have found it (twice in my life, maybe three times, or really only once actually) it has been transient and spoiled my circumstances out of my control.
Our 'relationship' has been up,down, on, off, in, out and all around the fucking houses; and as some of you know last weekend it brought us both to Rome last weekend. Spontaneous last minute romantic weekend. Easily the best venture I have been on in a while and I can say with no holds barred that if I didn't see him that weekend something inside of me would have died a death. It's not that I have 'never felt like this about someone before'.... because I have, but with him it is different. He is different from anyone I have ever met before and he makes me feel differently too. It's difficult to describe really because I am currently so beyond confused about what on earth is going on, but let's just say that when I was with him this weekend I felt so unimaginably contented. I feel like I can be myself around him, like I don't have to try. I don't even worry about wearing makeup because he says he prefers me without and means it. He doesn't criticize me and he doesn't put me down. When he holds my hand its like electric, when he looks at me I feel like I will fall over, when he kisses me I melt and when the lights are off... well you can imagine....MAMMA MIA!DIOS MIO! OMG ;)
