So here we are sitting on the top balcony looking over the private park and feeling all’s well with the world.





The days are getting sorted, drop the kids off at school then straight to the cafe for a cafe con leche and a croissant followed by a long stroll or maybe a bike ride down the promenade to Castelldefels. Maybe a beer on the way back along with some tapas and it’s time to pick the kids up again. But just sometimes it changes........


Christine decided that we would go into Barcelona by ourselves yesterday. She didn’t have enough time to do the shops justice She said if we went in with Alex having to be back in time for the kids leaving school. So we are off on an adventure by ourselves! It's 9.00am we are having our morning coffee and I’m having my croissant, notice I’m having a croissant, not wall paper paste which Christine is still doing each morning but for some reason Alex and Amber have both started eating it and unfortunately there is never enough left for me so I have to go without. A disappointment I am reluctantly prepared to live with.


We get on the bus for Barcelona and Christine says something to the driver who seems to understand her and we get our tickets, I am a little surprised but say nothing. We spend the next half hour being hurled around the bus as it’s standing room only, the Spanish Bus Company obviously don’t have the same Health and Safety regulations that we do back home and I assume the locals don’t sue the company every time some one falls over and as no one seems to get hurt it doesn’t seem a problem. On the plus side the bus never leaves anyone at the bus stop, everyone gets on the bus however full it is.


First stop in Barcelona is the coffee shop, Christine orders the coffees and snacks and the waitress understands her and takes the order and in a while exactly what we wanted arrives. I am a little surprised that Christine seems to be able to make herself understood but say nothing as she is now talking with the girl at the till paying our bill.


Then it’s the shops, not the touristy La Rambla but the more upmarket Rambla de Catalunya and the Passieg de Gracia and in general the Eixample area of Barcelona. We seem to know where we are going, we are in and out of shops, more in than out I may say and Christine is in her element. It is obvious she loves this place, the shops, the culture, the fashions, all the things that she missed in the Bahamas. For all the Bahamas natural beauty, the white sands and blue sea, the always hot weather and the easy going friendly people this is exactly her style, unfortunately all the style in this area of Barcelona comes at a heavy price that is obviously beyond a poor pensioner like myself. Contributions to the ‘Allow Christine to Shop in Barcelona’ fund can be made by leaving a comment on the blog and will be greatly appreciated by myself.


Four hours later, in true Spanish fashion we are going for lunch around 2.30.





We go in the restaurant in the Placa de Saint Jaume and Christine asks for the Menu Del Dia and then selects her three courses while I am still looking what’s on the menu. I am now very confused as to how she is doing it, I am the one who has been studying the ‘Learn Spanish in a Week’ book for the past two months and have still not got passed chapter four. The excellent meal arrives, three courses plus half a litre of red wine, bread and olive oil all for 10 euros each. Check that out with restaurants at home, terrific value.


We finish our meal and I am just about raise the issue of how Christine is seeming to be in control of today when out comes the white and yellow with blue spots black book designed by Emma Bridgewater. She opens it to today and there listed are directions to each shop she wants to visit, phrases to order coffees and lunch, how to get a ticket on the bus in fact everything she needed for today. She had spent last night, whilst I was down the Bodega, studying the guide book and getting phrases from Alex ready for today.


I sit back in amazement, it’s a perfect Black Book, it’s a project plan, there is no doubt that Christine has realised the value of the Black Book, it’s only taken a year but she is there. The down side is of course that I notice there are at least another two hours of shopping planned for after lunch. I order another half litre of the red and suggest she picks me up later.