The Summer House

As is usual at this time of year, thebadrash.com is getting quiter. The summer, I feel, calls for us to spend more of our time outside in the sweltering humidity of a Barcelona summer. I've been hard at work burning my skin and resolving to lose weight in a vain attempt to look 1% as handsome as the locals.

Friends might remember that last September, Gemma's grandmother, Maria Teresa, passed away. She was a great woman and my wife was very close to her. One of the things that happened after Maria Teresa's passing is that Gemma and her father have inherited her flat in Tarragona, a house full of memories for both of them. At the time, we did our best to tidy up the flat and throw away food, etc… but it has been many months since we visited the place.

Having left the flat for some time, we decided to visit it and start the process of putting it in order. So, on Saturday morning, we braved the AP7 motorway 100km south to the family town. Tarragona, for those who don't know it, is something of a mixed bag. The centre of the city combines lots of Roman remains with a modern Catalan town. In the old city, the local stone shines like gold in the right light, despite the fact that it's apparently being eaten away by acid rain. The Plaça de la Font is a pleasant, long square which terminates in the attractive Ajuntament (city hall) where Gemma and I married. The cathedral was built on the Roman temple of Jupiter and apparently the older parts of it date back to the time when Tarraco was the capital of Roman Spain. The outskirts of the city, however, are made up of ugly suburbs and a very large petro-chemical industry. Lots of jobs, mind.

The flat has views of both the Roman city and the Mediterranean. This last view was particularly impressive on Saturday evening as I watched the approach of a truly collossal storm, part of a system that apparently inundated much of Calatonia that evening. My observation of the meteorological events was secondary to the main work of the day: cleaning, disinfecting and fumigating the parts of the house worst affected by silverfish and, even yuckier, cockroaches. I worked on the soon-to-be-scrapped fridge/freezer first (I'm not stupid: there's little point cleaning a house if there are no cold Voll Damms at the end of the day). Then, I applied a potent insecticide to the kitchen draws, some of which played host to silverfish the size of dolphins.

We've chosen to use the flat as a summer house of sorts, at least until we work out what else to do with it. As it's only an hour and a hlaf away by train, it will be easy to get down there on a Friday afternoon. I think that Maria Teresa would be happy to see us using the house.

For those who really know me, tomorrow is the first day for years that I'll be commuting into the city for work. Our company has moved to very swanky new offices in an ugly new tower on Meridiana. My new commute to work puts an end to three years of walking ten minutes down the road. That's a pretty big change.

It's way too late. I need to get up earlier than before. Damn.

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July 14, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Home 

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