On The Shelf: An Ode to 2014

Up on the shelf sat a porcelain ship,
Marble cream,
Many times moved, but still had a gleam.
Other ornaments had come and gone,
But somehow,
The ship sailed on and on
For many years, until-
A knock-
Sending the ship up to the moon
In almost-eternal limbo,
Before plummeting-
Crash!
On the floor.
A mess that's been seen endless times before.

A thousand fragments
Everywhere, unreachable.
When shaking hands tried to save the ship
There were too many missing pieces.
Hopeless. Time to give up.
Who knew
There had been so many cracks,
Silently creeping and waiting
For one sharp moment of pressure.
The ship had been destined to sail
A different sea, but
It wasn't meant to be.

Empty, for a while.
The ship's absence was too loud
To make room for new ornaments.
But then, a figurine of four girls,
Laughing until their stomachs hurt.
And then, another!
A group of children gathered around
A nervous, but serious teacher.
And then, another!
A woman, mid-run, pony-tail flying
behind her.
Those vivid figures on the shelf
Were blinding, real, new.

Looking up at the shelf
And seeing that ship missing
Still stings a little- but, the colours,
The life, the joy brought by the new ornaments,
Feels like toe-tickling waves
On a summer's afternoon. It feels like
Getting lost in a never-ending labyrinth
Of history, and stopping for a coffee.
It feels like a new home.


Thanks to everybody who made me smile in 2014. I hope 2015 sees you chasing your dreams, catching them, and being rewarded with countless smiles. :-)

A Very Devon-ly Christmas...

Coming home for Christmas was certainly a little different this year...rather than landing in one of the hellish London airports, I had the pleasure of landing in the stress-free Bristol Airport. Landed, out of the plane, baggage collected and picked up by Alice in around 20 minutes. Incredible. After a few hours with friends, I then missed my train home (of course I did), and finally got a train to Exeter to meet my parents, ready for a very Devon-ly Christmas...

CHRISTMAS DAY

Present-opening, of course, then the traditional family Christmas Day walk- but this time, by the sea!! Introducing my family to the 'selfie' concept was a particular highlight; we may need a few more practices to get it perfect, but I still love the final result. Then, our typical Christmas lunch, where my dad outdid himself this year- turkey (cooked the day before), parsnips, roasted carrots, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, and delicious gravy. You don't know how much you miss roast dinners until that smell of roast potatoes and turkey hits your nose. A bit of 'Who-am-I' and 'Trivia'- where we learned that IQ questions are a little too tricky for us after a few wines, or indeed ever- ensured the meal and afternoon flew by.

A typical Smith Christmas dinner...

Sunset view from my parent's living room.

BOXING DAY

Starting off with Teignmouth's traditional Walk-in-the-Sea (raising money for the Lifeboats Association) which speaks for itself really- featuring special guests Spiderman, the local cricket team, and an older couple on their way to a posh banquet (see if you can spot them!). Just to put it into perspective- it was around 3 degrees Celsius, around 37 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, bloody freezing. Then, a visit to the local pub, followed by one of my favourite meals of the year- bubble-and-squeak, beetroot, cranberry sauce, roasted ham, and a few leftover Yorkshire puddings for good measure. Oh, and a few more Christmas crackers. Doesn't get much better than that, my friends.

Here is my promise- I will be one of these crazies next year.

Spot Spiderman if you can!

Our Boxing Day lunch.

A Quick Word About Caga Tio...

...because I cannot let Christmas pass by without speaking about this, frankly, bizarre Catalan Christmas tradition for kids. Don't get me wrong, I love it- I just can't quite get my head around it!

Here is a little video introduction, sung by the lovely Norah Jones:

So, here is what happens with this strange little piece of wood with a painted face on it. On the 8th December, parents put out a Caga Tio with a tiny blanket over it. The kids then feed the log (orange peel seems to be a popular choice). The Caga Tio then gets increasingly bigger (an expense for the parents, I should imagine). Then on Christmas Eve or Day, the children sing the song while hitting their beloved Caga Tio with sticks. Why? To help the log poop out chuches (sweets), of course.

I had the privilege of owning two Caga Tios- one in my flat (though this one never grew- we are clearly not as dedicated as Catalan parents), and one at school.

Our resident caga tio!

Isn't he adorable (even if you know what he gets up to under that blanket...)

 Our class took it in turn in groups of four to hit the Caga with sticks, to make sure all of those chuches came out. There were also dozens of Caga Tios on sale at the markets in front of the Cathedral, as well as caganers (a pooping figure).If it floats your boat, there are also famous versions of the caganer- just in case you ever wondered what Obama or the Queen of England looked like pooping.

Ahh, kooky Catalunya, how I love thee and your crazy ways. Merry Christmas everyone!

Un Petit Belgian Getaway...

It's been a long time coming, but a few weekends ago, we finally got a chance to escape Barcelona in search of a little Christmas market action. You know me, I'm never one to resist a good ol' gluhwein and bratwurst during the festive season...

Of course, we started our holiday with the standard overpriced taxi, the driver taking the 'scenic' route to our destination and hoping that we would not notice. At least we got to our AirBnB apartment pretty quickly...even if our host did not answer the phone so quickly. Being the one who booked it, I was pretty nervous, especially as it was a quiet residential street...but all was well within 10 minutes, and we were soon being shown around his apartment. For anyone looking for an AirBnB flat, I would definitely recommend Liam Torne's flat. Clean, comfortable, a little balcony, a good size for 4 girls- we were able to split into 3 rooms- and, best of all, an extensive record collection! More on that later...

When you go on holiday with someone for the first time, you never know whether your travelling styles are going to be compatible. Luckily, Erin, Nina, Julie and I all had the same vision for the weekend- wanderers wondering where the next street may lead. As long as we could have a croissant in the morning, a few local beers in the afternoon, and a sampling of the local cuisine, we were tres hereaux. Speaking of Frenglish, between us we kept accidentally reverting to Spanish. Although I only learned Spanish a little longer than French, the latter seems to have slipped away from me a bit. Just goes to show- it´s all very well learning a language, but you need to practice, practice, practice if you have any hope of remembering it!

After thinking it was going to snow all weekend, the lovely weather on Saturday was a pleasant surprise- that perfect Winter combination of a crisp, chilly day and gorgeous sunshine. We started our day with a croissant at the local ´boulangerie´, where there were dozens of what looked like little chocolate Popes. These figurines were actually representations of Sinterklauss, who, as I had learned from one of my half-Dutch students the previous Friday, comes to visit on 5th December.

Then, it was time to get the fast, hour-long train to Bruges- or so we thought. ´Great´, we thought when we saw that a train was just about to leave- but the train conductor soon brought us down to Earth. ´This train is the local train that takes 2 and a half hours´ he said in an unnecessarily booming voice, just to make sure that the whole train realised what stupid tourists we were. I heard a few people muttering around us as well, so I don't think we were the only ones!

But Bruges was certainly worth the journey. From the train station, we seemed to be a part of a Spanish and Italian tourist procession, through cobbled streets, and little houses that looked too quaint to be real. Finally we found the centre- where there were more chocolate shops, cafes and British tourists than you could shake a croissant at. We found a lovely little corner cafe, where we tried the local beers, sampled a little moules et frites (the start of our love affair with frites this weekend), and soaked up the cosy, Christmassy vibe.

That wasn´t even the best part- we wandered further into the city, and discovered a plaza straight out of the Renaissance. Majestic, 18th-century buildings surrounding the main square, with a huge ice-skating rink in the middle- but before we could sidle up to the side and laugh at everyone slipping and sliding, we got ourselves a cheeky little Belgian waffle and, naturally, some gluhweins in polystyrene cups. Magical. We were perhaps unwise to keep them on the side of the ice-rink, as people kept skating wildly into us- but hey, we like to live life on the edge.

After the cute beauty of Bruges, it was difficult for Brussels to compare. The Christmas markets were OK, but it just seemed overcrowded, and even more British. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be tourists- I just get a little wound up by British tourists sometimes! For me, Brussels had two other major highlights. One was our Sunday morning- a perfect mix of a few Delirium beers and some classic records while chillaxing on the sofa. Stones, Beatles, the Grease soundtrack, and putting the world to rights- perfection. The other was visiting the Delirium cafe itself, or should I say 'complex'. It is actually a collection of bars that each have their own character, for example an American church abbey. We decided to visit the main bar, which pulled off the grungy chic look. Brewery tank lids hovering over booths, lit-up beer adverts from the past...it felt like something familiar yet very new and distinctly 'Belgian' all at once.

A brief summary then...in hindsight, we would have spent a few nights in Bruges, rather than travel there from Brussels. That doesn't mean I didn't like Brussels...it just felt a little more like a city, and I think I'm forever looking for that big-town Christmas market that I found with my good friend Gemma in Würzburg back in 2007. I certainly came close to it in Bruges. 

On Belgium itself, it was strange to be somewhere to felt so much like home, with its homey bar-environments, then to hear French and Flemish spoken all the time. Basically, I felt a strange comfort being there, yet at the same time, a homesickness for Barcelona. Strange how much this city has had an impact on me in just 6 months!

I've uploaded pictures from the four of us below, in no particular order...enjoy!