Not in Not-Barcelona | In the Dark

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Not in Not-Barcelona | In the Dark


So here I am, after far too long an absence, back in Barcelona. I had to get up at silly o’clock (i.e. 3am) to get the bus to Dublin Airport to get a flight this morning. If that weren’t bad enough, the airport was littered with people clearly the worse for wear after Paddy’s Day yesterday. Today is a public holiday in Ireland, but some folks decided to travel rather than recuperate.

There was some drama on the flight too. About halfway through, the cabin crew asked if there was a doctor or a paramedic on board. I feared that someone had been taken seriously ill, but it seems it was just someone suffering the aftermath of yesterday’s indulgence. I didn’t see what happened as it was at the rear of the aircraft, and I was in row 10.

After that we were delayed landing by about 20 minutes as there was fog at Barcelona Airport that had slowed operations down; we circled for a while waiting for the mist and the backlog to clear. When we did land the fog was barely perceptible. The rest of the day has been very nice – a mild 19 degrees and sunny.

I made my way by bus from the Airport and thence on foot to the apartment in which I’ll be spending most of the time until the summer. It’s very nice, in a central location on Rambla de Catalunya. I’m on the top (6th) floor, with a nice terrace overlooking the street. I’m only 2 minutes from the Metro station at Passeig de Gràcia and Gaudi’s Casa Batlló; there was a crowd outside this afternoon as there has been every time I passed this place!

Anyway, I found my way back to the same office I was in last semester, where I await yet another Zoom call*. After that I’ll get a few essentials for the flat and have an early night. I’m looking forward to not travelling for the next several weeks.

*More excitement – the fire alarm went off, so we had to evacuate the building, but it seems to have been a false alarm.

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