Back in BCN!

I spent the month of September in the desert, during which time I saw doctors and friends and took care of a lot of business. The best news is that I had a DatScan, which ruled out Parkinson’s and Lewis Body, of which I’ve shown a few symptoms. My essential tremors are genetic and benign, even if they make it harder to get a date. I also had cases of Covid and Shingles while there, for which I’d been vaccinated, so I didn’t suffer greatly. I am now immune to everything.

On my flight to PS, I stopped in Dallas on a layover. When the plane which was going to take us to PS arrived in Dallas, a middle-aged woman in a short dress disembarked and ran into the arms of her paramour, who was at the gate. Every time he tightened his arms around her waist, her dress lifted up to reveal her bare ass in full.  This captured the attention of all waiting at the gate and continued for 10 minutes.  I don’t know if she was so high that she couldn’t feel the breeze, or didn’t care, or if it was performative. It certainly was memorable.

On the return flight from Phoenix to Dallas, a woman sat in the middle seat with a dog carrier, which she slid under the seat in front of her. In her arms she held a small dog on a cushion. During the two and a half hours, the dog never stirred. At all, not a blink of the  eyes, not a twitch in the body. After a while, it occurred to me that perhaps the dog was dead; whether or not she realized that was another matter. I remained fascinated by this inanimate creature and its backstory. Was it even a real dog? I could have tried striking up a conversation with her, but I couldn’t know if it would have been a pleasant experience or a trip down Crazy Lane, for which I was not ready that early in the morning. This shall remain a mystery.

On the last leg of my journey, a 10-hour flight to BCN, I sat next to a pleasant-looking fellow, who, at first, didn’t say much. When the flight attendant served the main meal, she asked him if he had pre-ordered the chicken or the pasta; I had ordered the chicken. He was mystified by the term pre-order, so I leaned over and explained it in Spanish. His face lit up, and he was delighted that I spoke his mother tongue. He was an Argentinian filmmaker who lives in LA and was traveling to a film festival in BCN where one of his films was in the running for an award.

Argentinian Spanish is spoken very very rapidly and has a lot of Italian pronunciation in it. At first, I followed while we discussed art, theater and other engaging topics. I was delighted to be sharing ideas with a true intellectual. However, as he continued to drink wine, his speech got faster and less articulate. Finally, when I realized I had no idea what he was saying, I excused myself and went to the bathroom.

A shout-out to American Airlines’ Premium Economy Class, which is between Business and Economy in price and service. I’d never used it before.

Upon my arrival, I found that the weather had turned perfect: cool breezes, sunny skies, mild temperatures. I decided to keep my windows open. I have mentioned in past posts that many people in other countries see no need for window screens; they are not bothered be whatever flies through the apartment or house. I am not like them. When I took this place, I saw that it had lots of light and, as a corner apartment, excellent air flow. However, I was told that I couldn’t install screens which had to be screwed or nailed in.

Not to be denied, I ordered some mosquiteras cut to size; these are screens, usually thin, which come with adhesive straps for the perimeters of the screens. The custom ones were much sturdier, so I bought and installed them. The only downside is that there is a great deal of noise when the windows are open, since I’m at a busy intersection of three streets. My solution was to accustom myself to the street noise during the day and close everything up when I go to bed or when I’m in an online meeting. So far, it’s working out.

I love being here among so many people, sites, and things to do. My biggest obstacle is that, when I sit outside in a café with the goal of eating, reading and/or making new friends, I am overwhelmed by cigarette smoke. I see no solution to this but to go inside, which is not real romantic.

As for entertainment, I watched the entire Love, Death and Robot series on Netflix. These are short, animated films of high quality. Only one of 18 episodes was completely bad (The Three Robots), but, for those who like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and puppets, the “I Can’t Stop” puppet music video is quite fun.

As for books, Alchemised, a fantasy novel by Sen Lin Yu, is dark but good, as is Empire of Silence (Sun Eater Series), by Christopher Ruocchio. Also, the Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa, a Japanese crime novel with an unusual twist. I go between well-reviewed best sellers, science fiction and fantasy. Until someone recommends something to me.

I will finish with one more story, that of my beloved coffeemaker.

I love my coffee maker; it’s my favorite appliance. It’s a Cuisinart one-cup grind and brew which is incredibly easy to use and clean. On one of my trips, I dragged it over 6,000 miles to BCN; when I plugged it into the electrical adaptor, the machine screamed and died and the circuit shut off. What I hadn’t realized was that the motor draws 220 and needs a more sophisticated and expensive converter.

I asked a local electrician if he could fix it, and he said he couldn’t. I bought a similar machine here, which was a nightmare to clean and made a mess of my kitchen. Finally, one like the original showed up on Amazon.es, so I bought it before anyone else could. It broke my heart to throw out the burnt-out machine so, since I was traveling with an empty bag to the US, I brought it 6,000 miles back. I then found, after much research, Charly’s Fix-it in Cat City, and he repaired it very cheaply for me. So, I used it in PS and stored it before I left. I now have the most-traveled coffee maker on the planet and fresh-brewed coffee available on two continents. Now, that’s customer loyalty.

So, here I sit, looking out at this lovely city and drinking my fabulous coffee. There’s a great breeze and the sound of people in the street talking in multiple languages, primarily Spanish and Arabic, with occasional English. Life is good.

Bye for now.