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Words, beautiful words…Creative Writing Workshops

EbroRose June 2nd, 2009

Valerie Collins of “In the Garlic” fame is working alongside another British writer, Nicola Thornton and have vacancies for their “Creative Writing Workshop” on June 6th, 2009 in Barcelona. The venue is only a few minutes walk from Passeig de Gràcia railway station.

Please contact them for more details on: bestwriterbcn@gmail.com

This is there last one in the current season. These have proved to be popular and well-attended across the span of the very diverse and different Expat orbit we rattle around in. However, this is only the beginning. Maybe it is too short notice to attend or you have other plans you are sewn up into . Not to worry. Why not ask around and see if you have other friends or neighbours who may be interested in attending one closer to your location. Do not forget to ask other non British Expats and locals who have a command of the English language, whether they would like to attend.

Valerie and Nicola are keen to explore the possibility of running these workshops closer to you if the numbers are right. Please drop them a line with any ideas or questions you may have.

There is more.

These are very experienced writers . We can learn an awful lot from them, even if we have been writing for years. They always have something new to offer. They have a wealth of writing experiences.

They are also running a very successful writing course (one evening a week) with people from the previous workshops they did. So you are not left out in teh cold after doing the first session.

Newsflash: 3rd Alquimia 101 one-day workshop (Introduction to Creative Writing)

bestwriterbcn@gmail.com

To write or not to write , that is the question?

Go on! Have a go. You will then sit back and think, why didn’t I start writing all those years ago. I know I did. My grandfather didn’t start writing until he was 70. I didn’t seriously take up writing as a career until I was 50- but I had scribbled for years. Now I am making up time!

May 1st. Día de trabajo. Labour Day

EbroRose May 1st, 2009

Don’t try to go shopping anywhere in Spain today. Everywhere is shut. Banks included. This is a national day for the Fiesta del Trabajo. Often referred to as “día de trabajadors” – the day of or for the workers.

The Spanish are also notorious for taking the day in front or behind and tagging it onto the fiesta as a “dia del puente” – a bridging day. Depending on your part of Spain, some may say to you “haciendo puente” implying you are ‘doing a bridge’. The one in front is to prepare for the fiesta. The one behind is to recover from the fiesta. Some may take both. I like the latter option!

Buenas fiesta.

Aside-: The petrol station on the Corona Roundabout of the C12 in Tortosa has a 24 garage and the shop is open until 11pm. Most emergency grocery supplies can be purchased there, including fresh “pans” (bread)

International Pottery & Ceramic fair in La Galera, Montsià – 1st to 3rd May

EbroRose April 22nd, 2009

(Feria de la Alfarería y Cerámica, La Galera Del 1 de mayo al 3 de mayo)

La Galera

MONTSIÀ, borders on our delightful Catalonia and is easily accessible from all the arterial routes as displayed on the Google map. During the days of fair it is reported than more than eighty exhibitors of pottery and ceramics will arrive from every corner of Catalonia, various different places across Spain and from other parts of the world.such is it popularity. It literally takes over the town! Visitors will be able to enjoy a wide expression of exhibitions displaying traditional pottery, artistic ceramics, of varied creations and designs in forms and colours.

You will indeed be hard pressed in not purchasing one or more pieces of work!

The organizers will guarantee you a very warm welcome and fervently want to enjoy in the exchange of traditions and cultures.

Free admission. It is open from 10h to 14h and then after a siesta and a delightful meal you can return for 16h to 21h. This will be on from the 1st to 3rd May.

City Hall of La Galera Tel. 977 718 339

Hobbies , Uncategorized , Where to go
Comments(1)

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

EbroRose February 10th, 2009

181, at time of writing, have lost their lives.

Others have lost everything -they have nothing, absolutely nothing. All their savings everything they owned,were tied up in their homes,. Families have been torn apart in death and loss, in this horrendous twist of forest fires and alledged arson. It is like the Australian Prime Minister stated, “There are no words to describe it. What can you say? It is mass murder..”

Please please please help.

International contributions can be made via a secure online form at the Red Cross :

http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm

Also check with your own local bank as they may have set up an independent bank account.

If there are any Australian readers out there please donate blood. The burned victims departments are desperate. You can call in at your local doctor’s surgery, do not wait for a Blood Bank, or just go to your nearest hospital. Your blood could save another life!
DONATIONS CAN BE MADE AT NAB AND AT THE BENDIGO BANK… WWW.BENDIGOBANK.COM.AU
www.commbank.com.au
www.anz.com.au

Please remember the Emergency services involved in this disaster. The trauma and heartache will live on, please support them too and remember them and their in your prayers. If you have not yet heard from loved ones, family and friends in the bushfire affected area, please call: +61 3 9328 3716

No one can understand or comprehend the desolation they feel. We can all help a little bit to help rebuild their lives and homes, offer them hope and some comfort to face tomorrow.

Every euro, every dollar, every pound or rand does help.

A disaster like this puts our own problems into perspective.

Please please please help.

The Saddest Day In Australia.Victorian Bush Fires.We Support You All! (www.FaceBook.com)

Through the power of FaceBook social networking we have all established close links with friends in Australia. Show your support please and join the group and it is helpful and informative:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=49354907542&ref=mf

Warm up your day!Book a bargain flight before midnight, tonight on EasyJet

EbroRose January 13th, 2009

Warm up your cold fingers and nab yourself a 25% discounted flight on:www.easyjet.com

They declare “25% off every seat, every route every day on flights from 1st March to 30th June”.

This is a double whammy as they include Easter and UK School Half-term holidays. An opportunity not to be missed in these Crisis times.

Offer ends at midnight GMT.

Where am I going to stay? Come to Catalonia, the Brighter Spain and we have loads of different offers for you, your partner, your family and your extended family.

Drop me an email in : www.BrighterSpain.com

We can offer: short stays, mid-weeks, weekly,fortnightly or long stay holidays to suit your needs.

There is so much more to Catalonia than you would first be led to believe! Explore the Lower Ebro River Valley and Delta, the magnificent mountain ranges and natural parks and cycle and hiking routes, the caves and the historical town, wonderful family safe beaches or hidden coves, golf courses,horse riding, “Twitchers” heaven, cuisine and wine routes, leisurely strolls around street markets and seaside towns or just get your car and drive. The river enjoys kayaking and water sports, and not just taming the giant Wells Catfish and golden carp.

Come and see for yourself! But remember, those flights discount ends at midnight tonight!!!

A Saturday in November

EbroRose November 22nd, 2008

Lovely clear sunny Saturday and the wind at a comfortable calm, but the beauty of the day is interrupted with the peppered sound of hunting guns ..”Run Rabbit run..”

This is a busy time for all who live on, or farm in the Lower Ebro Valley. Wherever you go you will see on a weekend whole families dragged home from Barcelona or Zarragozza to help bring in the olive crop. The offsprings are easily identifiable at the oil mill, as they endeavour to reverse in the old family trailer piled high to over-flowing (to avoid a second trip and a later return to quiet urban lives of their own) attached to their posh car -affordable by working in the cities.

One such gent, eager to share his command of the English language, started up a very informed conversation with me, as we patiently awaited our turn. He was shocked to hear that “us English” still picked by combing the trees and had not invested in high end power tool “shakers” that grip the tree and vibrates the olives into a huge pile on the floor.

As we parted company, he said as this was my “final pick” the tradition is now to go home and have a feast with the family over Cava. Oh yes! A bottle of Cava must be opened at the end of your olive harvest! Sounds good to me.

All week we have watched a fleet of vehicles arrive at the mandarin plantation across the ‘Barranc’ from us and teams of multi-cultured people, flow between the rows after rows picking all day long. Their cheerful chatter floats across on the wind to us. Every now and again the air is spurted with angry shouts and arm waving. The foreman must have a quota to get in. Then, fancy agricultural equipment arrives to lift all these crates and pile them high onto the back of the most enormous trailers.

We fervently watch our German Shepherds as they sniff the air, glancing back to see if we have gone inside and if they can escape to run amock the pickers. We know the patterns. We stay on guard.

But on some evenings we have noticed night lights on the tractors and they are still picking. I feel for the pickers. They must just collapse into bed, too tired to eat or think – just sleep, until the next dawn rising.

Yet, this is a wonderful time to be out walking and exercising the dogs or just strolling with the family. Take your camera though, because you can often snap some delightful scenes of the events unfolding in the countryside.

It doesn’t cost a penny if you walk or cycle and everyone enjoys it.

What have you been doing today?

EbroRose September 22nd, 2008

If you knew me in back in UK or South Africa would you would just not believe what I have been doing today! In fact I am still “gob smacked” myself. I still don´t believe it!

…picking up garden snails…..

No, not because of any concern for my plants or the eco-balance in my overgrown, wild garden have I been foraging around rain soaked undergrowth beneath olive trees, like a pig looking for truffels.

Our little Catalan neighbour stopped me this morning with his little blue bucket and asked if he could go on the area of our unfenced land to search for these delectable delights.

Ugh!!!

Anyway I drove off down into town still thinking how revolting those creatures must taste. On return I felt sorry for him and gathered up courage to go hunting for them in the fenced in, dog enclosed area for these little monsters. I cringed every time I pulled one off its attachment of grass, leaf or bark. Oh my gosh, they are awful – slimey and sticky. I just can´t imagine how anyone can get one of them down their gullet.

But, the look of glee on Juan and Josefina’s face made it worthwhile! They were thrilled. Juan then enlightened me, that those big brown one’s are in high demand on Barcelona’s tables this week and are very expensive. So tonight his family and himself can eat with the best of them, because they have lots of big big brown snails.

Enjoy, I say! You are very welcomed to them – you have saved me a fortune in slug pellets…

Failures of global Finance, what can we do to help fix it?

EbroRose September 20th, 2008

What a week of gloom and doom?

Everytime you turn on the telly , the news is either depressing or frightening. As the world reels from one financial shock, to numerous aftershocks, since the collapse of leading financial institutions in USA and the UK, we must not sit back and be complacent.

We can all fight back. And as the old Latin emblem of “Ex Unitate Vires” -United we stand is implied by Unity in Strength. Please read this email sent to me and follow the link and please, please sign the petition. We can then all work towards a Brighter Catalonia and a Retirement and relocation in a Brighter Spain.

We may be living out in Spain and yes, where they have approached a more conservative attitude to lending and creating debt, what happens out there in the big wide world, does have a knock on effect, especially if you are surviving only on a Pension or your investment savings.

“Hi everyone

As you know, I don’t usually send forwards, but I think this is really important. If we act together and make our voices heard, which we can do in an unprecedented way thanks to the Internet, we do have the power to change things. Please check out the link below. Thanks.

Valerie

–

The failures of global finance are really getting bad now – from collapses and bailouts to pensions, jobs and the threat of recession. I just signed an urgent petition to fix the basic causes of this crisis at the link below. It’s about to be delivered to European leaders, but to make an impact we need a massive global outcry to fix these flaws and loopholes and make sure the public interest is protected in future – please take a look and consider signing too:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_finance_action/98.php
——————

Valerie Collins
In The Garlic.
Your Informative, Fun Guide to Spain
The must-read book for all expats in Spain
www.inthegarlic.com

Rhodesian Ridgeback Puppies for sale

EbroRose May 25th, 2008

A litter of Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies with good pedigrees, all micro-chipped and fully vaccinated need good homes. They are now 7 months old. They are absolutely gorgeous with wonderful temperaments.

The owners are devastated that due to demanding work schedules they are no longer able to keep all of them. The first one´s went at 1000 euros. Those remaining have been reduced to 300 euros each, but are no lesser dogs than the more expensive priced puppies.

Rhodesian Ridgebacks are a hardy breed and bred to withstand hot and dry climates, so Catalonia is ideal. They are very loyal to their owner and families and extremely protective of their homes. It is not often you can find such a good breed that is both friend and playmate, coupled with being a good guard dog.

They are better kept in an area where they can run freely. They will jog for miles with you and when you are ready to collapse they will hardly be out of breath. They will quite happily run alongside you while horse-back riding or cycling. So they can be part of your fitness regime, but not on the golf course!

They are easy to train and are obedient. They are smooth, short haired dogs with a striking ridge of hair down their back where the hair grows in the wrong direction, thus depicting their breed. Fabulous tones of brown and healthy shiney coats that are easy to keep clean with regularly brushing.

They live in the hills above Maspujols and only 15 minutes before Reus Airport and off the N34o after passing Riudecols, when travelling from Mora dÉbre. In the other direction they are 20 minutes from Tarragona and 15 minutes inland from Salou.

If interested please drop the owners an email and I am sure they will arrange to meet you.

pauldgladwin@aol.co.uk

Credit crunch in the UK, but Catalonia is still affordable for a holiday

EbroRose May 20th, 2008

Many readers are under the impression that Spain has become expensive…it’s still affordable…you just need to know where to look and to look beyond the rental door. Catalonia and the Baix Ebre and Ribera dÉbre are still offering good self-catering and Bed and Breakfast holidays.

I recently received an apology email from an enquirer who was searching for a holiday in Europe : “…of course I’ve eliminated Europe from my list,” she writes, “since everyone knows it’s become too expensive. I had my sights on a holiday this year that offered both historic & exploring options, coupled with sporting activities in Europe within reach of beaches and mountains. But from what I hear, I don’t think I can afford it anymore.”

This is a misconception. For affordable living, Catalonia in Spain is still a great choice…but you’ve got to look below the surface. We can still offer you choices for summer holidays for June, July and August.

The options are all within accessible reach to all the tourist routes for: the wonderful giant father of all rivers, The Ebro, to reel in the mighty Wells Catfish and giant golden Carp; the Natural parks of the Els Ports Mountains and The Ebro Delta (www.terresdelebre.org) alive with hundreds of species of birds; cycling and GR walking routes; country drive outs to provincial dining; bars and decent restaurants in the towns; quaint seaside ports and villages nearby; beaches and hidden coves and friendly Catalonian people; historical sites and close to Terra Alta wine cellars and so much more. Golf is becoming a prominent sport attraction out here and we have a new one between L’Ampola and Carmales just off the N340. ( A separate golf spot follows this one.)

There is a hidden beautiful region in Catalonia just waiting for you. A part of Spain that’s already well-known to birdwatchers, cyclists, hikers and those searching for the Giant Wells Catfish and huge Carp, but virtually unknown to potential expats or foreign property buyers who have only frequented the “Hotspots” of the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Costa Bravo and even (accessible to us) Costa Daurado (Dorado).

But above all us, it is a wonderful area to holiday in. You need not be an adrenalin fueled or athletic enthusiast to enjoy a holiday here again and again. Catalonia is steeped in history and many Roman ruins to visit and of course the many different sites of the Civil War. Many Castles to photograph, paint or stroll around. Each of them with many stories of tehir own .Each different from the other.

A good and safe area to relocate to or to have a second home. Ideal for short breaks or long stays, maybe you want to escape the cold and wet months in your country. The Lower Ebro Valley is an amazing spot to over-winter. Yes we may get come cold spells and some winter rains, but where else is this in the UK coupled with sunny days in winter. Last year we were still wearing T-shirts in October and it was December before the cold arrived. The rains normally received in March were late this year.But we have welcomed them with relief to stay off the drought conditions threatening Catalonia, and more so Barcelona to the North of us