The Party's Over - Doris Day #BackToNormality

Bé, ja està, s'acaben les festes i demà a treballar i/o anar a l'escola. Tal com deia en posts anteriors, és només el 3r cop en 25 anys que he passat el nadal aquí - i he fet una petita llista de coses dels nadals anglesos que, no diria que enyoro perque m'agrada adaptar-me i acceptar la vida allì on estic, però si que he notat la seva ausencia!

Bé, s'ha confirmat les meves sospites. Igual com al altres mesos de l'any, he dormit poc. Aqui es va a dormir molt tard, i això es nota. He menjat molta xocolate però encara així, mmm, no he menjat Cadburys :( La tele - no és que he tingut gaire temps per mirar-ho, ja que hem anat de dinar en dinar, però tinc l'impressió que la programació televisiva aqui no té la mateixa importancia que a Anglaterra on tothom s'asseu a la mateixa hora per mirar l'episodi especial de Doctor Who o Gent del barri, per exemple. 

Caminar. De dinars grans i molt de festa, a casa mons pares només en fem el 25 i potser el 26 però despres tenim molts de dies on anem a caminar. No vull dir caminar en el sentit d'agafar el cotxe per anar a un lloc i posar-nos botes i roba del Decatlo, sino surtir de la porta de casa i caminar per on volem fins tornar a casa - o parar a un tea-room. La xarxa de camins publics per fer això és molt gran a Anglaterra i algo que aqui noto a faltar.

Una altra cosa que he notat més que mai aquest any, amb els xiquets una mica més grans - i si heu seguit el bloc des de fa temps, sabreu que és una petita obsessió meva - les deures. Deu-n'hi-do la quantitat de deures que ens han donat aquestes festes. Jo no donaria cap.

Coses que no he enyorat gens - el fred d'un nadal anglès o, pitjor, la pluja, vent, fang, i neu de ciutat (tot gris i groc ple de excrements de gossos i contaminació). I les cues per anar de comprar cada dia cada hora.

....

So, Christmas is well and truly over now. It dragged on till today, as kids have the 7th off school, but tomorrow it's back to school and back to work for yours truly. As I said in an earlier post, it's only the 3rd Christmas I've spent in Catalonia despite living here for 25 years. And the first one I've blogged about.

So , have I missed anything from the English Christmases? Well, I wouldn't say "miss" as I'm easily pleased and adapt myself to virtually anything, but I can remark on a few notable absences ... Cadburys' chocolate. I've eaten vast amounts of chocolate these past two weeks, but no Cadbury's. Decent TV. It's not that I'd have had much time to watch TV as our Catalan Christmas has been a very family-meal orientated one, but that moment when 95% of the country gather round the box to watch the Doctor Who or soap opera Christmas special (or new Sherlock!), well, it doesn't happen the same here.

Sleeping. As predicted, I haven't slept much. Too many late nights - and that's without going out drinking, just chatting, playing games, and ...eating! till late every night.

Walking. I don't mean "get in the car, put on expensive boots, and walking trousers" type walking. I mean, "open t'back door and just set off from public path to public path till you find a tea-room" walking. I like walking like this, no planning, no objectives. But it's difficult to fit into a Catalan day, and even more difficult to fit into a Christmas like the one we've had.

One gripe I do have - and again, regular readers will remember it's one of my pet hates - homework. The amount of homework our kids were given to do over the break was unbelievable. 

And three things I haven't missed - bad weather; the rain, wind, sleet, damp, "town snow" coloured yellow and grey with dog poo and car exhaust fumes. And shopping. And adverts for sofas on TV.