Butter Dancing, Ooh Lah and these are the Labandas of our lives- Barcelona 2012 (part 1)

'Sipping our Corona like there's nothing going on' Who is that behind?? Ooooh!

For the third year running, I returned to Barcelona, or more specifically, Sant Cugat del Valles. I have had such good times in the past two summers that I was certain I would likewise have a whale of a time this year. I was not disappointed. I headed off Monday 25th from Leeds Bradford airport, accompanied by my good buddy, Josie E. Campbell. We got on the plane and were bopping along to 'Sexy and I know it', kindly played by Jet2, doing crosswords, and, in Josie's case, sleeping like a baby. Of course, whenever the dreaded trolley was hear coming, I felt the need to feign sleep as an avoidance method.

Josie, Marc and I doing 'Sitting on Da Toilet' face

We arrived to sweltering heat and an customs man saying 'Buenas Dias' with a grin as we were waved through. I sent a text to Xavi, the father of our family, and after a surprising phone call with the suddenly grown up sounding Marc, we cheek kissed all around and were whisked away in the car towards home. It felt wonderful to be back in a place that was so familiar and so beautiful to look at. The familiar view of Hospital General heralded our arrival to where we were going. I had a quick reunion with Nana the dog before we dressed for a pre-lunch swim and a reunion with all of our usual children: Marc, Laura, Tatiana and Marta (who are M and Ls cousins).

The first week's class was pretty uneventful but mid week we did have a lovely trip into Barcelona with Marc and his grandparents. We went to see Palace Guell and the huge market and the Titanic exhibition (which was very surreal to see in Spain!!) We had a lovely time and were quickly getting consumed in the usual flurry of activity that is a trip to Sant Cugat and their whirl wind lifestyle. Mercedes, the cleaner, pronounced me as being 'muy bonito' this year so I was pleased with that! The weekend saw both Josie and I pretty nervous because we were about to find out our final grades for university. We were heading towards the lovely Santa Cristina on the Costa Brava so arranged for Ruthie to text us the grand results because we'd be in the car. The sounds of Spain CD was the perfect remedy for worrying and I soon found my shoulders bopping along merrily. Finding out we had both done great in our degrees only made the whole journey more pleasant.

After a brief stop at the supermarket in which Nana frisked around the car like a lunatic for approx. five minutes, we made it to the house and hear the first sweet sounds of the golf being played on the beautiful gold course abutting the garden. After a quick lunch of fresh bread and lovely meat, we packed our bags and headed to the beach for a day of relaxing. The weather was just gorgeously perfect and we went for several refreshing dips in the sea. On one such occasion, Josie and I were merrily wading in the water when a series of rapid, choppy waves barrelled into us. We consistently attempted to gain our footing only to be knocked back down by the waves. Eventually we were washed right onto the shore like two beached whales and we just lay there laughing at our misfortune, much to the amusement of a dreadlocked man we seemed to have gained as a fan. There are few things in life quite as unfortunate as trying to discreetly empty an abundance of pebbles from your swimming costume. Except perhaps dread locked men. Or fat men in red speedos who survey the beach from their uncomfortable vantage point.

The one serious problem with the beach was as to why everybody sees the need to go topless in Spain. Every direction you were to look, all you could see was naked chests. It was thoroughly disconcerting!!

Later on in the day, we returned to the house for a jaunt along the soft soft grass of the golf course, feeling like the famous five as we were accompanied by Marc, his friend and a dog named Dana (not Big Nana as we called her) or Julian, Dick and Timmy if you will allow! Josie and I sensed the nearby sprinklers had turned on so we ran towards them, shrieking with glee and went for a refreshing run through the good strong jet of the sprinklers. We then played a spectacular game of football with the boys in which we lost (or did we win???) and then, thoroughly exhausted, we felt the need to retire.

The next day was full of similar frivolity. Marc had acquired two new obsessions on Youtube. One was a woman sitting on a toilet singing 'Sitting on Tha Toilet' and the other was watching people do the Cinnamon Challenge. Before the day  was out, both had been attempted by us. We got called into the bathroom by Marc at one point and he was just sitting there, singing the song. It was hilarious! Later on, he pretended to do the Cinnamon Challenge while we filmed it. Thus occurred the first instance of us declaring 'Good Babysitting, eh?' to each other while laughing. The night was a late bed time for Josie and I as we laughed our way through about two hours of lying in bed. This was when we first discovered the strange man in the background of one of our pictures doing an 'Ooooh I like that' face, quite by accident. I attempted to dress like the woman from 'Sitting on Tha Toilet', we took a hideously hilarious picture which has since been deleted but shall always be imprinted on my brain, and drew faces with different facial expressions on our legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bje_8Y7KUfM

There was an awkward situation with some nearly consumed rabbit lbeeeeurgh and the following day a sudden storm meant we were bidding good bye to Santa Cristina and heading home. The journey stared off hilariously with Marc holding his arm out the window with a bag of rubbish and I was genuinely concerned that we would be driving the whole way home like this. Oh the relief when I discovered we were merely going to the bin.

The first week of my stay in Barcelona was the beginning of the stuff of legends. There were several unresolved questions though. Where would Josie be living once we went back to Sant Cugat? (Marta and Tatiana had gone away to stay with their dad so we were no longer teaching them and their mother wanted Josie out of her house so she could be alone with her new boyfriend) Would I ever do the Cinnamon Challenge? And why does rabbit smell so revolting when it is cooking??

Join me for the next installment imminently (when I have a break for some food and possibly a sleep)

QOTR