From Barcelona

Jeremy Holland

Description

The second edition of this popular anthology of short stories from and American in Barcelona

Sujets

• Southern Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Summertime Publishing
• Date de parution: 13 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781904881889
• Langue: English

Extrait

From Barcelona
Stories Behind The City: Second Edition
Jeremy Holland
First Published in 2009 by Native Spain ( www.nativespain.com )
Second edition published 2012 by Summertime Publishing
© Copyright Jeremy Holland
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Typeset in Book Antiqua
Dedicated to the people of Barcelona, both Catalans and Spanish. You deserve better leaders.
Acknowledgements
If you’re reading this, thank you.
This book would not be possible without the support of Jo Parfitt and everybody at Summertime Publishing who have given me a chance to revisit some old stories and add new tales. A special thanks also to Debbie Jenkins for publishing the original volume and Ira Shull for helping me hone my craft.
To my wife, Guillermina. Thank you for your endless patience and support. Hopefully, it will not be in vain.
More than any one person, however, I would like to thank the people of Barcelona, past and present, who have made the city it is. Moltes gràcies / muchísimas gracias for providing the inspiration behind these stories. If I tease, it’s only with love, mixed with a bit of sadness. I will never forget my eight years there and hold Catalunya close to my heart.
Un petó molt gran per tot / un beso enorme por todo .
Jeremy Holland
June 2012
Praise
"Colorful and unique stories about Barcelona written by an expat author with his finger on the pulse of the city. He manages to capture both the vitality and the mysteriousness of the capital of Catalunya in a fresh and entertaining way."
Carlos Carbonell, ADN Newspaper, Barcelona
"Enjoyable, well-written and entertaining stories for everyone from the tourist to the expat to the native. Recommended for distant lovers of Barcelona like myself and locals too!"
Bart Van Poll, founder, Spotted by Locals Cityblogs
"A must read, must have for tourists and expats alike. Every story is fascinating. You'll get so much more out of your stay than from an infoseek guide book. I'm impatiently waiting for volume two!"
Rosie Reay, author, book critic, Catalunya Chronicle
"A range of styles that keeps the reader guessing what each story (or page) will hold in store. A book that gives you a feel for Barcelona while keeping you entertained -what better introduction could you hope for? "
Book Critic, Expat Arrivals
"Having lived in Barcelona for four years, I was looking for a book that shows the real city. The realism of the characters puts you in the skin of someone living there as you experience the love-hate relationship many locals have and live the absurd and funny situations that only seem to happen there."
Alejandro Conty, Sony Studios, Alice in Wonderland
Foreword
Barcelona is a city that, since its ’rejuvenation’ for the 1992 Olympic Games and the advent of cheap flights and weekend city breaks, has become one of the tourist ’hot spots’ of Europe. Gaudí, Las Ramblas, the Barri Gòtic and pickpockets loom large in the minds of most foreigners along with Catalan nationalism and Barça’s sublime football.
But the nature of city breaks is that you do not get under the skin of a city, any city. Barcelona is steeped in history and culture as well as being a modern and cosmopolitan city which has, until recent times, been the cultural and economic powerhouse of Spain, even before Spain was united under Isabel and Ferdinand.
Both my parents are Spanish, though they moved to England in the 1950s, and I have now lived permanently in Spain for 10 years myself. This series of short stories not only captures the essence of modern Barcelona from the perspective of the Catalans themselves and foreigners living and working there but also provides valuable historical lessons.
Each modern day story demonstrates the strengths, weaknesses and realities of living in a modern city as well as the difficulty of living and working in Spain, as a Spaniard or foreigner. For example, One Step Forward, Three Steps Back highlights the frustrations of dealing with local bureaucracy in an entertaining, but realistic, manner. Likewise, Mónica & Juan shows the economic difficulties faced by normal working Spaniards following the recent economic boom and bust, while there are also stories about love ( A Book for a Rose ) and crime ( CSI Barcelona ). The collection also brings together many threads of the Spanish character, from the harshness of the spoken word, to the hard working Catalans versus their perception that those from the south of Spain are only interested in flamenco, sangria and siesta.
The historical stories provide colour and context, for example Senyor Jordi i el Drac ( George and the Dragon ), St George being Catalunya’s patron saint (and the donkey its national animal!) and Gaudí’s Crypt both inform and entertain. The latter covers important aspects of late 19 th century Barcelona in addition to Gaudí’s nationalism and religious fervour.
But these are not ’heavy’ stories, they are entertaining and well written as well as being insightful and informative – a rare combination.
When asked to write this foreword I had no intention of reading every story but soon found myself drawn in by Jeremy Holland’s writing and insight into Barcelona, its people and the valuable lessons each story offers. I cannot recommend the book highly enough.
Rod Younger
www.Books4Spain.com
Contents
Foreword
Just Landed
Senyor Jordi i el Drac
A Book for a Rose
CSI Barcelona
One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
The Witch from Bilbao
Mónica & Juan
Running the Gauntlet
Gaudí’s Crypt
A Brown Christmas
Barcelona Gothic
The Sound of Barcelona
Other Books on Barcelona
About Jeremy Holland
Just Landed
E very guidebook about Barcelona said, "The first place you should visit is the city’s historical heart, Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter ." These oracles of local knowledge also suggested the metro as a more economic and authentic alternative to a taxi. They must know. They’re the experts, right? Me? I hadn’t a clue how to get around. It was my first time in Spain. My choice of Barcelona over Madrid had come down to which one was closest to a beach.
I wondered whether I could walk to the Mediterranean Sea from the bottom of Las Ramblas as I sat down on a bench in the middle of an empty platform. The overhead lighting was blinding, the type you’d expect in a police interrogation room. The air trapped in the underground tunnels had condensed into a searing mist that burned the skin and heated the metal seat under me. None of the guidebooks I had read compared taking the public transit to visiting the seventh circle of Dante’s Inferno and I began to think travel-writers were nothing but paid hacks who only highlighted the positives of their assigned locations.
Over my left shoulder, a black screen hung from the low ceiling. I used my bicep to wipe the sweat stinging my eyes and looked up to see what the yellow letters and numbers had to say.
Proper Tren 3:04min .
My mind puzzled over a linguistic mystery to distract me from the suffocating heat. High school Spanish had taught me that próximo was the word for "next" while propio meant "own." What type of train was set to arrive in three minutes, four seconds? I decided it must be a "proper one," which stopped at all of the stations, unlike say, the express services in New York or London. A perfectly logical theory for a Spanish city, right?
The familiar sound of flip-flops echoed off the white walls, reflecting the harsh overhead light. I squinted and peered across the train tracks to see a raven-haired girl in a loose white dress sit down on the metal bench directly opposite me. Even in the murky yellow haze of the metro inferno, she cut a cool and angelic figure, making her far more attractive than the airbrushed model on the poster next to her.
Maybe the guidebooks had been right after all. Maybe using the public transit wasn’t such a bad idea. How many novels, movies and anecdotes have starred lovers who were once strangers before crossing eyes at a train station? It was almost enough to be classified as cliché.
The girl’s sultry gaze sliced through the searing mist and popped the bubble that always surrounded me when I got lost in my thoughts. I could’ve been suffering hallucinations from heatstroke, but I swore she even smirked at me. Her dark features exuded Spanish sensuality, like a flamenco dancer, and hope clapped an uplifting song in my head.
A gust of wind blew away the four-step beat, drying the sweat pouring from my hairline. My ears cringed from the squeal of metal wheels grinding to a stop on metal rails. Sparks from the friction flew under the sleek carriages until they parked and blocked my view. The clangor of high-pitched beeps, sliding doors and hurried footsteps, shook the dense air and I glanced at the clock above my shoulder to see how long until I could expect such commotion.
Proper Tren 1:08min .
I looked back across the tracks. The train jerked and rose on its wheels. The string of polished white carriages then sped toward the next station, leaving the metal bench across from me empty, the girl but a visceral memory.
More flip-flops slapped against the stone ground. Locals descended the stairs on either side of the platform where I sat. Most spoke Spanish with a severe lisp. Others seemed to communicate in a hybrid language, some sort of Spanish, French and Italian mix. I cou