What's new?

As promised today has been glorious and I even managed to keep my natural British desperation at bay and not resent the amount of time away from the sun taken up by having lunch.

That meal was taken in a new restaurant which we hadn’t noticed before opposite one of our favourite eating places which was filled by hordes of the retired today.

 

Although I cannot say that both of us were brought up on a strict regimen of Kim’s Memory Game, we do take some note of our surroundings, as therefore this “new” restaurant was something of a shock.  Encouragingly it had signs encouraging me to believe that there might be a decent drink of bitter there as well.

The meal cost €13 for two courses with either a sweet or coffee to finish.  My starter of scrambled eggs with mushrooms and asparagus was excellent – and what a difference fresh ingredients make to a simple dish!  The second course was cod au gratin with a small mound of vegetables julienne – delicious.  As is usual in Spain, the sweet was the weakest course: a custard tart with strawberries in gelatine, acceptable but little more.

The beer was more problematic.  It appeared that they had various “real” beers on tap, but it soon transpired that the only one which was of interest to me was the Murphy’s Red which is some sort of Irish bitter.  It was and, served in a long, elegant and fluted glass which contained far less than a pint, it was a taste of home – in a way!

All in all a decent meal with only the long delayed return of our change marring an otherwise enjoyable occasion.  I cannot imagine what was going through the minds of the waiters if they thought for a single solitary second that they were getting a tip of €10!  This is Catalonia, such things simply do not happen!

I have spent the rest of the afternoon lying out on the balcony of the Third Floor pretending to read.  The new electronic e-book was to hand but not turned on.  I am, after all, duty bound to do some groundwork for the holiday in Gran Canaria!

Tomorrow: The Family!  And the chance to see the Parisian photographs of various Disney characters looking apprehensive at the determined approach of two young Catalans!

I have been informed that the brightness of today is unlikely to be matched by the gloom of tomorrow: perhaps I might turn on the e-book!