Toni has bought a guitar. An electric guitar.
It could have been worse: it could have been a violin. At least with the learning pangs of this instrument the notes are fairly pure as opposed to the unearthly torment that learners can get from the other more classical stringed instruments!
With conscious irony he has indulged himself in a retro, 50s red and white model; I only hope that he does not decide to go for an archaic ‘all bonnet and chrome’ gas guzzler from the same period – you’d never be able to park the thing in most of Spain!
I am, given Toni’s new found enthusiasm for melody, more than ever determined to splash out on a new keyboard with weighted keys. My life long ambition to play ‘Fur Elise’ at the correct tempo and with the appropriate dynamics will be realised. Possibly.
I did not realise that it was possible to be even more horrified with the television advertising of children’s toys – but I am.
The general principle seems to be if it doesn’t need a battery then it isn’t a toy. Wandering through the toys section supermarkets (tagged on, disconsolately to the rest of the family) I have been able to refresh my horror by seeing how much parents are going to have to spend to keep their offspring quiet for a few hours on Christmas Day. The truly horrific items are those which comprise a ‘setting’ and require you to purchase ‘characters’ and ‘objects’ to complete the toy. My favourite is a Roman Coliseum complete with chariots, horses, characters, emperor and laurel wreaths. The exact cost of what it would take to reproduce what is shown on television would probably exhaust the GNP of most African countries, but anything less than what is seen would appear to be unacceptable. My blessings and sympathy go out to families soon to be impoverished!
One of Carles’s toys in which he has invested a value-for-money amount of time and interest consists of outsize plastic ‘Leggo’ bricks. These come in various shapes and sizes with a few characters and a set of wheels! It is the sort of thing that a two year old puts together in any-old-way and then takes great pleasure in knocking down with a look on the face which seems to ask the question, “How on earth did that happen!” If you are Toni’s nephew this is accompanied by a look of such innocent outraged surprise that it takes your breath away.
I have noticed that when adults are near the Leggo rubble they almost unconsciously start putting the blocks together and trying to make something. Their frustrated architect persona is usually stymied by another adult noticing what they are doing, at which point the architect manqué then busily starts putting the blocks away. Not so Toni.
Ignoring the usual constraints of observant adult company he constructed a multi arch viaduct. The sort of thing that, if your child made it, you would back away from his smiling face waiting for the sinister chanting of demented monks to start. Luckily Toni is no child so I did not have to start searching for the triple numbers – and anyway he doesn’t have the hair to hide them! I took a photo to mark his achievement because I am sure that
I will be able to use it against him at some point!
As yesterday was spent in Terrassa I did not get my tree and Belen ready.
Belen (Bethlehem) is word for the Nativity Scene that many Catalan homes set up for the Christmas season. To call them Nativity Scenes is usually to do them a gross disservice. The complexity of these scenes stretches (quite literally) well beyond the stable. There is a roaring trade in ‘extra’ figures which include a whole range of animals and fowl, workmen and vegetation.
The square in front of the Cathedral in Terrassa was filled with stalls selling all the basics and accessories to make your Belen a thing of wonder.
I, however, being the eternal cheapskate purchased my Belen from the Chinese shop underneath Carmen’s flat which comprised: the Holy Family, the Three Kings, three animals with a fairly basic Stable and I bought an extra figure of an angel. A Catalan
Nativity also has the figure of a caganer, which I bought in the local supermarket. If I had waited for the Terrassa stalls I could have had a vast choice of caganer from the President of Spain to an electric version with a hand clutching paper appearing and disappearing. If you don’t know what I am talking about then put ‘caganer’ into Google and see what you come up with!
The tree (artificial because of alleged allergy) has been adorned with three new sets of lights and a mass of new decorations augmented by some old favourites. Toni has pointed out that the colours of the lights actually create a Barça tree
so he is happy! The overall result is not quite as vulgar as I had hoped because I find tasteful Christmas trees anathema. The whole concept of a tree at Christmas is pagan at best and a German import at worst. Vulgarity seems a reasonable approach!
Roll on the Christmas cards!
It could have been worse: it could have been a violin. At least with the learning pangs of this instrument the notes are fairly pure as opposed to the unearthly torment that learners can get from the other more classical stringed instruments!
With conscious irony he has indulged himself in a retro, 50s red and white model; I only hope that he does not decide to go for an archaic ‘all bonnet and chrome’ gas guzzler from the same period – you’d never be able to park the thing in most of Spain!
I am, given Toni’s new found enthusiasm for melody, more than ever determined to splash out on a new keyboard with weighted keys. My life long ambition to play ‘Fur Elise’ at the correct tempo and with the appropriate dynamics will be realised. Possibly.
I did not realise that it was possible to be even more horrified with the television advertising of children’s toys – but I am.
The general principle seems to be if it doesn’t need a battery then it isn’t a toy. Wandering through the toys section supermarkets (tagged on, disconsolately to the rest of the family) I have been able to refresh my horror by seeing how much parents are going to have to spend to keep their offspring quiet for a few hours on Christmas Day. The truly horrific items are those which comprise a ‘setting’ and require you to purchase ‘characters’ and ‘objects’ to complete the toy. My favourite is a Roman Coliseum complete with chariots, horses, characters, emperor and laurel wreaths. The exact cost of what it would take to reproduce what is shown on television would probably exhaust the GNP of most African countries, but anything less than what is seen would appear to be unacceptable. My blessings and sympathy go out to families soon to be impoverished!
One of Carles’s toys in which he has invested a value-for-money amount of time and interest consists of outsize plastic ‘Leggo’ bricks. These come in various shapes and sizes with a few characters and a set of wheels! It is the sort of thing that a two year old puts together in any-old-way and then takes great pleasure in knocking down with a look on the face which seems to ask the question, “How on earth did that happen!” If you are Toni’s nephew this is accompanied by a look of such innocent outraged surprise that it takes your breath away.
I have noticed that when adults are near the Leggo rubble they almost unconsciously start putting the blocks together and trying to make something. Their frustrated architect persona is usually stymied by another adult noticing what they are doing, at which point the architect manqué then busily starts putting the blocks away. Not so Toni.
Ignoring the usual constraints of observant adult company he constructed a multi arch viaduct. The sort of thing that, if your child made it, you would back away from his smiling face waiting for the sinister chanting of demented monks to start. Luckily Toni is no child so I did not have to start searching for the triple numbers – and anyway he doesn’t have the hair to hide them! I took a photo to mark his achievement because I am sure that
I will be able to use it against him at some point!As yesterday was spent in Terrassa I did not get my tree and Belen ready.
Belen (Bethlehem) is word for the Nativity Scene that many Catalan homes set up for the Christmas season. To call them Nativity Scenes is usually to do them a gross disservice. The complexity of these scenes stretches (quite literally) well beyond the stable. There is a roaring trade in ‘extra’ figures which include a whole range of animals and fowl, workmen and vegetation.
The square in front of the Cathedral in Terrassa was filled with stalls selling all the basics and accessories to make your Belen a thing of wonder.
I, however, being the eternal cheapskate purchased my Belen from the Chinese shop underneath Carmen’s flat which comprised: the Holy Family, the Three Kings, three animals with a fairly basic Stable and I bought an extra figure of an angel. A Catalan Nativity also has the figure of a caganer, which I bought in the local supermarket. If I had waited for the Terrassa stalls I could have had a vast choice of caganer from the President of Spain to an electric version with a hand clutching paper appearing and disappearing. If you don’t know what I am talking about then put ‘caganer’ into Google and see what you come up with!The tree (artificial because of alleged allergy) has been adorned with three new sets of lights and a mass of new decorations augmented by some old favourites. Toni has pointed out that the colours of the lights actually create a Barça tree
so he is happy! The overall result is not quite as vulgar as I had hoped because I find tasteful Christmas trees anathema. The whole concept of a tree at Christmas is pagan at best and a German import at worst. Vulgarity seems a reasonable approach!Roll on the Christmas cards!
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