Cadaques, North East Spain

The thunder has gone, clouds shifted from above the town, the sun revealed if only temporarily. We have been here in Spain for a week and yet I have not written before now, hopefully to the vague disappointment of my readers. Looking out of the dirt stained window I can see the hills rise away in the distance around the town, forming the stage for this expedition and looking perfect for me to sketch at some later time.

Now though, I plug in my headphones, switch on A Beautiful Day by U2 and start writing again. This week feels like years, every day intermingling then slipping slowly away like the sailing boats heading from the harbor and out to sea. Every day we work from the kitchen table, piles of schoolbooks confronting us with their serious print and boring titles. We read through these, figuring out mathematical problems that to me have no point other than to act as stepping-stones for applying to collage. Could we not, I wonder, figure out problems to deal with world hunger and racial injustice, calculate food usage in Africa instead of figuring out how many eggs Jill has if she buys five more? A thick layer of test papers lies like fresh snow upon all this and finally some are starting to be filled in with scrawled pen marks.

Sitting here, my thoughts wander to France where we went for the day to see some Matisse’s on show in the local gallery. The sun low in the sky we strolled down leafy avenues and drunk coffee after touring the art gallery. In France I saw so much to write about, both for my blog and serious reference papers. I wrote briefly on crossing the border:

France seemed an extension of the dusty Catalonian landscape as we crossed the border above a wide ravine. Continuing though the olive tree covered countryside I saw subtle differences, the French number plates of the car in front and the indecipherable signposts sliding by. Catherine was quick to point out random snippets of information ‘Here’s the pass used by Hannibal’s elephants’ or ‘Quick, look, that is where a princess used to throw her lovers out of windows and down the cliffs’ followed usually by a good natured laugh as we cruise deeper into Europe, the sun shining and thunder clouds no where to be seen.