Photos: flickr/tripleaxis/sets/barcelona

Have just got back from my short trip to Barcelona. Not been there before – in fact it’s actually the first time I’ve ever been to Spain. Crazy, I know, for someone living so close, but you never explore your own back door, eh..

Had heard lots of good things about Barcelona. Everyone I met who’d been there had recommended and raved about the place; great for skating, great art and design all over the city and an overall lack of stress and frenzied city life.

Well the skating claim is so true – half the place looked like it had been designed with skaters in mind. Smooth transitioned banks and slopes, steps and grindable blocks. There was even a few seemingly dedicated wide rails setup.
Art in the city? Spot on – you can’t walk more than a minute without noticing either a striking piece of sculpture or just an everyday object that had uniquely and refreshingly designed to be either more functional, aesthetic or tactile. Just great!
Pace of life. I wouldn’t mind experiencing a working life out there actually. Just to see if living and working in the city was really as unpressured as the impression I got. I suppose it will always depend on what work you do there, but I definitely got the feeling that the amount of overtime hours worked there were kept to a minimum and the onus was definitely on working to live rather than the other way round..

Last night of the trip ended up being the blow-out night, starting with a couple of easy beers, followed swiftly by my fave, Southern Comfort and then shots of Absinthe …at which point the night started a steady decline into chaos, ultimately peaking with me dancing to shitty music in a shitty club somewhere, then wandering off to mash a completely unnecessary filth burger into my face hole.
Feel dirty just from typing it.. dancing.. yuk

The next day we were kicked out of our hotel rooms (which were fantastic, btw) at noon. I felt like absolute dog-shit and we crawled into the nearest KFC for some alcohol absorbing, fried chicken goodness! We headed up to the Park Güell and just simply laid on the grass for a good hour or so, recuperating which, I have to say, worked an absolute treat . With most of the time I’d been there having been soaked or at least drizzly and miserable, we ended up getting more done on that last day than the rest of the trip.

Ultimately, I had a great time. Hanging with Steve was really cool and just being able to amble along with no real agenda was fantastic for a few days – oh, and we completely pwned the casino by spanking them out of almost 10Euros! Take it, bitches!

I always seem to end up doing this – booking multiple events within days of each other.
I generally maintain a bit of a low profile, but as soon as the old wallet creaks open, I find its contents spill out in every direction almost uncontrollably. Once a semblance of control is regained, all that’s left is to count the receipts and grimly look forward to the upcoming adventures that I know I’ll be secretly very pleased I had

This time what started off as a simple plan to piggyback a friend’s work assignment in Barcelona into a long weekend in the sun has now expanded into 2 gigs, 4 days in Barcelona, 5 days in New York, a first time meeting with someone I’ve been chatting with online for almost 2 years and catching up with the Lebowski Fest – Speed Of Sound Tour

All, I should probably mention, within the same two weeks! Still, couple of firsts in there, the chance to catch up with some old friends and see a couple of seriously badass bands play!

What on earth am I complaining about?! Shut the fuck up, Donnie!