Christmas 2015

Dinner requests are back for a week or 2!

P’s boss ended up not spending Christmas on the boat, so 1/2 the crew got time off. In P’s words why have a dog and bark yourself? Why cook when there’s a chef? Sometimes I ask can I have this for dinner and magically it appears later. I even get out of grocery shopping! I don’t mind the shopping part, it’s the putting it away. I know once I start putting it away, it doesn’t take long. If I had a choice between ironing and putting away food shopping, I’d choose ironing every time. Plus P makes salads that float. The salad leaves, spinach or kale and everything else seen like they’re been folded with air. If I were to make the same salad it sits heavy in the bowl. I even got roast potatoes Christmas Day! We keep it Christmas low key. Neither of us wanted a huge dinner, my usual request is just roast potatoes and a salad. As I don’t usually have much cooked food, even those potatoes alone sent me into a little bit of a food coma.

Christmas Eve after the gym, it was a quick run around the zoo before they closed. New residents were out, Cago Tios or sh*t logs (tio in Catalan’s log, not uncle/guy like in Spanish). Catalans have this thing on Christmas Eve where kids beat the log with a stick and out pop sweets. Leading up to Christmas supermarkets are filled with sweets which you feed the log daily from 8th December until the 23rd. Then come Christmas Eve when they beat sh*t sweets the out of it. Don’t believe me, read it here. I think this guy enjoys it.

I’ve never seen any of the pelican’s in the water before. They usually sit, sleep or groom. Maybe it was Christmas Eve magic, but this guy was out swimming.

Christmas Day after stockings and presents, it was off for a run with run up wall climbs/scales, run along the beaches, jumping sea rocks, me attempting to low side jump over a fence (I’m sure I provided lots of giggles) and the kids slide throwing me out on my bum. The kids when they land have kicked the sand up into bank, which is fun if you’re a kid. The slide threw me out and I landed smack just before the sand bank hitting the concrete which I though was covered in sand. My first reaction was to cry, but then I can’t cry as I’m a adult and that left laughter. I somehow landed on my tail bone and left cheek. I can run, cycle, sit, plank, lunge, I just can’t for a few days balance on my bum and squats hurt a little. 

After late lunch, it was off the the movies! The cinemas are open here all year round and I’ve been wanting to see Stars Wars The Force Awakens ever since I knew it was coming out. I can’t wait until May next year to see the next one and I’m in love with BB-8! It’s great that a female’s taking the lead role and for once a British actor isn’t the baddy. The 26th is a holiday throughout most of Europe. Unlike the UK where the Boxing Day Sales start (what Brits call the 26th and the sales don’t start here until after Kings Day in January) here’s like Sunday, everywhere closed aside from tourists shops, cinemas, the zoo etc. 2 days of Sundays. Saturday I continued my KonMari decluttering, a Tone It Up workout as I couldn’t face burpees, squats or one of my workouts after the slide incident. To get out the house, we went for a bike ride to the W hotel and the plan, vegan pizza (aka no cheese). The pizza place was shut, so we walked to the chip shop in Barceloneta. I could just manage the small portion!

Sunday, I wrapped up warm for a run. Winters here are kinda mild, but there are days even when there’s not a cloud in the sky and sunny, it gets cold cold. I don’t usually run in long length leggings but I was grateful I wore them Sunday along with a fleecy headband. The wind had a bite. I stopped half way to play on the monkey bars and redeemed myself from the attempted side jumps with muscles ups. I still can only pull myself up the the bar chin height. The ones higher than me, forget it! Thanks to the slide incident coming back was a walk/run. It has to get better by New Years Eve as I’m running the Cursa de Nassos, a 10km night run!

Don’t tell me if you’re alone in a lift with a mirror you don’t pull faces. Or maybe I’m practicing face yoga. 

Anyways, the shops are now open. 5 days without looking being able to go modern day hunting is a long time. I don’t have to buy anything, somedays I just like to look and I can go a few days without visiting the shops, but 5!

If you celebrate Christmas I hope you had a great Christmas! Have a great week!