GOOD FRIDAY - DIVENDRES SANT

Good Friday: Attended the Solemn Liturgy of the Passion and Death of Our Lord at Westminster Abbey.

For those of you brought up Catholic, you will remember that this Mass is the one where the Priest starts the service lying face down on the floor. There is a very long read of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, from when he is betrayed by Judas till he is taken by Joseph of Aritmathea and Nicodemus from the cross to lay down in the tomb. This is a very lengthy gospel read and today this was sung by the Priests and the Choir. This is followed by a Procession and Veneration of the Cross by all attending. Very nice clean and perfect service. Next year will aim to attend in Seville... Easter is big in Andalucía!

Divendres Sant: Hem anat a la Missa de la Passió i Mort de Jesucrist a l´Abadia de Westminster. Per aquells de vosaltres que us heu educat catòlics, us en recordareu que aquesta Missa es la que el capellà la comença estirat de cara a terra. També es fa una lectura de l´evangeli de la Passió des que Jesús és capturat fins a la seva mort a la Creu. Aquesta lectura sol ser molt llarga, i aquí a Westmisnter és tota cantada pel monjos i els nens del cor! També es fa una adoració de la Creu per part de tots el feligresos assistents.

LAKE LUZERN

més fotos-more pics at:

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from david torra's fotos. Make your own badge here.

MOUNT PILATUS

Mount Pilatus is a mountain near Luzern, it is 3200m high and we went up to the peak:
Mount Pialtus es una muntanya aprop de Lucerna, a Suïssa, de 3200m d´alçada. espectacular:

TGV PARIS - LAUSANNE - LUZERN

de Paris a Luzern, Suïssa.

PARÍS

Petit déjeuner a Paris.

Visit with parents 6-MAR to 8-MAR

MUM AND DAD

Hello all, sorry for not updating, whilst mum and dad are home with me I have literally no time, although there´s lots going on! I took them to Paris and Luzern, so update to follow!
Mum actually suggested today that they may as well stay till after Easter, so the house is clean, the shirts are ironed and the boy is fed! xx

P.S. We are approaching visitor 1000... whoever you are, please send a comment!!!
P.D. Ens apropem al visitant 1000, si ets tu, deixa´ns un comentari!!!

sunday morning: MONTSERRAT

Gone back to Barcelona to fetch Mum and Dad. Taken the oportunity to go to Montserrat for a bit of hiking. I love Montserrat. You can see half Catalonia from up there!

One of the steep paths... dad in the pic, not bad for a 65 year old!

saturday night: ETIÉN

Saturday night out with my bro and friends, his girlfriend Ana and sister Montse: the Rubinat sisters!

TO BEARD OR NOT TO BEARD

My friend Lubna and me having coffee together at work. Got a bit of a beard now... comments please!

amb barba o sense barba? comentaris please!

ABU DHABI

Per tornar de Dubai vaig passar per Abu Dhabi, que és un altre dels 7 emirats. El més gran. Però la ciutat no és tan bèstia com Dubai. A la foto el sostre del hall de l´Hotel Emirates Palace, un dels més luxosos del món. Vaig tornar cap a Londres amb ETHIAD, una nova línia aèria dels UAE que és fantàstica! A moltes els agradaria arribar a ser la meitat de bones! A Abu Dhabi vaig conèixer en Amir, que vol dir príncep, noi també sudanès com l´Ali del blog, però que viu a Abu Dhabi.

My return from Dubai was via Abu Dhabi, another oneof the seven Emirates. Amir drove me around to see the sites and took me to see inside the Emirates Palace Hotel... the ceiling pictured above. I flew back on Etihad Airways (which means United in arabic!). Most airliners dream to be at least half as good as them!

DUBAI

Dubai Dubai (golden in english). Dubai is one of the seven United Arab Emirates. Last year I went there and I said I will not be back until the construction work is over... and I think we have construction for years to come! It is a building site with lots of cranes, but when it´s finished is going to be fantastic!

The new buildings are very nice. There are lots of new residential areas which are designed with luxury and life comforts in mind. I wouldn´t mind an apartment or a house in there! Dubai is very open, shops, bars, clubs, alcohol sold everywhere. The clubs are quite dificult to get in to. They run strict club rules which invariably are that you must be with your girlfriend. No singles welcome. So out to the street to find girls on their own and ask them if they fancy being your partner for 2 minutes so you can get in. Mentioning you work for an airline might work too, but showing your airline id gets you in. Another option is to call ahead and try to put your name on a guest list or book a table if its a club-restaurant. Hard work but well worth it!

The are several major building projects: The Palm, The World, The Burj, the all-new train network and the new international airport at Jebel Ali.

The other side of Dubai is Deira, the old town, with the narrow streets and the gold zouk. It is separated by the Dubai Creek, like a river, that you can cross on little boats for 1 Dinhar.

I visited my friend David, and we all were invited to a barbeque at Ahmed´s.

Ragit and Jack were there, and Maria, the teacher, fantastic woman. More pics to follow shortly, possibly through facebook!

-x-

Dubai Dubai. Dubai vol dir daurat en àrab. És un dels 7 emirats que formen els Emirats Àrabs Units. Dubai té la major concentració de grues de tot el món. Tot són projectes en construcció: Palm Islan, illa artificial (foto) i The World, un altre illa artificial feta de petites illes que des del cel es veurà com el mapa del món. El Burj (Torre) que serà la construcció més alta del món un cop sigui acabada. No han anunciat quina alçada tindrà per què no volen que ningú es copiï!

També están construint tota una xarxa ferroviària des de zero i el que serà l´aeroport més gran del món! Dubai, tot i ser musulmà, és un emirat bastant obert, amb bars que venen alcohol, discos, botigues, restaurants... de fet però de moment és un rau de pols i hi fan obres per tot arreu. Ens esperarem una mica a tornar-hi!

BORN GAY OR CHOOSE TO BE GAY

Since I have become a blogger I continuosly check other blogs. I have come accross a blog that has actually made the news,

http://black-gay-arab.blogspot.com/

written by a guy called Ali, from Sudan, a country where homosexuality is not seen with very good eyes. His blog is actually helping gays and lesbians in such countries to be able to open up, express themselves, find out who they really are. Reading Ali´s blog I came accross one of his posts that is really good: just watch the clip below:

Desde que me he convertido en blogger no paro de mirarme otros blogs. Me he encontrado con uno de un chico de Sudan, Ali, que es homosexual en un país muy reprimido. Uno de sus posts es un clip que encuentro interesante:

SERIOUS CLUBBING @ FIRE!

Sat night fever in London/Vauxhall.

Juicy @ FIRE with Zain from KL!

BACK TO REALITY

Hey! It´s all over so back to reality. Back to work.

Nothing better than a pint or two with colleagues after work!

Stuart, Lisa, Mark, Lee, Anne, Simon and me!

Thank you all for a lovely evening at the Windsor Castle in Hounslow Heights! I never would have thought that I would mention Hounslow in my blog!

cerveseta després de la feina amb els companys!

(MO´s=2) :(

WOULD YOU BE MY VALENTINE?

Happy Valentine´s to all.
Feliz dia de San Valentín.

Para aquellos que tienen con quién compartir, que el amor se haga más fuerte.
Y para los que no tenemos con quién compartir, que lo sepamos encontrar!

For those of you who´ve got someone, let Love become stronger.
For those who haven´t, let Love find us!

By the way, today nil MO´s! I was strong and brave enough to drop my phone number to someone. The perfect stranger. The sad thing is that I am now looking at my mobile every minute!

...

...

CHECK THE LINK BELOW/MIREU-VOS EL LINK:



SIDACTION




(BTW today´s MO´s = zero!)

M.O.

An MO is a Missed Opportunity.
Today I account for one MO.
I have come accross this nice guy who works at the "Irish Gates", a pub near where I work.
It is surprising how sometimes you look at someone you haven´t met before and you detect a certain connection.
Name it lust, love, friendship, understanding, admiration...
The fact is that some connection has been detected, eye contact was subtle but there was, and what did I do about it? Nothing. This is an MO. Got lots of MO´s in my life. ( ...and you?)
Now I wish I had taken the opportunity to talk, say something, meet the person.

BARCELONA: CARNAVAL, CALÇOTS i EL PARC DEL GUINARDÓ

Barcelona: Carnaval, "calçots" and the Guinardó Park.


Saturday night was the big carnival party. 700 plus people came to the party. Only a few years ago it was nearly a 100 of us, all friends, organizing this big party and now it has grown to a much-talked carnival party. So much so that the options are either Sitges or us. Guess who was wearing the shoes... I read spanish shoe size 42 on the sole!

Dissabte nit: Gran Carnaval organitzat per les panteres grogues al Palacio del Flamenco. Endevineu qui duia les sabates de la foto... Quin mal de peus!!!

check the forbidden photos @ http://www.panteresgrogues.org/

--------

El senyor Magí cuinant els calçots!

"Calçots" are a sort of a big spring onion. It is a tradition in Catalonia to eat them charcoal grilled dipped in a delicious sauce called "Romesco".You all must try this sometime!

After the excesses of alcohol and food, there is nothing better than a run up the hill to Guinardó Park. The view is well worth it!

I despues de los excesos del fin de semana, nada mejor que una carrerilla a la cima de la colina del Parc del Guinardó. La vista de Barcelona lo vale!

TATTOO

click en el link, pon tu nombre y apellido, y visualizar...
click on the link, add name and surname, and hit visualizar...


Tattoo

dedicado

SE ACABO EL FINDE - THE WEEKEND IS OVER

Este ha sido uno de los pocos fines de semana de los que disfruto sin trabajar, normalmente siempre trabajo en fin de semana o bien me he ido a Barcelona o de viaje por ahí. El viernes, despues de entrevistar gente para un puesto de trabajo (mi primera vez al otro lado de la mesa!) nos fuimos a bailar al Yatch Pier en Temple a una fiesta muy spanish en un barco... de spanish tenia bien poco.. solo la música!
El sábado, a cenar con Carlos e Isabel, recordando los viejos tiempos, 1995, cuando estábamos todos todavía en Barcelona y no teníamos ni email, y el domingo lo mejor: un buen brunch en casa!

This was one of the few weekends that I have off... I am usually working or away on a trip!.
Friday, after conducting job interviews, (my first time on the other side of the table!) we went for a dance to a spanish party on a boat on the Thames... not really very spanish, except for the music!
Saturday was dinner with Carlos and with Isabel... remembering the good times, when back in 1995 we were all still in Barcelona and we didn´t even have e-mail! Mind you, they seem they were good times, but back then, were they? We were always hoping for better times!
and Sunday at its best with a gourgeous healthy brunch!

At work, interviewing with Claire.

View from the top deck. Vista al Támesis desde cubierta...

Sunday Brunch. Mmmm....