Last Day on the Job

Today was our last official day. We still have a wrap up meeting and a farewell dinner, but for the most part we are now free to roam the city at our leisure. Perfect timing, as Leah arrives in the morning (almost as if it were planned that way…).

Leah is a dear friend, new to my circle but already an irreplaceable part of my life. She is also the single klutziest person I know – which is saying a lot considering my bestest friend Liz Cobb and I are constantly neck in neck for the title of “Grace.” But Leah can trump us hands down, both for daily activities and past stories of disasters (for which you’ll have to read Leah’s blog, assuming she ever writes one).

This concerns me because pound for pound I have never seen more people roaming the streets with broken wrists, arms, legs, hands, etc. than I have here in Barcelona. There also seem to be a spectacular number of blind people, I saw one guy that had no arms, and also a fair number of folks using those wrist brace crutch thingies (that is in no way meant to be offensive, I just can’t think of what they are called).

Serena seems to think this is due to the skateboarding park in front of the Modern Art Museum (hey, at least they found some use for it because it certainly isn’t drawing in the crowds for its intended purpose), or due to the high risk activities that can be found outside of the city, rock climbing in Montserrat for example. I think it may be due to the uneven pavement, the vast number of stairs, or just the daily obstacles that one encounters in a walking city. Basically, we don’t know for sure.

I don’t know why I bring this up. Possibly because I am tired of writing about preservation topics, and I figure if I’m tired of writing about them then everyone (meaning the three people who I think are actually following this blog) are probably tired of reading about them. Or possibly it’s because today was the last official day, and while Terrassa was neat (industrial buildings, 5th century churches, roman columns, blah blah blah) to me what lurks behind is not nearly as exciting as what looms ahead – the BEACH!

So I guess if Leah does fall down and go boom, at least she’ll have a soft landing in the sand. But that’s not for a few days yet, so in the meantime we’ll just thank the nice people of Spain for having socialized medicine and an on call doctor at our hotel.

It’s just a good idea to plan ahead.