Monday 26th December

Did lots today but the 2 highlights were:

Barcelona FC Football Ground (The Nou Camp)

Here is aged ancestor of the female persuasion waiting to come on as a substitute. She says "I would rather be a forward".

And this is me in the post match interview area..."well, you know, it was a game to two halves and at the end of the day, it was a matter of getting the ball into the net..."

The club's history is fascinating. In the 1930's, FC Barcelona was committed to social, political and cultural reform, initiated by the Republican Catalan government.

And Barca (Barcelona FC) now has a motto that it is "more than a club". An example is that the club signed a collaboration agreement with UNICEF (United National International Children's Emergency Fund) in 2006.

For me, there is something spiritual that goes on with football. The singing, the group identity, the collaboration, the striving to be better at something, the minutes silences at the start of some games...and more. OK, there are differences too. But there is a lot in common.

Matthew Fox wrote about this in his book 'The Hidden Spirituality of Men'. That men have been hunters for thousands of years and football is an expression of the hunting instinct. A group of 11 men (similar in size to hunting groups) with a common 'goal'. The hunting instinct is still strong and it needs its natural expression in society so that people (men particularly) can become fully themselves (I would say this is a spiritual quality).

End of rant.



Flameco Dancing

In the evening we went to see some Flameco dancing...

The main idea seemed to be to stomp your feet, have a strained expression on your face and sing like a cat that is being electrocuted.

I do those things all of the time. All I have to do is put my arms above my head and I reakon that I am a fully fledged flameco dancer/singer...

Actually, I did enjoy the passion of the performance and I wondered whether there was Arab influence through the Moors in the music/singing.


Final Note
I am very impressed with Barcelona. A world class football team. Gaudi architecture - particularly the Sagrada Familia. Picasso settled there. Salvador Dalí. The city hosted an Olympics even though it is not a capital city. And more. It seems to me there is breadth and depth to the Catalan culture. I would love to know more about its roots and history and why it has achieved so much in such diverse areas.

Tomorrow is the journey home and so the end of this blog.

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year.