Ten Weeks in Barcelona
Yesterday I suddenly realized that – apart from a couple of short trips elsewhere – I’ve now been in Barcelona for ten weeks. Among other things, that means that in just less than three weeks I’ll be leaving for a Christmas break. The lease on my apartment expires in Friday 22nd December; when I return I’ll be moving into a new place.
Another thing I noticed yesterday was that it was noticeably colder than it has been of late. Between Saturday and Sunday the peak daytime temperature fell by about 7 degrees. That’s not surprising. It is, after all, December and there has been cold weather across Europe – including heavy snow in Germany – but it’s the first time I’ve felt remotely chilly here since I arrived. It’s not actually cold, like in Ireland where it is freezing today.
Unfortunately this little cold-ish snap has caused my arthritis to flare up. It seems to respond to changes in temperature rather than absolute values. I was struggling so much yesterday that I decided I had to do something about it. The drugs I have used in the past are only available on prescription so I had to find a doctor to prescribe them. Fortunately the management company responsible for the apartment I am in has a list of recommended doctors, so first thing this morning I visited one. The consultation was free with my EHIC card. He filled out a prescription and I took it to a pharmacy. Prescription drugs are not free in Spain, but the prices are heavily regulated and you get a discount with an EHIC card. And so it came to pass that I got 60 tablets of Vimovo, which should keep me going for a while, for just less than €15.
This, my 11th week in Barcelona will be quite an unusual one because it contains two public holidays. December 6th (Wednesday) is Constitution Day in Spain (Día de la Constitución) and is a national public holiday. It marks the anniversary of the 1978 Referendum in which the Spanish people approved the current Spanish Constitution. December 8th is the Day of the Immaculate Conception, or Dia de la Inmaculada Concepcion, which is also a public holiday. Only very recently was it explained to me that the person conceived immaculately was the Virgin Mary, and it refers to the fact that she was born without original sin. I myself have plenty of sins, but am not sure how many of them are original.
Anyway, many people here take 7th December off work as a “bridge” between the two official holidays, which means this year a (very) long weekend, lasting from Wednesday 6th to Sunday 10th. The University will be closed on Wednesday and Friday. While it is officially open on Thursday, there are no classes on that day and I don’t think there’ll be many people around. I’ll be working at home for that period, but will have to remember to stock up on things to eat as most shops are closed on public holidays. Most bars and restaurants remain open, though, so I could dine out instead…
In the Dark 
December 5, 2023 at 8:08 am
For the avoidance of doubt, the immaculate conception of Mary is not in the Bible nor can be derived from it.
December 5, 2023 at 8:43 am
Are Mary’s parents mentioned in the Bible?
December 5, 2023 at 11:09 am
One way to reconcile the differing genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 is to suppose that Luke is giving Mary’s genealogy and that Mary’s husband Joseph as “son of Heli” means “son-in-law of Heli”; there is no word for “son-in-law” in ancient Greek. But this is not the only way to reconcile the genealogies. Mary’s mother’s name is nowhere mentioned in the Bible.
In an ‘apocryphal gospel’ obviously written more than a century later (whereas the four gosepls in the New Testament were, it is now believed, compiled by their writers from eye witnesses to whom they spoke), you can find Mary’s parents named as Joachim and Anna. It is worth mentioning that the Hebrew tradition of writing sacred history was based on absolute fidelity because of fear of getting wrong details about an omnipotent God, whereas the Greek tradition freely puts words into people’s mouths according to what the author reckons they should have said. This apocryphal gospel (of ‘James’) reeks of Greek tradition whereas the New Testament writers were all Jews apart perhaps from Luke.
December 5, 2023 at 4:06 pm
To demonstrate my extensive knowledge of the scriptures, a PhD student back in Maynooth, whose thesis was long overdue, finally submitted last week. When he emailed me with the news, I replied ‘Ecclesiastes 7:8’
December 5, 2023 at 7:34 pm
Before I look this up, I suspect it is the verse from Ecclesiastes saying “Of the making of books there is no end” and suggesting that the activity is futile. Ths appears at the start of quite a few books!
December 5, 2023 at 8:04 pm
That’s what all my colleagues thought it was too!
December 5, 2023 at 7:36 pm
Well, I was wrong. That’s Ecclesiastes 12:12, which you might use next time.