Biographical | In the Dark

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Come in, Barcelona…

Posted in Architecture, Barcelona, Biographical, Books with tags Barcelona, Books, Casa Milà, Come In on October 14, 2023 by telescoper

I think I’ve settled in pretty well now. I went for a longish walk this morning and didn’t once have to use Google Maps to find out where I was! It’s a bit cooler today (although still 25°C) so a bit more comfortable walking around. Temperatures are forecast to drop to about 21°C tomorrow, and there’s even a forecast for rain. I might even change out of my shorts!

I’ve been here almost three weeks now, and in my apartment for one. It does feel like I’ve been here longer, actually, but I suppose that’s because so many nice and interesting things have happened.

Anyway, on my way around I dropped in at Come In, a very good English-language bookshop. You can see how good it is by the quality of the books it sells…

It has a very wide range: new books and classics, fiction and non-fiction, and books for children. I suspect quite a few of its sales are to students of English, as well as tourists and migrants such as myself. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re here. The staff are very friendly and helpful too. I bought a couple of items there, of which more anon.

Oh, and I also passed by La Casa Milà, which is quite close to my place of residence…

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Día de la Hispanidad

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Día de la Hispanidad, National Holiday, Spain on October 12, 2023 by telescoper

Today (12th October) is a national holiday in Spain, Hispanic Day (Día de la Hispanidad) or National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España). The date commemorates when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas in 1492, and its colonial overtones make it a bit controversial. I only found out about this holiday yesterday so I had to do a quick dash to the shops last night because the vast majority are closed today (as they are every Sunday, incidentally).

The Department being closed today, I pottered around the apartment this morning. Late on in the morning I heard an unusual amount of beeping of car horns from the street and, when I looked out, there was quite a bit of traffic congestion going. The Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes is a busy main road but usually the traffic keeps moving. Looking more closely I noticed that there was no traffic at all going along the Gran Via and all the congestion was in the orthogonal direction. I surmised that some diversion was in place.

I went out for a walk and established that I was correct. A very large parade was heading towards Plaça de Catalunya a few blocks down and the Gran Via was closed there to allow it to pass. The congestion was caused by cars trying to find alternative routes.

Anyway, I walked down towards Plaça de Catalunya and found the parade. I only caught a small part of it, but it was fun. Lots of different groups from different Latin American countries dressed in colourful traditional costumes were dancing their way through the city. My favourites, from Bolivia, are featured in the last two pictures. They had brought their own brass band along, which made a change from the recorded music accompanying most of the other sections of the parade, and made it feel much more authentic.

Anyway, it is another warm day (27° C) so after walking around for a couple of hours, I beat a retreat to my flat to cool off and have a short siesta. Bona tarda!

Cold Turkey Twitter

Posted in Biographical with tags BlueSky, Mastodon, social media, Twitter, X on October 8, 2023 by telescoper

I’ve seen quite a few articles (such as this one on LinkedIn) by academics lamenting the terminal decline of the website formerly known as Twitter, so I thought I’d add my thoughts. I come to bury Twitter, not to praise it.

I joined Twitter in 2009 or thereabouts. Over the years, I accumulated around 7300 followers. Not an enormous number by any standards, but a reasonable one. I used the platform only partly for academic matters. I found it in turns amusing and annoying. I dealt with the latter aspect largely through liberal use of the block facility. I admit I found the recreational aspect mildly addictive.

In recent times, however, Twitter (or X as we’re now supposed to call it) has turned to shit. Since Elon Musk took over, users are basically silenced unless they pay for a blue tick, the social media equivalent of buying a megaphone for use in a library. The API that allowed me to post there from WordPress was axed, which was an additional pain. Add the constant stream of promoted tweets and other ads to the deluge of unmoderated bigotry, and the result is unbearable.

I deleted my Twitter account completely at the end of August and haven’t looked back. Since I’d spent a lot of time there, a number of friends expressed scepticism that I’d manage to do it cold turkey like that, but it was no problem, and I have no withdrawal symptoms.

I now much prefer Mastodon, where I’ve had an account for about a year. I have just over a thousand followers there, just one seventh of the number I had on Twitter, but much higher levels of engagement. More importantly, it’s far more civilized. I’ve only had to block one person. WordPress has also introduced an autopost to Mastodon, so every blog post I write appears there automatically.

I have also joined BlueSky. This site is still in development and, for the time being, is by invitation only, so is rather quiet. In recent weeks, however, I’ve noticed quite a large number of astronomers arriving there, so it is an interesting place to be. I have some spare invites, actually…

Just say no to Twitter. It’s not worth it.

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Apartament Nou

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Barcelona, Eixample on October 6, 2023 by telescoper

Much to my surprise, my plan for relocating to Barcelona seems to be working out nicely. I booked a hotel initially while I looked around for an apartment for the bulk of my stay. I had a few disappointments with possible properties, and feared I might have to extend the hotel reservation, but then happened to be looking on one of the letting agency websites just as an ideal place in la Dreta de l’Eixample appeared. I got in touch with the agent straight away and had the chance to see the landlord the same day. We did the deal and so I have a place.

I had paid for 12 nights in the hotel (due to check out today), but my apartment was empty yesterday. The landlord was kind enough to allow me to leave some things there yesterday evening, before I returned to the hotel for my last night there. I checked out of the hotel and took the rest of my luggage to the apartment this morning. The apartment is only about 20 minutes away from the hotel, so it was easy to move my stuff.

I did enjoy staying at the hotel -in particular it’s nice not having to get your own breakfast in the mornings – but it would be way to expensive there in the long term. Moreover, I like cooking and one can’t do that in a hotel room. The kitchen in my new place is small but fully equipped. The only problem is that the shelves are bare, for now, and I’ll need to buy quite a lot of ingredients before I can do anything complicated. My plan for the rest of today, therefore, is to cook something simple and relax with a bottle of the local wine to celebrate a mission accomplished.

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The Week in Barcelona

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical on October 1, 2023 by telescoper

The Arc de Triomf which can be loosely translated as “Arc de Triomphe”…

I was doing another tour of Barcelona today in the blazing sunshine, when it suddenly struck me that (a) I’ve been here for a week already and (b) it’s October! It certainly doesn’t feel like a normal October with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature at 27°C.

The tourist crowds were out in force. I always find it quite interesting listening for different languages as I go around. There are a few British and American, and of course Spanish, but the language I’ve come across most often among the tourists is French. That’s not surprising, of course, given the proximity to the border and, e.g., train services to and from France.

A bit of advice for people visiting. Many of the interesting locations (museums and art galleries, for example) are very busy and one can’t just turn up, buy a ticket and go in without a very long wait. The best way to do it is to buy a ticket online with a specific time on it, then you can bypass the queues and go straight in at the appointed hour.

The main that to have struck me while I’ve been here is that the cost of living is so much lower than Ireland. The grocery stores and supermarkets are stocked with a huge range of fresh food at prices much lower than back home. The choice of good quality wines for less than €10 per bottle is astonishing.

Eating in restaurants – even in the touristic areas – is generally inexpensive (although there are of course expensive places). In the area I am living in, every street corner seems to have a place where you can get something to eat and/or drink. I’ve sampled a few in my neighbourhood, and most have been very good indeed. There are, of course, some that aren’t so good.

Actually, I’m eating rather a lot less these days. I have a hearty breakfast but usually skip lunch and often only have a light snack or tapas in the evening. I think the temperature has reduced by appetite (at least for food….). That’s not bad, actually, because I could do with losing a bit of weight.

I’m still in my (very pleasant) hotel but will be moving to an apartment later next week, assuming nothing goes wrong with the contract.

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Gaudí and a Shorts Story

Posted in Architecture, Barcelona, Biographical with tags Antoni Gaudí, Casa Bottla, Sagrada Familia on September 30, 2023 by telescoper

It being a Saturday, and the weather forecast suggesting a temperature of around 30° C, I made an early start this morning to beat the tourist crowds and the heat as I walked around. I managed the latter but not the former. My aim was to visit the famous landmarks associated with architect Antoni Gaudí, the Casa Botlla and the still unfinished Sagrada Familia. Here are some pics I took on the way there and back.

I didn’t actually go in either establishment because of the cost and the crowds. I’m told things will get a bit quieter later in the year so I might try again in November or so. Incidentally, if you’re interested in visiting the Sagrada Familia then be careful as it is quite difficult to get to: there are a lot of roadworks nearby associated with a new tram track so it’s best to walk there than try to get near it by car. It’s also quite expensive to get in – €34, no less. The other church (in the 6th pic) I passed on the way is, I think, this one.

The approach to the Sagrada Familia triggered some memories of my last visit there 30 years ago but the surrounding area has changed quite a bit. The fifth picture, entitled ‘Entrance’, was the best attempt I could make at recapturing an old view:

There is a busy main road now where there was a dirt track back in 1993 and I didn’t want to get run over by bus taking my picture so I couldn’t get close enough to reproduce the angle. Note also that the tower to the left in the old picture now has a new structure in front of it.

Anyway, I had a nice walk around, ending up by the harbour where there was a jazz-and-cocktails event going on but it was getting too hot by then so I went and ate an indoor pizza then retreated to my hotel for a siesta.

Last week, discovering how warm it is here, I decided to buy a new pair of shorts (Bermudas). That turned out to be trickier than expected. Many stores here are selling their autumn range rather than summer gear, but when I tried a nearby El Corte Inglés I found the remnants of the summer short range were on sale at half price. Sadly I was then flummoxed by the sizes and confounded by the lack of a signal so I could check using my phone. When I did find a conversion table from UK to Spanish sizes I found it was wildly inaccurate and had to try on three pairs of increasing size until I found a pair that fit.

Fancy that. Inaccurate information on the internet! Who would have though it?

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Physical Differences

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical, Education with tags Barcelona, ICCUB, Physics on September 26, 2023 by telescoper

Today was my first day in the ICCUB…

I spent quite a lot of this morning trying to get my internet connections to work and trying to sort out an office key, not with 100% success. I am currently in the office of a member of staff who happens to be away today instead of the office I was allocated, and my email address here is not yet activated – probably because I did something wrong in the registration process. I’m hopeful that these minor issues will be resolved tomorrow. Even Eduroam acted up for a while before finally letting me connect. Such is life.

Anyway, my first impression on arriving in the building was of a huge difference in scale in Physics activity here at the University of Barcelona (UB) as compared to Maynooth (and indeed the UK Physics departments I have worked in). That’s not just the size of the building, which the Faculty of Physics shares with the Faculty of Chemistry. Physics and Chemistry also share a building in Maynooth, in fact, so the sharing was not in itself a surprise. The Science Building in Maynooth is very small, however, and it was a bit of a shock seeing how much space there is here compared with Maynooth, and also finding out how easy it is to get lost among the 7 floors. The sense of space is very refreshing, actually, as cramped accommodation is a constant reminder of financial and other constraints.

That’s not the only difference, though. There is enough activity in Physics in the University of Barcelona for it to be an entire Faculty. The UB Faculty of Physics contains Departments, covering the following areas: Electronic & Biomedical Engineering; Quantum Physics & Astrophysics; Condensed Matter Physics, and Applied Physics. It is also home to ICCUB, an interdisciplinary research institute that sits outside the Department structure and some of whose staff are paid from external agencies rather than the University itself.

In Maynooth there is a Faculty of Science and Engineering that covers all disciplines represented in the list above, and more besides. It would amuse my colleagues back in Ireland to see that Electronic Engineering is considered a small subset of Physics in Barcelona, whereas in Maynooth it is a free-standing department which is larger than Physics.

P.S. I just thought I’d mention another difference: that it is very warm here (26° C) so I may need to stop for a beer on the way home…

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La Mercè

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Barcelona, La Mercè on September 25, 2023 by telescoper

So here I am. Today is a public holiday in Barcelona as part of a cultural festival called La Mercè. I knew it was a local rather than a national holiday but I didn’t realize how local it was until yesterday. It’s strictly limited to the City of Barcelona, and not to the surrounding areas. Anyway, the University being shut, I went for a stroll this morning. Most of the shops were closed but other attractions open.

Public transport, especially the Metro, is excellent although I spent most of my time walking. It’s quite warm, but I survived.

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Barcelona Bound!

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical, Maynooth, Rugby with tags Barcelona, Maynooth, Rugby World Cup on September 24, 2023 by telescoper

At long last I’m ready to go. In fact I’m in the lounge at Dublin Airport Terminal 2 with plenty of time before my flight to Barcelona to sample the freebies in the Aer Lingus Business Class lounge. I spent most of the morning packing and sorting things last-minute things out. As always on such occasions I’m certain that I’ve forgotten something but I’m sure I’ll survive.

On the way through the airport I had a chat with a very friendly chap at the Fast Track security channel, about last night’s epic rugby match between South Africa and Ireland. I was fairly confident beforehand that South Africa would prove too strong for Ireland, and that’s the way it looked for the first 15 minutes, but that turned out not to be the case at the end. It’s true that the Springboks had chances to win, missing four kicks, but if you don’t take your chances at this level you can’t complain that you don’t win as a result.

The second half wasn’t pretty to watch but was in its own way very compelling. Ireland looked to have nicked it at 13-8 with a few minutes to go, but they conceded a penalty that led to a line-out close to their own try line. The resulting South African maul gathered ominously and threatened to roll forward, but stern Irish defence somehow held it up and, with the clock past 80 minutes the move faltered. With the Springboks having failed to “use it” it was inevitable that they would “lose it”. The resulting scrum was awarded to Ireland but there was no time to take it and the game was over.

It was a tense affair between two excellent teams and, although it was a low-scoring game, a marvellous piece of sporting theatre (if not for faint hearts). Watching that match was quite a way to spend my last night in Ireland for a while…

Back to the present, it’s a grey afternoon in Dublin with squally showers blowing in. With lectures starting in Maynooth tomorrow, the nights drawing in, and rainy weather on the way, I can’t say I’m sorry to be departing!

Update: my light was on time and I got safely to the hotel in which I’ll be staying until I get a longer-term arrangement sorted out. It’s a nice place and my room is spacious and comfortable. I took a couple of pictures on the flight, the first showing an interesting sunset over the clouds south of Ireland and the second a clear view down over Barcelona as we made our approach.

I was in Row 1 so got out quickly when we landed and the airport wasn’t busy so the only delay was waiting for my checked luggage to arrive. I usually travel only with cabin baggage, but I’m staying a bit too long for that this time!

P.S. Miraculously, I don’t think I have forgotten anything important!

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Week Ending

Posted in Biographical on September 22, 2023 by telescoper

It’s Friday, and the end of my last week in Maynooth for a while. I’m about to go out for farewell drinks, which I hope won’t be too heavy a session as I’m rather tired.

The list of things I had to do before leaving – both domestic and professional – is now down to manageable proportions. I spent today doing some bits and bobs around the house, including hacking down some ivy off the front of the house, and unblocking a gutter and a drain. These were necessary interventions, as the may have caused trouble while I am away.

I also got myself a haircut. At some point I’ll have to get my hair cut in Spain but I’m not sufficiently fluent to be confident of asking what I want doing, so I’ve had a trim here in to delay the need. Something I’ve remarked upon before is that, for a small town, Maynooth has quite a lot of barbers. I have no idea how many there are in Barcelona. Maybe I’ll just take my clippers and do a DIY job, or let it grow like I did during lockdown…

I’m glad I’ll have a house-sitter while I am away, just to keep an eye on things. She dropped off some belongings at my house already. There’s rather a lot and the spare bedroom is small, but she’ll have the run of the rest of the place so it should be OK. I hope she’ll be comfortable.

There’s been a significant amount of Euclid activity to deal with, as well as some OJAp business, but I think most of that will have to wait a few days until I am settled in Barcelona. I leave on Sunday afternoon, 24th September, and only just found out that Monday 25th September is a local public holiday in Barcelona, so it looks like I’ll have a day of enforced relaxation…

Anyway, I’m reliably informed that the weather in Barcelona is set fair at about 25°C while here in Maynooth it’s showery and more like 14°C. Experts say there’s no correlation between cold damp weather and arthritis pain, but it has certainly felt like there is recently. Hopefully the warmer climate will help.

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In the Dark