Ryanair fly here. As we sit on the balcony having our evening meal, the occasional harp-tailed plane drones overhead, on its way to Perpignan airport. Typical Ryanair, mind you – they don’t fly from either Belfast or Dublin, so if Irish people like myself want to fly with them, you have to first get to […]
Author Jude Collins
The Catholic Church in Catalonia – still ‘a racket’?
Orwell was dismissive of Churches in general and particularly the Catholic Church in Spain – he said most Catalans agreed with him and considered it ‘a racket’. That was in the 1930s and maybe it was. It certainly sided with Franco and the Fascists. Today we got a glimpse of it when we went to […]
The Catholic Church in Catalonia – still ‘a racket’?
Orwell was dismissive of Churches in general and particularly the Catholic Church in Spain – he said most Catalans agreed with him and considered it ‘a racket’. That was in the 1930s and maybe it was. It certainly sided with Franco and the Fascists. Today we got a glimpse of it when we went to […]
Home thoughts from abroad
One of the keenest and slightly guilty pleasures of doing a house-swap is the chance to check out other people’s homes. When we were in California two summers ago, I was struck by the scale of everything. As Sonoma County homes go our accommodation wasn’t palatial, but it had a scale and edge of luxury […]
Home thoughts from abroad
One of the keenest and slightly guilty pleasures of doing a house-swap is the chance to check out other people’s homes. When we were in California two summers ago, I was struck by the scale of everything. As Sonoma County homes go our accommodation wasn’t palatial, but it had a scale and edge of luxury […]
Say ‘Barcelona’ and you think of…?
Since I’m staying in Catalan country, I’ve started re-reading George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. He’s a writer I’ve always admired, ever since as a slip of a lad I did my MA dissertation on his fiction. He writes with a clarity and honesty that’s irresistible, and Homage to Catalonia is Orwell at his reporting best. […]
Say ‘Barcelona’ and you think of…?
Since I’m staying in Catalan country, I’ve started re-reading George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. He’s a writer I’ve always admired, ever since as a slip of a lad I did my MA dissertation on his fiction. He writes with a clarity and honesty that’s irresistible, and Homage to Catalonia is Orwell at his reporting best. […]
I love my satnav but does she love me?
I’ve just finished reading a novel by Jonathan Coe called ‘The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim’, in which the central character is having a mental breakdown. Among his several symptoms is his attraction to/infatuation with the voice of the woman in his satnav. I don’t think I’m having a mental breakdown (cue a version of […]
I love my satnav but does she love me?
I’ve just finished reading a novel by Jonathan Coe called ‘The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim’, in which the central character is having a mental breakdown. Among his several symptoms is his attraction to/infatuation with the voice of the woman in his satnav. I don’t think I’m having a mental breakdown (cue a version of […]
Psst, Nuala. A word in your shell-like…
I wasn’t at my best this morning, in terms of either physical appeal or mental alertness. That’s because myself and the present Mrs Collins had to get up at 4.00 a.m. in order to catch an Aer Lingus flight to Barcelona, so a French couple I’ve never seen (never spoken to either, although my present […]