Another day looking out the window, today we have something very welcome to look at. Rain, not enough yet but it is trying. The only one not excited to see the rain is Lola, she can’t understand why she can’t go out and play. I have tried to explain to her about the nation’s cleanest home completion but she having none of it.

I have a busy day ahead of me. A little data reassigning work, which should numb the brain gently and a good amount of customers to contact. I get the boring bit out the way first before I start on the phone calls. I have said before it’s a great time to be salesman making phone calls. People are stuck in their bubbles and want to talk and I like to talk, so it’s a perfect storm for me. I am not selling too much, but generally there is a fair amount of interest and anyway I like a chat.

My days are getting somewhat settled now. I am still waking up fairly early, I have always been a bit of an early riser. Once I have assessed if Lola has any interest in a walk or not, I have a read of the news. I like to keep abreast on what is happening in the UK as well as here. I still have a lot of friends and family in the UK and first thing in the morning is generally the best time for me to call or message them. After that I will have a little start on my Blog, it sort of evolves as the day goes on; but I normally wake with some sort of idea as to what I am going to write about. Then its work. Jacinda calls lunch break at one, so I have a listen to her for half an hour to find out the nations state of play. Then back to work or my blog depending how productive my morning has been. Today I have been kept busy all day so I am behind on my story telling.

One of my blog followers asked about my Spanish travels and if I had visited Montserrat, well we have and you should to. It truly is a magical place, but not for the faint hearted as you will read. For those that don’t know Montserrat is a mountain top monastery in Catalonia, Spain. Situated atop an unusual rock mountain, it is very popular among Catalans, and Catholic pilgrims who come from far and wide to see the Black Madonna.

Montserrat

Montserrat

We had been told that the only way to get up to Montserrat is via the cable car. It’s not or at least it wasn’t then. You can take the funicular railway or even drive up to the top. But we went for the cable car. A 1930’s cable car that whisks you four and a half thousand feet up the mountain in about five minutes. It promises spectacular views and it doesn’t disappoint, if you can keep your eyes open.

Montserrat Cable Car

Montserrat Cable Car

My girlfriend, not so keen. It had been her idea to come, but this wasn’t the pilgrimage she had been think of. Frightened wouldn’t have even been close to describing how she arrived at the top. Spending the rest of the time we were up there clutching her water bottle and rock wall where she sat with equal and unyielding pressure. I had time to scoot around and see the sights, it was early when we got there but I have been told the queues to see the Black Madonna can be over an hour long at peak times. I was in and out in a few minutes. I have said before I am not a religious guy, but the statue and whole area defiantly had a feel about the place that I couldn’t begin to comprehend to you. We wanted to listen to the midday Salve, a boys’ choir based at the Benedictine abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat and maybe walk around the peaks. But all of this is way off the agenda, all my girlfriend wants to do is leave. This is making her worse, because she knows the only way down is the same way we came up.
I don’t think to this day I have ever mentioned to her the carpark.