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This is a lovely idea.
It’s going to be a
novel way to start a conversation, keep it going, hear news and updates, and
through a friend’s eyes, see a film, read a new book, or try out a recipe, and
connect in a different way – a more meaningful way - than
email or facebook. It means we can see the world through one another’s eyes
every now and again. We can dip in or out; reading about friends’ lives in
London, or on the road, wherever they happen to be. I am glad that we thought
of it together, in an East London café on a sunny Sunday in early April of
2013. I’m especially glad for the
chance to stay connected in a new way, because soon the luxury of hopping on
the tube and meeting up with friends for coffee and cake will be absent from my
life.
That’s because this
June, in my 31st year, I’m finally taking the leap of faith that I
have wanted to since I was 17, and moving to Barcelona with my partner, E – a city
I fell in love with even before we met; strangely enough, a city that my
girlfriends took me to when I was getting over the breakup of the relationship
that ended before E and I got together.
He has always loved
Spain, and starting learning Spanish long before I did. On subsequent visits
together, we did what everyone does in a city like Barcelona - we immediately
imagined ourselves in a top-floor flat in the Barrio Gotico, looking out over
the city’s pink rooftops, the sea air ruffling our hair. We could see ourselves
eating tapas, suntanned and relaxed, shopping in the Mercat Santa Caterina, feeling
plump tomatoes and sampling juicy olives. We stayed with some friends of
friends who were sub-letting studio apartments to tourists using airbnb, a site
we had no prior experience with, but have since grown to love and become
passionate advocates of. We asked them how they enjoyed living there, and how
their business was going. They told us that it had been the best decision of
their lives. They had 95% occupancy in their 3 apartments year-round. They were
doing well. And they said they thought anyone could do the same.
And like that, over a
couple of bottles of Estrella Damm in the sunshine in August, it was decided.
We were going to give it a go. Work-wise, we had to try to sort out other
sources of income, because we know we’re not cut out to run a small empire of
sublet apartments (it’s highly illegal, by the way). But then we thought: fuck
it. Why not have at least a room that guests can stay in? Barcelona is a city
that captivates all who visit her. It should be a good way to cover our costs
and meet an assortment of interesting visitors. We’ve decided to try it out now
because it feels like the right time for adventure, before we are tied to a
city with a mortgage, or kids, or both. Right now, we can still choose.
The concept is to try
out a few new things; namely, being self-employed, growing a new business,
adapting to a different city and learning how to exist in a place other than
London, and most crucially, moving towards some semblance of fluency in another
language. It’s either going to be the best thing we ever do, or the most
stupid. It means giving up full-time jobs, despite my mother’s worries and
continual questions about how we’ll survive, given the current state of the
Spanish economy. It means packing up our belongings, items that we have
accumulated over the past four years; saved up for, even, and putting some up
for sale, putting some in parents’ lofts, and throwing many away. It means
we’ve been saving up and trying to live frugally, which in London is night-on
impossible, but we’ve certainly been making a concerted effort to make packed
lunches everyday, and deny ourselves the usual fripperies – coffees, magazines,
takeaways; that expensive showergel has been used up; the Lovefilm subscription cancelled.
And it’s been good. It
feels like we’re streamlining, picking away layers of needless expenditure,
making things count more, last more, last longer. I’m actually enjoying eating
up old tins of things in our food cupboard. Even if it does look like only
quinoa, lentils, and risotto will be on the menu for the final few weeks.
Actually – and this is a dark secret - I’ve always had a hankering to try to
get my possessions down to a suitcase and a potted plant, à la Jean Reno in Léon. This is sadly impossible in
reality as I struggle daily with a bona-fide addiction to buying shoes, and
have a pathological aversion to throwing away old magazines and newspapers from
momentous events - I still have a Newsweek
from Obama’s first election victory.
It’s the same with books.
As we packed up our
possessions last week, I realised that between us we have a shitload of them. We must have had at least 300 or 400 of the little buggers in our small flat. It’s been a busy few months and I’ve been
reading less than I ought to, so in the last few weeks I’ve been playing
catch-up, reading things that have been on the ‘to read’ shelf for years and I
have been meaning to get around to opening. This is a crucial activity, as I
need to know whether they will come with me on the journey.
Books that I love are
like old friends to me and can never be thrown away. They sit on shelves
gathering dust, occasionally opened to flirt with a favourite chapter, or
passage, sometimes re-read on holiday, when they are usually left open and
face-down, spine cracked, splashed with water from the pool or gathering fine
grains of sand in between the pages. The best ones, the most loved ones, have
faded in the sunlight and if you hold them in your hand, they open slowly to reveal
the most well-thumbed pages. They smell reassuringly, comfortingly old. They
are the ones that will never leave my bookshelves.
I just finished the
last book on the ‘to read’ shelf.
It’s called Almost French and
tells the story of an Australian writer coming to live with a Frenchman in
Paris. She struggles with the move, to fit in, and to understand French
society. The story itself is nothing special; it won’t make the cut and won’t
join the beloved pile of faded, faithful old friends. But the final sentence in
it struck a chord. It made me hopeful, and excited, and strengthened my resolve
to keep searching for adventure.
I am happy I finally
found an excuse to work my way through that shelf of unread books. Let no stone
remained unturned, I say. I’ll just keep reading.
This post was originally written for Five Violets, re-posted here for your reading pleasure!
