TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

12:32 AM
Posted by jodi rose

so,my first thought is, what kind of bridge would it take to get across a hole of a billions years? something in an alternate dimension perhaps, or sub-atomic, those tricky virtual particles could flicker over it, or maybe we might finally learn the secret of the tesseract. (Madelein L'Engle 'A Wrinke in Time') Since it's also 6-10 billion light years away, I guess a bridge across the void isn't going to be a huge problem in the near future. I loved the scientists explanation of how he stumbled across it using radio astronomy: "One morning I was a little bored, and said, 'why don't I look in the direction of the WMAP cold spot'," says Rudnick.

It's amazing what a slow morning can turn up...

I've taken to wandering through the park at the end of my street - parc de la ciutadella - which has the most magnificent ornate fountain statuary I've ever seen. Bronze horses, venus AND aphrodite, numerous cupids, stone horses, cascading waterfalls of greenery, and the final touch - DRAGONS! Yes, I stumbled across them by surprise on an evening walk last week, and was completely enchanted. Spurting water instead of fire, they lean forward towards the old town, with a sense of grace, intensity and power. Marvelous scaly tails.

The visit to Montserrat last week took Philippa and I to the edge of the vortex - in fact, she almost fell in. There's definitely something going on here. Then I had a fabulous international artstar moment of glamour involving a champagne picnic on the costa brava. Waited for a shiny speedboat or polished skiff to pick me up, but had to go back to the city and get on with life. No running away anymore.

That's right, we're back on track, in business, mojo, and every other cliche you can think of to signify the end of a period of anxious not entirely aimless wandering. Ready to settle down and make some art.
Had a lovely evening upstairs with john and kim, ended with inspiring discussion about making images and had to scribble ideas on a piece of printing paper, so they don't dissolve into the night. All so clear in my mind, let's see how the process of translation goes.

Another trip to the completely insane Encants flea market today, where you have to sift through mountains of polyester to find a gem or two - but all only '1 euro! 1 euro!' So that's the only shopping I'm doing here... not having the budget for shoes or even the sales.

Still, getting used to living with what I actually need - which isn't much - and enjoying the change of scene and company. Time to water the plants, only one has succumbed to the heat in a month. We even survived the electrical fire in the building, but now have no lights on the stairs. Finally have a use for that torch in my mobile phone. That's it's one gizmo, apart from calls and text messages. So retro.

Almost time to be moving on again. A few days now, and back to Berlin. Welcoming the lollyboys home tomorrow, then a lush friday and that's it for this Barcelona sojourn. It's been productive, after all.