Flat, Ice Cream, Arsenal

It had to happen sooner or later.  The streets are very narrow here, especially up in the hills where our kids go to school.  So everyone drives up on the curb to park when they drop off and pick up their kids—half the car is up on the curb and the other is in the street.  This leaves enough room for other cars to pass.  But you have to figure that all of that driving up and down on the curb can’t be good for the car.  Today, after I dropped the kids at school, I came out to find my right front tire completely, 100% flat.  I could not drive even 10 feet.    We don’t have RACC—the equivalent of Triple A—here in Spain.  And the car and everything pertaining to it (save filling it with gas once in awhile) is in Alec’s bailiwick, so I had no idea what to do.  I asked the crossing guard at the school, who suggested I call our insurance.  I did, and fortunately we’re covered for this sort of thing.  With at least a half hour to kill and nothing but Your Body Battles a Skinned Knee in the car to read, I closed my eyes and meditated, then went over some old Spanish flash cards I had made a long time ago and found in the glove box.  Eventually the truck showed up and made quick work of changing the tire.  It crossed my mind that this is a skill I should have in my tool kit.  But I’m sure if I took the time to learn, I’d forget it by the time I needed it next.

That took up more of my morning than I had accounted for, so I went to a later yoga class than planned and then logged some hours in my office.  I had it in my head to try an ice cream place that Katherine the Cheese Lady had told me about—the woman who owns it makes the cheese ice cream for La Seu.  Good ice cream is scarce in Barcelona, so I was eager to follow up on this lead.  Lois and I picked up the kids and then drove to Sarria, where we quickly found Tomo II, a thin slice of a shop on Major de Sarria, just up from Foix.   I had dulce de leche and bitter chocolate—very good.  Not as good as the gelato at Bar Pasticceria Costanza in Noto, but very good for Barcelona.  We’ll be back.

Then we popped into Foix, because you can’t walk by Foix without walking in.  Lois just walked back and forth in front of the cases for a long time, looking and looking.  We left with a brioche, one of Foix’s famous panettones, and a chocolate/orange/caramel cake, which we have yet to break into.

Alec scored an elusive ticket for the Barça/Arsenal game, and kids under 7 can go free if they sit on an adult’s lap, so he and Milo are there right now.  They practiced the Barça song before they left so that they could sing it at the end of the game. Barça has just won 3 – 1—playing without Pique and Puyols—and the game is almost over.  Milo is wearing his Victor Valdez jersey and is most definitely over the moon.