London, Springsteen & I

                

         

How can I describe a perfect journey where I enjoyed with music, friends and bloody marys in a few days? Easy… I can tell you step by step my long weekend in London in the first days of July.

All started when my friend Maite and I caught the bus at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and we saw my workmate walking along the street through the window’s vehicle. Amazing! I knew in that moment that it would be a fantastic travel. Why? Because meeting someone in Madrid by chance is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is extremely rare. So It was a signal, I am sure.

The first thing we did was to visit London a little bit. We had been there before, so we concentrated in the North area. Candem market is awesome! I would say it is a colour explosion of cloths, people and weird things. You can find over there all that you can imagine. After some shopping we ate in a New Orleans restaurant with bloody mary and spicy food. In the evening we walked by the center area and bought two tickets for a musical called ‘We will rock you’, which main plot was about a future’s gang fighting for freedom, setting by Queen’s music.

Next day we went to the Boss’ concert, Bruce Springsteen. We ate in a Japanese restaurant in the mall near the stadium where the show would be celebrated. Once the doors were crossed, we had the time of our life. We got the most of the day. We saw four concerts alive, including Springsteen’s, lying on the artificial grass and singing as two crazy girls. No words for it.

Our last day there we spent visiting the center area again, but we found an unexpected gay party because this day was the Gay Pride Day, so we could go for a walk by streets with no cars but a lot of people. After this we caught a bus to see the South area and came back to the hostal. I should confirm that we drunk bloody mary again, just in case you doubt. Finally, we went to the musical, which was terribly good, and then we went out with some English friends. I realized that I could speak English well because they didn’t speak Spanish, ha, ha. Maybe I should go there more than I do.

The day we came back we had breakfast in a beautiful place, bought the newspaper, ate near the hostal, with our trip’s drink, and took the plane to Madrid, not without meet some nice guys in the way, but this… is another interesting story. 

Walk on the Beach (1909)

This oil on canvas painting portrays two women walking on a beach in Valencia.

The focal point of the work is the light. In fact, the author, Joaquín Sorolla, was called the painter of the light because he was able to capture this element in every painting he created.

The two central figures represent his loved wife in the left and his older daughter in the right. Both of them have on a pair of white and sheer dresses, which create a perfect atmosphere of light. The wife wears a wide-brimmed sun hat with a beautiful tulle waving in the wind, and an opened umbrella on her left hand. We appreciate that both objects are playing with the breeze, one of the artist's pursuits. Besides, it is shown us the amazing well-painted shadows of them. Not only the one over the white dress but the dark on her face. The younger woman has a similar position, walking over the sand and against the wind. She carries her hat on the right hand, letting us to be aware of her lost look as she was inmersed within her thoughts.

On the background a piece of clear and peaceful sea comes and goes until the shadows of the women over the sand. However, all we can admire is the portrait of his so much loved wife Clotilde and his daughter María Clotilde bathed by the light and covered by fresh and lively air.

As I said before, Joaquín Sorolla was known by the light on his works. He exhibited on his canvas this play of light and shadows making us fell that we are into the picture.

What would you do if you were rich?

According to the new age, everyone wants to be rich. People only speaks about crisis, being short of money or being unemployed. Even if they live comfortably and work in a good place, they complain about everything. It's fashionable! But... what would they really do if they were wealthy? What would you do in that case?

In my opinion, people would not know what would they do in that case. Everybody dreams about a huge mansion, a luxury car, expensive dinners... whatever, but... they have not exactly thought about what complicated could be having a life like that.

In my case, if I were rich I would set up a charity school where children would have to be worried about nothing. Moreover, I would try not only educate but feed and show them how to get important things in life. However, I am not ready to open a business like this one. I would not know how to start, or what material I would need, or people I would have to meet. So I guess that others could have the same problem. All of us would have to learn how to do the best. Not always easy, by the way. In fact, It is easier to spend money than to keep it.

Talking about other important things in life, I should say that everything that you can get in a free way, is always better. Enjoying a sunset with someone special, reading a good book, learning about yourself, being alone, listening to relax music, playing the guitar (or an instrument)... these are the things that make the life is worth it. It is probably that you have money to burn, but if you not enjoy with the Nature world, with love or firendship, even with your own company, I strongly believe that you will not happy. 

To sum up, I would have no idea about what would I do, I am an inexperienced woman. I suppose I would have to improvise something, but... what would you do if you were in the money?