A black crack of noise in the street here, alack, bawled, back.*

It was another incredibly windy day here in Barcelona. Perhaps not as terrible as the wind a while ago that caused walls and buildings to collapse and kill people in the city and across Spain, but something to be reckoned with nonetheless. Spanish buildings just aren’t made for wind, as I write this, the lamp above me is swaying, even though all of our windows are closed…there is enough of a draft coming through somewhere to cause this heavy, ponderous globe to sway. I am afraid to take the elevator on days like this because the wind howls down the shaft, seemingly pushing the already scary old contraption downward. Our hot water heater in the kitchen has an exhaust pipe into which the wind blows and puts out the pilot light, causing gas to fill our kitchen every time I try to use hot water on windy days.

Today, I was walking back from taking the glass out (to the green vidre recycling kiosk), when the wind blew a chunk of soil from one of the planters on the plaza into my eye. I was about to bemoan this fact when I walked into the health food store on the corner and was cheered by taking candy from a stranger. Well, it was a customer purchasing his favorite thing in life, second only to music, eucalyptus and pine lozenges. He offered one to me and the shopkeeper while espousing the merits of Pastora, apparently the daughter of a famous Catalan musician is in this popular band. My eye stopped hurting after that.