One of the Barcelona Christmas attractions was situated beside the marina and consisted of many more food and drink stands, plus attractions such as a large Ferris Wheel, which can be seen in both of today’s photos. There was a circus too, but I’ll post a picture of that on another day.
It’s been a somewhat sad day today. It was the last day for most of the people impacted by the wave of compulsory redundancies that hit our team after Christmas. There are still a couple of people here until the end of March, but I had to say goodbye to the others. I’m still in contact with most of them on social media, but it’s not the same as being able to reach out to them as part of the team.
I’m sure they will go on to better and brighter things, and I wish them every success, but I’m gonna miss them.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
My wife and I took a trip to Barcelona the weekend before Christmas. The main reason for the visit was to go see the festive markets, although this actually didn’t take up much of the three nights we were there.
The markets were nice enough, and importantly, different to those that we tend to get in the UK so there was some novelty in seeing different types of stalls. This being said, there was a lot of duplication in the stall types in the Barcelona Christmas Markets, with there being a lot of repetition of decorations, miniature nativity figurines and dioramas, and El Caganer figures.
The latter were something I’d not experienced before. El Caganer is roughly translated into English as “The Pooper” and is a peasant figure in traditional dress squatting down to poop (with a significant deposit made!). In Spanish Nativity scenes (which can be large dioramas depicting entire towns, rather than just the stable scene), the figure is positioned somewhere out of the way to be discovered (I expect it might be frowned upon to place him beside the manger…). While the original figure wears traditional garb, the tradition has also evolved to take account of the multitude of celebrities and mascots we have in modern times, and you can find pooping figures in the guise of almost anyone: pop stars, movie characters, videogame figures, royalty, politicians – including one stall which had a crapping Donald Trump complete with a bleeding ear from the assassination attempt! – and more. The range was certainly considerable and diverse!
Today’s picture is of a Caganer stall at one of Barcelona’s Christmas Markets.
Something good that happened today…
I think I might rest this section of my daily blog. Not because it’s a bad idea – I fully intend to keep recognising the good things in my life – which is a good thing to do. But I’m considerate of the fact that sometimes they can maybe feel a little trivial to post about, so I think I’ll save these bits for when the “something good” is a bit more notable than my having eaten a nice pastie for lunch or something.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I’ve noticed that the numbers of people still wearing masks has declined in the months since it ceased to be compulsory and instead became a recommendation in England. There are still plenty of them about, moreso in shops and other indoor spaces, but there’s a definite reduction. I still tend to wear mine when indoors (not at home, obviously) but have found myself forgetting more frequently of late. Previously the fact that the majority of the people around me were wearing them would act as a reminder and I’d quicky don my own, but with fewer to be seen it can be easier to forget, especially if I’ve been going in and out of various shops, continually putting my mask on and taking it back off again.
Forgetting my mask Is becoming more common As rules are withdrawn
Steel City Snapper photography 