Sunday, May 05, 2013

Meanwhile, Back In Barcelona...

The Dreaded One and I are going through a bit of a rough patch right now. Just normal, shitty stuff to do with work, uncertainty etc. No worse than anyone else but we have been having sleep issues due to stress etc. We're trying to stay positive but it gets hard sometimes. We haven't felt the urge to go out at all and we have been a little less social than usual. You tend to get like that when things aren't going well and your esteem is taking a bit of a belting. I'm kind of used to the low self esteem thing but it's shaken me a little to see The Dreaded One go through it. Very unsettling. But things will work out.

But how is this to restore your feeling of worth -  this photo? A dear, dear friend in Spain took a three day trip to my favourite city, Barcelona. We travelled with these guys on the last trip... in fact both last trips to Europe. But the last one saw us travel for about a month through Spain and Portugal. Interesting times. There were arguments, or rather one big argument. It was a doozy. But we pulled through and overall I look back on that road trip in a good way. We are still friends and I would do it again, knowing what we were in for and maybe with some precautions/agreed rules or whatever. Maybe the argument (in reality, a massive dummy spit on my part) served to clear the air. Maybe we know each other a little better. Certainly the rest of the road trip after that was smoother. Maybe you need these flare ups to strengthen the relationship.

Anyway, our friend Annye made a little cut out Ann & Lee to take with them on their trip to Barcelona. She took pictures of them all through the city - on the beach, by a platter of paella, next to a plate of jamon, me diving into my favourite iced coffee concoction, hovering above the city with Sagrada Familia in the background, all captioned in a very amusing way. Apparently she laughed a lot as she staged the photos, and onlookers also laughed.

It is an hilarious collection of photos. We sat in our home in Melbourne and laughed and giggled over the album. And just behind the laughter, we were both quite moved. This was a lovely, lovely gesture. It was a reminder that although our recent work situations were/are not ideal, when left with the friends we love so much, we seem to do something right. If you can't reach across the world and hug someone when they're feeling down, little cut-out versions of you taken on a road trip have the same effect. Very amusing. Very lovely.

I wish my very close friends were not so far away. But I'm glad I have them in my life at all.


4 comments:

Y said...

Can't view the pictures you linked to but they sound great all the same. Love the story behind them.

Are you guys still looking for work? I could ask round for you if you like. Know a couple of people in Melbourne who might in turn have contacts?

Lee Bemrose said...

The link should work, Yu Ching. Just worked for me.

And thank you. Ann has had three offers today so she is probably sorted. I finish work tomorrow and am looking forward to sleeping in every day this week.

We're looking for work while still searching for Grumpy & The Dreaded One's Little Cafe Of Awesome.

Do you have contacts who can nuke all the jerks in the world? Because that would be nice.

Anonymous said...

Awww, that's lovely.
Cheered me right up, thank you.
Yes, yes yes to friends !

Lee Bemrose said...

Cool huh, Isabelle.