i do know a couple of catalan words, ratpenats and tancat; the first is a local species of bat, the other the word for closed, which is useful in a city that still has businesses who follow a "siesta" rhythm, closing for 4 hours in the middle of the day. i haven't seen any bats yet but we do have bright green parrots arguing with the prostitutes in the rambla below us every evening.
our equally colourful wee airbnb flat has everything we could need for a month's stay. among other amenities we specified a private terrace and a washing machine, and i've been using these every day. it's hot and sticky here in august (up to 30 degrees C most afternoons) and since i try to walk up the 95 steps to our fifth floor apartment at least once a day, i'm very soon dripping with perspiration. we do actually have a tiny lift up through the old stairwell, though that was barely able to contain the two of us and our luggage when we arrived.
our genial russian host lives in the flat when it is not rented out so there's some cleaning supplies and whatnot already here and i'm helping myself, i'll replace them before we leave. next to the washing machine is a basin of bottles, a quick look and here we are, laundry detergent and fabric conditioner. excellent, in go the smelly socks and sweaty teeshirts, dump a cupful of detergent in the soap drawer, ignore the conditioner, i can't abide my clothes smelling of anything other than me, and, oh oh, why does the detergent have that red triangle thingy denoting burny burny and the word peligro. i know from european intercity trains warning travellers not to lean out of the window what that means, in fact for long enough the only italian i knew was e' pericoloso sporgersi, but i'm getting off track here.
well i now know a new spanish noun, lejía con detergente means bleach with detergent, i suppose the "with" should have given it away. oh well, at least it was chris' shirt.
No comments:
Post a Comment