No, I’m not talking about ladyfriends, you sickos… beside, do not believe the wild rumours: every woman I ever met in Europe (save maybe for the most desperately rural areas where sheep and cattle outnumber humans) does attend to her feminine shaving routine at least as much as their non-European counterparts. Maybe even more, if you account for the unfair advantage held naturally by the feminine gent in other parts of the globe.
Ahem, anyway.
Let’s try not to taint such an innocent little entry, adorned by cute-to-puke pictures of softy kitties, with unnecessary reflections on the relation between culture and shaving habits of the modern woman.

You’d guess that being under a beautiful Mediterranean sun, spending my time in my favorite European city, among friends and family, I’d be taking gorgeous pics of some of the countless jewels of zany architecture peppered by Gaudi all over the city… or at least stuff somewhat more original than my mum’s slightly neurotic cat. But to be honest, one of the only moment where I have both time, mood and camera at hand is often the morning, when said cat decides it’s high time for me to stop selfishly sleeping and take a little care of her. Hence this new cat-oriented entry that should by now clearly establish the direction this blog is taking: I’m heading to be the online equivalent of that old lady, taking hundreds of pictures of her cats and disserting endlessly on their eating habits and the cute anthropomorphic interpretations she gives to their most random behaviours.

In the meantime, though, here is a series of pictures I took last Sunday at Barcelona’s Forum 2004.
The Forum’s goal is, according to the leaflet: “Ofereix un espai nou i creatiu per pensar i experimentar sobre els principals conflictes culturals i socials que ha d’afrontar el món en aquest segle XXI” (“Offer a new and creative space to think and experiment on the main cultural and social conflicts that have to be faced by the world in this 21st century”: yea, this is typical sociologico-artsy speak, but it’s more or less a decent sum-up of the loose theme that ran through the whole thing). In effect, three or four major expositions on urban development and culture with dozens of smaller booths and animations spread over a large portion of the eastern littoral of Barcelona.
It felt kinda strange to see a lot of these issues treated with their full political angle in such an official event… not that there’s anything wrong with it, quite the contrary, but I’m no longer used to it, proof that I’ve been staying out of Europe for too long (by the way: need I say what were the natural political conclusions of such reflections on the use of world resources and fair trade?).
So, yea, on a sunny day (which is about 350 days a year in Barcelona), this place is well worth a visit, I think it’s going on until September. And don’t worry if you do not speak a word of Catalàn (or Castillan for that matter): practically all the signs and comments are written in both Catalàn, Castillan (that’s standard Spanish for you non-Spaniard hispanophones), French AND English… yea, beauties of multi-culti Europe…