Carnivore Chris

So does Lady of Rage. It's classic material that.

A week before I went to Barcelona there had been 3 cases in the whole of Spain, I've come back and there is now well over 1,000. Then you come back to England and BANG there are 100s and that will end up in the 1,000s before long just like has been the case in Germany, France and Spain within the space of a few weeks. Scary shit, but it was inevitable.

I've honestly never felt so welcomed by people before. In the hotel, in the cannabis social club, at Camp Nou, on the streets, I was treat like I was a king or something at times. It's probably with being an Englishman speaking Spanish and being open and friendly. I should have took @nudge's advice 10 years ago when it comes to going away on your own, you end up seeing everything and it offers very different experiences, as it has done on all 3 of my solo trips now. It was fantastic and I must have done like 50 mile walking overall, literally. It's not even an exaggeration. I walked 17 mile on Friday alone. Then on Sunday I probably did the same amount of miles but to another part of the city. It actually felt like I was there much longer than 4 and 1/2 days due to how much I did and saw and the pure amount of people I met, a high majority being latin-americans and people from the USA.

I must have used hand gel and washed my hands with soap like 2,563 times so I might be alright.

It was nice for a stroll mate, was down there yesterday aswell. Today has been warmest day of the trip. The amount of miles I've walked is unreal. I did a good 17 just on Friday. Seen absolutely loads of the city from many parks and gardens, to all the attractions in the city centre, the Castle, the beach, the port, markets, the urban areas, last night's game at Camp Nou, the civil war barracks, everywhere. Been a very different experience as it's only the third time I've gone away on my own and the other 2 times were Amsterdam. I've only used a taxi once, to camp Nou(walked back), not used the metro, only been on a bus once(from the airport) and everything else has been on foot. Some serious walking. Also met some great people, specifically a Venezuelan girl. The non shaking of hands hasn't worked out though as I've shook hands with people from everywhere at some point, USA, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Phillipines....How can you refuse handshakes though? Not easy without looking disrespectful.

Barcelona's fine. There has been 32 cases of coronavirus in Catalunya but all are imported from Italy apparently. Madrid on the other hand is now in double figures. 360 in Spain and like half are in madrid. Hopefully it doesn't get out of hand for them! As I said, everything is as normal here, nobody panicking. It's been an amazing trip so far and this hasn't affected it up to now, fingers crossed it stays that way. The weed is so fucking good. I'm.just in the club I'm a member of now having a fatty after walking like 10 miles today exploring, most of it up hills. @Dr. Gonzo Gona go towards the beach after this. It's a bit windy but like 17 degrees. Been perfect weather to go exploring.

You wouldn't think there had been a recent rise in cases here in Barcelona as everything is just as normal. Liverpool airport and Barcelona airport were both very quiet though!

Spain has gone from 3 last week to 153 today. Catalunya(where I'm going on Thurs) has 17 cases, but none of them so far have been from unknown reasons. All have been to Italy or been very close to someone who has and there has also been no infections there in 24 hours, unless a few more pop up now that I have said that. Madrid seems to be getting it the worst and there are cases popping up there which can't be explained. @Stan was lucky he went when he did as I'd be more wary about going there right now. I'm still going though. 17 cases in 1 region isn't enough to not go. Not to mention, there is as much chance of catching it here anyway. That's not to say I'm not shitting myself a bit now and that I won't be extra cautious, although It's not stopping me from going as you could catch this almost anywhere at this point.

As it stands, 9 cases in Catalunya(73 in total in Spain, 67 in Main-land Spain, with 6 on the Islands), all of which have either come from travelling to Italy(with one travelling to Germany), or a case of someone who had been in contact with them. I wouldn't say that was a cause for concern yet, considering how most of the cases weren't caught there, although there have been 9 cases among the other regions in which the person hasn't travelled to a risk zone or been in contact with anyone who has, so that is a cause for concern. I'm not too worried about catching it, it's the cancellation of flights, etc which is worrying as viruses like this can soon escalate, which creates panic and before you know it, flights are being cancelled all over the place, football games being played behind closed doors, etc.

I wonder if they will allow me to board the plane wearing one of these on Thurs?

Spain's up to about 45 now. " Los 45 positivos por coronavirus confirmados en España en estos momentos se distribuyen de la siguiente manera: 10 en la Comunidad Valenciana, 10 en la Comunidad de Madrid, 8 en Andalucía, 6 en Cataluña, 5 en Canarias, 3 en el País Vasco, 2 en Castilla y León y 1 en Baleares." Edit: In fact, make that 48 now. It's rising quite quickly there now:- "El periodista de TVE Ferrán Garrido informa de tres nuevos casos de coronavirus en la Comunidad Valenciana. Por tanto, el número de contagios activos en España se eleva a 48 personas, diez de ellos confirmados en las últimas horas: tres en la Comunidad Valenciana, tres en Madrid, dos en Cataluña, uno en Baleares y uno en el País Vasco." I can see my trip going wrong somehow, either via there being cancelled flights(if Catalunya becomes infected on a similar scale to parts of Italy, which hopefully won't be the case) or banning public events(i.e football games), something is going to fuck up due to this, I can sense it.

More seem to be popping up in Spain now, especially in Valencia. Hopefully there isn't an outbreak on the level of Italy(which you'd see as being more probable in Spain) and it fucks up my travel plans next week.

Yeah, they play the most negative football in the world, although when you have as little money as them you can't really hold it against them, especially since it's working! They are only a small club and have 2 massive clubs in their city to contend with in Real and Atletico. I've got to say though that Sevilla, Atletico, Valencia & Real Sociedad shouldn't have any excuses in being below them as they are all significantly better sides who need to be more consistent! Sevilla seem to seriously fight for the title but then fade in january and have for a couple of years now. It makes you wonder if, in the next few years, they can go further and actually challenge for a full season.

Or maybe you've just been having too many psychedelic mushrooms lately?

I'm no longer English anyway. I no longer identify as being any particular nationality. If a man can claim to be a woman(or viceversa, which is fine by me of course) or a person can claim to not identify as any gender, then surely that applies to your race or nationality as well?

Honestly, I don't regard dickheads like these as even being real terrorists. Just random wackos. Someone who is serious would have planted a bomb(thank fuck they didn't of course) and would certainly not have been running around with a £2.99 butter knife. This man should be laughed at as he's had an absolute howler here if we're being honest.

lately I've been trying to get my level of Spanish back to what it was a few years back, so I've got to use it whenever I can and talking to @Berserker always used to be a big help. I haven't heard the album yet but I will have to check it out. This is a class song by the way by 3 legends to pay respect to another legend:-

Pues, lo que está claro es que yo hubiera tenido más posibilidades de triunfar en el rap que en el fútbol, a pesar del 'golazo de volea' que marqué el lunes pasado . ¿Hay algún rapper de Argentina que te guste escuchar?

I definitely won't be taking only t-shirts and will take a few sweaters, a jacket and couple of hoodies. I'm not even going to bother with taking shorts either, just jeans as it won't be that hot I wouldn't expect. More your typical early spring weather, although that's how I'm hoping it will be to be honest. I love it when it's sunny but not hot. 15-20 degrees is perfect if you want to go exploring.

No sé exactamente por qué se fue Balón pero hace dos meses me envió un mensaje privado diciendo que estaba harto del foro y que no volvería nunca. Supongo que simplemente no tiene tiempo para entrar en el foro ya que tiene familia y compromisos. Esperemos que algún día regrese, aunque me parece dudoso. Pero bueno... Temazo! @Berserker

I hope they do. Great continent. It's a better continent than England is a country anyway.

Honestly, it just sums up what this country is to be honest. There are far bigger fish to fry. But then this is a country where people think Big Brother and Love Island are great TV programmes. It's a very dumbed down nation of sheep, so it's not really surprising is it.

I had the idea of Hamburg after Barcelona, but since I've been going through like 5/6 years of material lately to get my Spanish back to how it was a few years back(then continue where I left off), I might as well go somewhere else in Spain when I come back. País Vasco does sound like a plan. Bilbao/San Sebastian joint trip. I don't know though, I change my mind all the time. But since France fishing definitely won't be happening this year due to my mate only having his small car now, then I may as well go to other places. Amsterdam with the lads is going to happen at some-point soon as well as we were on about it. On another note, it's 18 degrees in Barcelona today, so the weather should be decent enough when I'm there next month. It certainly should better weather than here atleast anyway.

The Wu-han clan ain't nothing to fuck with.

The symptoms are exactly what I've had in the past few days. I've felt like shit at work. It's just a cold though, made worse by working in cold and wet weather. I get them all the fucking time these days. We have a huge population of Chinese people around here due to the Uni, who will have travelled to and from China recently, but I wouldn't say it should be of any concern yet. There is actually an elderly woman who is from around here and she is currently stuck in China right now where she was visiting her Grandson. It's been on the news as she is stuck out there with only a weeks supply of medication left for a lung infection she has. I actually recognise her face, I'm sure she shops in Booths.