Reflexions on ageing

I'm working like mad and I don't have time to think, let alone write this blog!
Not only payed work, although that also counts, but the free, unacknowledged and unpaid job that most women do to keep the home running smoothly and everybody happy.
The fact that my elderly dad is living with us adds a lot more that I expected to my daily chores. He aged a lot in the few month he's been in Argentina and now he really looks elderly.
Age's taking its toll and he's clumsier than ever and a lot more work than he used to be. Not only do I have more laundry or extra dishes to clean but because he's at home almost all day long, there's more tidying up to do, more trips to the supermarket to get food and so on. His present also limit our range of activities as a family because he cannot walk a lot (he walks with a cane and his knees give him a lot of pain) so we have to plan things around him. I also have to help him register with the council, find him a GP and so forth. In theory he can do most things by himself as there's no language problem but with age and physical actual loss of mobility, of hearing and poor vision also came a loss of self confidence and he's less able to do things by himself.
He's also less bothered by appearances and dress appallingly bad. I don't mean that he's not coordinating his colours but that he doesn't see or mind stains on his clothes and things like that. Also his table manners are atrocious and he need to be remained to use the napkin or to stop talking with a full mouth. My son started to use his Grandpa's behaviour on the table as an excuse to eat like a pig himself and I cringe every time we go out to eat with friends because my dad is spilling half his tapas down his chin and on his shirt.
He's also doing that thing old people do when they seem to live of past memories and that the present is somehow boring and colourless compared with their past. He keeps on telling the same stories over and over and when we have company he always talk to much and make up this fantastic and widely exaggerated stories in which he's always the hero. This is not new and this uses to make my mum who was an extremely private and discreet person, cringe. Now it's my turn to cringe when I hear the old stories but with more bombastic details.

(well... now you know where I come from with my own storytelling!! It just run in the family)

"The husband", who truly loves my dad, is very gracious with him and the situation and keep on telling me that I have to recognise that at his grand age of 80-something he's allowed to be clumsy and people don't mind. He said that in fact, my dad is extremely entertaining and make people laugh and wonder with his ability as a storyteller and that the stories are truly great when you hear them for the first time. He adds that people sort of expect old people to be like that and I that it made me cringe because I want my old young and strong dad back.
I think he's mostly right but I cannot help feeling bewildered by this old, weak, clumsy man being the strong, active and resourceful dad that I remember.

It looks as if life make people go around the full circle and in old age they need to be taken care of and protected in a similar way to young kids. Is a biter-sweet feeling to be taken care of my father. On one hand I'm glad he's still with us at all and I love to have him here, but on the other hand... I want to be forever his daughter and don't like to see him going downhill.

In Latin societies old people are expected to live with their families for ever and is considered a sort of betrayal to send your parents away. It's very nice to see whole families strolling down the Ramblas or having an ice cream on a Sunday's afternoon here in Sabadell, that something you don't often see in England. And I'm glad that we can do that with my dad and that P. has a chance to live with his colourful Granddad.
But... I'm also glad that he's gone half of the year!!
After my mum died, we had a family meeting and decided that the best course of action was for my dad to spend half the year in Argentina living at my sister's house, and half a year with me in Spain. As we live in different hemispheres, it's always spring and summer for my lucky dad!
This arrangement with my sister is going totally great as it keeps my dad active and entertained and it's not a huge full time responsibility for neither my sister or me. There's always somebody missing my dad and he's always looking forward to whatever comes next.

Finantial goals

In rich countries today, consumption consists of
people spending money they don’t have to buy goods
they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.
——anon


For the first time since we moved into Spain it looks very likely that I'm going to achieve my goal of earning €1,000 a month. I'm not totally there yet as the true goal is to make €12,000 a year (our mortgage payments) and that will take longer as I'm not going to be earning during the school holidays (july and August here in Spain), thus I still need to make more money on a monthly basis.
This is just my short term goal and not very ambitious as that!! But I'm still happy with it. Part of the secret of happiness surely must be to set one self achievable goals and to enjoy and celebrate our successes.

Until very recently I worked mostly part-time because I wanted to be a mum, to take care of my son and all that. Now he's 10 and I can start thinking of working full time and steeping up the pace of my earning years. Setting new financial goals.
So I started to think how much do I need to earn, what do I want to achieve financially, and all.

I'm not considering myself particularly ambitious and I don't share or even like the need to have it all and the love of trade marks.
Of course, since very early in my life I knew about the concept of "keeping up with the Joneses", as even in the third world there's a need to be richer than and/or to have more or better goods than others. I remember my friends in high school diing to own whatever was fashionable in our little town and sure enough, from time to time I did feel that way too. Not often, I have to say, as I grew up in a relatively affluent middle class family and I did have all my needs covered and most of my wanted.
Now that I've been living in the consumer fuelled Europe for a very long time, I do want more "stuff" and I find myself lusting over things and wishing I could be able to afford to live in a more expensive place, a house by the sea, for instance.
However, I don't think that quality of life is the same as the quantity of things in my life. And I certainly don't want to spend my life working solely to achieve my financial goals, there's much more in life than money and stuff.

However, it's much easy to find and try to get material goals that all other sort of more elusive things that together gave us "quality of life".
For instance, how do you get to know and develop new friendships?
It's much easier to say: I'll try to earn XXX a month or I want to pay the mortgage in 10 years.

Maybe that's one of the reason why people in Europe are so concern with financial success and having all sort of material goods. The problem is that after people achieve their financial goals they're not a bit close to achieve true happiness. So, they increase they wants and kept on thinking that when they finally get the Mercedes car, then they'll be happy.

Now I'm chuffed because I reach one of my goals, but I know that any happiness derived of material goods will be short lived.
There's still so much I want to do!!

Yesterday we met a dear friend who lives in a farm near Bristol. (the one who lives in a fancy farm not in a working farm) He's been a friend for long time and he's visiting Barcelona with his lovely (and very new) girlfriend. It was great to seem them both and we spend a lovely evening chatting and catching up with the news. They look very happy together and as he's been single and lonely for many years, I'm really happy for him.
It's been so nice to be around friends!! That's one single thing that I still need and want in my life.
My dear friends, I do miss you all!!

Pop concerts

I must have been 6 or 7 years old the first time I went to a pop music concert. It was in my home town in Argentina and my mum bought the tickets for herself and a friend but at the last minute something happened and they couldn't go, so she sent me with either my nanny or the maid, I'm not sure who I went with.
(It's not that we were very rich but that in poor countries is quite common for people to have nannies and maids. One is not particularly posh or rich, for instance one never had a butler).
Anyway, I do remember the experience quite vividly, the people, the buzz of expectation and, above all, that the singer/song writer was the most beautiful guy I've ever seen, the music was totally amazing and I was hooked forever. His name is Joan Manuel Serrat and up to this day he continues to write and sing song that never fail to move me or made me smile. It also happened that he's born and bread here in Barcelona and I always hoped that one day I'll have the chance to see him sing again here.
He's really big in the Spanish speaking world and everybody knows at least a few of his songs. The actress Penelope Cruz was named after one of his earlier songs "Penélope". And in my own family, on of my nieces was named Lucía after another song of his.

Now he's just announced that he's starting a new tour in Spain and some Latin American countries together with another singer/writer called Joaquín Sabina, whom we also like a lot. So as soon as I saw the news yesterday on tv I sent "the husband" to buy tickets online.
Everybody had the same idea and the site was almost collapsed by the volume of people trying to get tickets. In fact, the 2 shows schedule for October at the Palau San Jordi, a huge venue in Barcelona
are already sold out. Luckily for us there's also another couple of shows in Catalonia and we've got tickets for the concert at nearby Terraza.
I'm delighted!

Now I don't mind that much the fact that I couldn't find tickets to see The police when they'll be here. They were totally sold out in the first few hours. and I'd love to see them live, they were one of my favourite bands in their time and I stilll fancy Sting!!!

Busy again

Sorry for not writing for a while. I've been terribly busy since my dad arrived but nothing to write home about, really.
I've been showing my dad how the house works, where everything is in and around the flat. He's a darling, but age is taking its toll and everything need to be explained/demonstrated at least twice as he has a tendency to forget it all.
My dad also desperately wants to be useful and he tries to help with the chores around the flat with mixed results. For instance, he's been here for a week and yesterday we needed to go and buy new glasses because he broke them all, not in one go, of course, but every time he wash the dishes or set the table... you get the idea. Now we don't dare walk with bare feet around the kitchen anymore in case he broke yet another glass.
The devil finds work for idle hands, or so they say. So, after a bit of debate with "the husband" I asked my dad to plan and make me a garden in my balcony. I want flowers and foliage plus some vegetables. That will keep him busy and entertained and give us something beautiful that we really miss from the Horfield house.
Well... the guy is 82 years old and I feel lucky to have him!

Work wise things are going well. I've more teaching hours than ever and I'm finally started to get the hang out of it. I'm currently using a couple of books and loads of material that I find on the net. I couldn't live without Internet connexion or without my MP3 player, as I use them every single day, both for work and relax.
I've also bought the books that my friend recommend me on this blog for my absolute beginner and they should be here by the end of the month. (Thanks, Anja!!). In the meantime I'm doing what I can with teaching him the basics. He's more work than all my other students put together, as we have 4 hours a week and we're starting from 0, there's loads of preparation for each class and I always finish them with a ringing headache.
There's a long road ahead for us but now he's really motivated and he's even starting revising some lessons at home with his wife, which helps a lot. Learning a language is all about motivation and practice, so I've got high hopes for him as he's determined to learn.

Last Sunday was a lovely day and we took my dad to the beach in Casteldelfells, just south of Barcelona. It was a sunny day but not too hot, P was the only one brave enough to go swimming on the sea, but he stayed there for 3 hours. We had lunch by the sea, my dad and "the husband" had octopus, P's grilled sardines and I had pinchos, grilled marinated pork in a skewer. Delicious.

It's been raining in almost all of Spain, but here we just had a few showers and the weather is just perfect, not too cold and not too hot. The only downside of Spring is that since last week I'm having terrible hay fever due to all the pollen in the air. I keep on sneezing. There's loads of people with the same problem and no weather report on tv is complete without an "allergy forecast" at the end. They say this is expected to last until mid June. One of my students gave me some of his hay fever medicine and it worked really well so I'm going to ask my doctor for a prescription.
Here people share medicines as if they're sweets. As soon as I sneezed in class my students started a debate about what should I take and they immediately produced some pills for me to try. That happened not just in one class but in all the classes where I did sneeze.
There's a big culture of self medication and despite a big advertise campaign against it from the Heath Ministry, there's no sign of this stopping anytime soon. People often go for advice directly to the chemist instead of a doctor. Even when medication with a prescription is far cheaper than the one you buy without one, people still buy them off the counter if they can. There seems to be more chemists here in Sabadell that wine shops in Bristol!

Well... I'm of to work.
Enjoy Spring!

My dad arrived!

My dad arrived yesterday.
I went to pick him up at the local airport and I arrived very late as it took me 2 hours and a half to make a trip that usually takes not longer that 1 hour, at most! It was rush hour in the morning and the motorway was totally packed. I choose to take the expensive motorway, the one where you pay a toll, thinking that it'll be easier but no. At times we were locked in a standstill and it took for ever.
Luckily my dad didn't mind, but but the time I arrived I've got my knickers in a twist (I do love this very British expression! so graphic!). So, by the time we went to get the car from the parking lot I couldn't find it!! It took me around half an hour until I finally find it!
Then I drove home and everything went fine and I didn't have to cancel any of my classes for the day.
My dad was totally exhausted after such a long trip. It's more or less 12 hours from Buenos Aires to Madrid (an overnight flight) and then he waited in Madrid airport a few hours to flight to Barcelona, All in all, I think it took him more than 20 hours from Buenos Aires to our flat in Sabadell. So as soon as he arrive home he went straight to bed.

It's very nice to have my dad here. We all get along very well and I don't mind him taking over the room were I used to have my desk and things. I'm just glad that he can stay with us and that he's fit enough to enjoy Barcelona.

Rugby encounter's report

P's rugby encounter in Valladolid was a great success.
He really enjoyed the trip, the sleepover (although he sort of complained that the kids were chatting until very late, being an only child he's not used to having anybody else in his room). The kids were kind and they didn't mind Winnie-the-phoo at all and they all got on really well.
He also loved the matches, although he said that he totally hated the referees because they didn't know the rules and kept on stopping him. I was very doubtful about this, to say the least, until his coach told me that P's was actually right because he was playing by the rules, the real game rules but the refs were applying a sort of special rules for children which are slightly different. So P had a point there.
The overall idea is that everything was great fun, and he doesn't mind the fact that most of the kids came home with several bumps and scratches and half of their legs covered in black and blue marks!

Also the coach reported, that P behaved very nicely and that he did fought bravely and kept on running (his weakest point as he gets tired very easily). The poor coach lost his voice completelly after a whole weekend of screaming!

Here's a picture of the whole team. P's not, in fact, the tallest of the team, as he appears to be, is just that some guys are pushing forward for the picture.This was a national encounter but there were only 36 teams from the whole country! There may be a few more but not many, as rugby was until now an almost unknown sport (people keep on confusing it with American football) but apparently now the popularity of the game is on the increase.
The teenagers' team from our club (St. Cugat rugby club) won the first place in their category and came back with the big, shiny cup. Some of the kids are already being earmarked for the national team as they're really good and they are an inspiration for the younger players who all want to follow their steps and being the next big team.

Camping in the Costa Brava!

We're all alone this weekend, as our son went to Valladolid for a rugby tournament and my mother-in-law left for Argentina on Friday evening. We really didn't know what to do with ourselves with all that free time and freedom!
So, on Saturday's noon we decided on a whim to go driving up to the Costa Brava (the bit of coastline between the border with France and the city of Barcelona). What a luxury is to be able to do things just when you wanted and without the hassle of having to convince everybody that going out is fun! Being just the 2 of us it took us around 10 minutes to gather our things and being out of the flat. It's more or less 2 hours drive and we decided to avoid the motorway and enjoy the countryside instead.
We had lunch in a lovely restaurant by the sea and then we thought that it was a good idea to go and check the camping sites around the area as it could be a good idea for the summer.
So, we took our guide and went driving down the coast checking the campsites. There's loads to choose from and they do look very nice indeed.
The first one we visited was closed and there was only a few people working there, getting ti ready for opening next weekend. It looked really nice and a stone trow away from a lovely long and wide sandy beach.
The second one was already opened for the season and it has some caravans and tents and people coming and going. We asked for a brochure and price list and walked inside to get a feeling of it. It looked nice but the tents were far too close to each others, there was no pool, every sign was in German and every planed activity teacher has a German-sounding name. After walking a bit more we realised that everybody were actually from Germany. And, of course, this being a camping favoured by Germans, it was fully booked from July to September.
I've nothing against German people, in fact at least 2 of my readers (and dear friends) are Germans. But I'm sure I'll feel a culture clash if I were to spend my holidays in a German campsite. To start with, everything will be fully booked in advance and I'm not going to be able to do anything!! They're far too organised for me. Plus, we'd be isolated from everybody else by the language. Not fun for P. either.
The third camp was alright. But we just felt in love with the 4d and last one we visited.
Walk with me and imagine this. Gated fence that opens into lovely and manicured gardens, a big office with smiling staff speaking Spanish. A huge bar already open, with tables and chairs in the shadow overlooking not one but 3 swimming pools (one with slides, one for kids, and another one just in case the other are too full). All surrounded by tall trees and the spaces for camping were separated by fully grown hedges offering both shade and privacy. All just in front of a gorgeous long and wide sandy beach (I took this picture form their brochure).
There were already some tourists there, mostly retired-looking people withouth kids, altough they were some around, in tents, caravans and the cabins on the site, but we couldn't figure out where were they from, so we asked the lady in the front desk. She told us that they have visitors mostly from France and the Neetherlands, then some Scandinavians , the UK and some Germans. Not many from Spain or Catalunya. That sounded good, a mix of Western European citizens sound good as most young Europeans do speak English and P.'d be able to talk and find other guys to play with.
This campsite's called L'Amfora and the prices were more than reasonable. Sadly they didn't have any bungalow or mobile home for August, all booked up, but they did have some space for tents, so we booked ours from the first to the 10th of August. We also booked a bungalow for a weekend in June so we can test the place with my dad (who's arriving in 3 days).
The idea is to spend sometime there and to book a bungalow like the one in the picture for next year if we like it. We believe that this is the affordable option in one of the most beautiful places in the Med.

They still do have some bungalows, mobiles homes and flats for rent this year but not for August. So, if you can take holidays before that, well... check it out.

We haven't yet told P. or my dad about this plans for our holidays. I think P.'s going to love, as he adores to swim in the sea and my dad loves to fish, so maybe we could be able to find a spot for him to do so. Let's hope he doesn't fish anything so we can go out to eat tapas!!

Do not kiss mummy!

When do boys start thinking that kissing mummy is daft?
Well... for P. it started last Friday morning and it took me by surprise. In theory I knew that boys do this and i was sort of wondering when and if P. will do this. But, as it usually the case, it took me by surprise when it actually happened.
The morning started nicely and predictably enough as "the husband" woke P.'s up in the morning to take him to the meeting point for his rugby encounter in Valladolid. As soon as P' woke up he moved into my bed when I cuddle him a bit and the we all had breakfast and checked the bags and said all the things that parents say when their kid goes on a trip: do obey your coach, behave yourself, make sure to get a sweater, etc etc We even discussed it if it was a good idea to take his beloved Winnie-the-pooh with him now that he's 10 years-old and children can be cruel with some big guy still needing his Teddy to sleep. No way he was leaving Winnie behind. Fair enough.
Then we drove to the meeting point and as soon as we were out of the car he took his bag and went with the other kids without even looking at me again. I play cool and just talked with the other parents until they were all going into the bus. Then I really wanted to kiss P. goodbye but the I noticed that he wasn't just not looking at me, he was totally avoiding looking at me. Definitely not cool to kiss mummy goodbye.
I took the hint and just say "bye" and wave him out, very cool, even though my instinct and my contrary nature were screaming at me to go there and kiss my baby goodbye, smooth his hair and tell him to wear a sweater at nigh. You know, the usual mothering stuff.

As a mum I've always thought that I've known more or less what to expect but he always surprise me.
Now, he's gone all teenager on me!! My baby is definitely growing up.

I just hope he'll have a great time in Valladolid and I do hope that when he's back he'd still kiss me goodnight every single night!! (at least until he leaves home for college!).

People going

Tomorrow is a complicated day as both Patxi and my mother-in-law are travelling on the same day and, of course, I'm the driver and I'm to take them both and make sure they're on time and everything.
P's going to a rugby tournament in Valladolid, a town near Madrid in the middle of Spain. This is his first trip by himself and I'm more nervous about it than he is, of course, as I see it as a sort of "coming-of age road trip movie" and he sees it as "going away with the guys". He's going for 3 days by bus with 10 other kids from his team and at least 30 other kids from the same club plus the coaches and helpers. It's a 10 hours trip by bus, each way, this being a big country and all and some parents are going too but they're driving.
We wanted to go but I'm working of Friday, plus we think that it'll be good for P to be alone with other kids, he's spending far too much time with adults and very little time with kids. His teacher told us that he's a good student but he's very shy and doesn't play well with other kids at school.
Also my mother-in-law is flying back to Argentina the same day in the evening and we also need to take her and her luggage to the airport.
It's been nice to have her here and this visit went quite nice, giving or taking a few glitches, nothing important really. Of course it's not easy to live with your mom-in-law 24/7 at home but this time she was very polite and didn't criticised (much) my domestic or mothering ways as she used to do before. All in all, it was a good experience and 1 month is just enough.
I also think that she had a good time, but you never really know, I believe that she's just as happy to go back to her own home and ways as I am to go back to my normal life.

Then it'll be nice to have a weekend just for "the husband" and I to catch up with just us. This is a very rare treat indeed and we should plan something special. The problem is that is so rare a treat that I don't know what we could do with that time anymore!

My students

Sorry for not writing, this week was the first one with the new teaching hours and the job takes more time that I expected.
I still spend loads of time preparing my classes. I'm using a couple of books from Cambridge's English as a foreign languages (see picture) and they're very good and they do made my teaching life easier, but still have to go through each lesson to make sure that I understand what's there and that I could answer any grammar or vocabulary question. I know that I don't need to know everything, but I must know the basic grammar for the lesson, at least.
As I was learning English for ages and my first language is Spanish as it's the case for most of my students, I'm sort of know where the problems are likely to arise and which words are going to cause problems, but I still need to refresh my grammar.
So, most of my classes are done with and by the book, but there's a couple of groups that are harder and more time consuming. One is a group of 3 computer geeks, they're a joy to teach as they're language skills are really high and it's a challenge for me to find material for them. Plus they have a wicked sense of humour and the classes are nearly always fun. I use a wide range of different magazines from Vanity Fair to The new scientist or Wired, videos that I find in you-tube, news that I got from the BBC, etc etc. They take turns to read aloud and we discuss new vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar (sometime), idioms and, of course, opinions. For the next class I'll try to find some interview or lecture in a podcast with a transcript, then I'm going to erase some words, phrases, idioms, etc in the page and they're job will be to fill the gaps.
The other challenging class for me, the one that I finish with a screaming headache is with just one student, an absolute beginner. We have 2 two hours lessons a week and my goddess... it's exhausting! I've no book for him and it's hard to think where to start with a totally new and unknown language. I'm seriously considering buying a book for him, even though I have to pay for it myself, I may need to use it in the future with another student. But I cannot find an EFL book for absolute beginners that's not for children!! Please let me know if you know one.
This guy is a new employee in a factory, he's a 43 years-old engineer in charge of all the machines and a team of 7. The company is a multinational with branches and factories all over Europe, even one in Scarborough, where he visit last week and where he learn his first 2 words in English: ok and beer. He's got the job with the understanding that he's going to learn English so he can travel and be able to communicate, exchange information and so on with other people all over Europe and the company is paying me to take him there. He never really needed or even wanted to learn English, he doesn't go to see movies in English with subtitles, only dubbed to Spanish or Catalan, he never liked or even listened to music in English and had no desire whatsoever to learn a new language, he's been told he has to take lessons and that the one and only reason he's doing it.
During our first class, when I was assessing him and where we were, his phone rung half way into the lesson and he answered and started to giggle like a teenager. He then told me that it was a ruse, as he wasn't sure that he was going to like me or the classes, he arranged for one of his guys to call him at that time and provide him with an excuse to leave the class if it was really boring!!
To my credit, he decided to stay and endure the class and I took this a compliment and we had a laugh. I'm still teasing him about it!
However, this is going to be tough and I really don't know how I'm going to do it.

Any ideas for teaching plans, suggestion for what the basic is, beginner's book or whatever personal encouragement for me, please, let me know.

Mother's day

The day started with P jumping on top of me with 2 huge boxes, beautifully wrapped by himself (with a special rectangular-shaped string bow that he made himself that he learned from his book "dangerous book for boys"). I've got a wonderful Swatch watch, very colourful and cheerful, and a wooden jewelery box with a mirror and antique-looking style that I desperately needed to keep all my trinkets safely and tidily. And, the best present: loads of kisses!
Then we've got breakfast with a gorgeous and delicious cake, shaped as a heart (with white chocolate decoration, a marzipan red rose and a caramel twirly thing) that he got from the local pastisseria. Truly yummy. I should have taken a picture of it but it was so good that we couldn't wait to try it and it disappeared in no time! cakes here are so yummy and beautiful, they're little pieces of art.
After breakfast we all went to the castle on top pf Montjuic. There you have the best view of the Barcelona and a lovely pine forest. There was loads of people, mainly tourist as it's one of the must-see places in town. This is a picture of the hill, the Montjuic from afar.
And the next one is a view of the city from the Montjuic.
We also went for lunch to a very fashionable place, the old port part of the city, which now is full of trendy restaurants that double as discos at night. We had lovely Italian food.
It was a good day and my mother-in-law was specially delighted as she had the opportunity to receive a mother's day present and congratulations for the first time in years as we're never in Argentina when is mother's day there.
I did miss my mum, though. But it's good to have good memories of her.

Congratulations to you, all my dear friends who are yummy mummies! Being a mummy is great fun but a lot of work too and it's good to feel appreciated.

Good News

P's got a place in the school which is just around the corner!
It's a great relief as the school is very close from home, literally around the corner from us and that means no commuting for P., less money to spend on transport and school meals and less worries for us all.
Of course this is for the next school year starting in September and it'll mean that we'll have to make some changes to our routine but all in all is an improvement.
Of course this is for year 6, which is the final year in primary school and soon enough we'll have to start thinking about secondary school and what are we going to do. Big problem ahead as we're not even sure what are our real options. However, I think life's like that and you better get used to that, you solve problems only to find that there's more on their way. sight...
It doesn't help that we don't really know if we're going to stay here longer than 3 years anyway... but I cannot afford to think that far ahead, so I live my life as if this was for ever.

Workers of the world!

Congratulations on our day.
I'm going to celebrate the worker's day in the most appropriate manner: doing nothing the whole day long.
Enjo you day!