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I was invited to propose a work for this exhibition that would use only local and recyclable materials. However, it struck me that I myself was not a local material, and I’m quite a heavy lump of material to transport all that way. So instead of flying from Scotland to Girona to install an artwork I donated the carbon emissions of my flight to the people of Girona for the purposes of exhalation. According to some online ‘carbon calculators’ my one way flight to Girona would emit approximately the same amount of CO₂ as a year of breathing for the average person.

With the help of students from the Faculty of Architecture and the exhibition organisers, a meditation space was set up for the duration of the exhibition in  the medieaval closter of San Domenec, with sessions run by local yoga and meditation centres. Visitors were invited to participate in ‘mindfulness of breathing’ meditation, bringing awareness to the breath as it moves out of the body and into the atmosphere.

Her blog has some interesting reflections on the project which:

I mention to colleagues that I’m working on a project in Girona, and they assume I’ll be flying over—it seems to be expected of academics that we clock up airmiles as a token of professional acheivement. When I say I am not going, and that is the point of the exercise, I feel like a crank, or a spoilsport. And on a day like today, when a cold, wet front is blustering in from the west here in Glasgow bringing driving rain and a leaden sky, while Girona basks in spring sunshine, and I could be hanging out there with some new friends, I think I probably am a spoilsport.

Balus em i no goupim bilong me em i pullup long liklik pela snek bilong solwarra

(Literally: My aeroplane (balus)  that can’t fly (no go up) is fullup of little saltwater snakes.)

Aeroplane maintenance is quite a mouthful too. Propellor becomes ‘tingting bilong balus em i go raunraun’. If damaged, this becomes ‘tingting bilong balus em i go raunraun em i buggerup tru’.

All of which is just and excuse to say that we will be adding more to the blog soon, having just about recovered from the journey home. And the photos will be up on Flickr very soon, with a link posted here of course.

It was a hot hot night. Air conditioning not working well and the Romanians wanted the windows shut, so not the best sleep.  Woken 5ish by border guards.

In the morning i managed to chat a bit with the older guy in German.  He’s going to Budapest to work for a month on a ship doing 7 day cruises down the Danube,  I think he said from Budapest to Dachau, but haven’t checked a map yet to see if that makes sense.  He’s then taking 2 weeks holiday. So that’s why the border guards were checking his papers so thoroughly — that very official looking letter he handed them together with their passports must have been in connection with a work permit or the like.

I’m left wondering what the work situation is like in Romania and how many men and women have to make similiar trips for work.  Also what about the teenage lad who can’t be more than 15 — has he come to work too? It felt a bit too nosy to ask.

We part on very friendly terms: “Auf wierdersehen, au revoir, bye bye”

So we are now in Budapest.  It feels so western these days.  I was last here in 1989 and miss the excitement in the air of those times.  Now it’s all H&M and Ikea.  Looking forward to visiting the large covered market tomorrow before heading west, west, and west again.

Room here is lovley and looking forward to a good sleep tonight.

(Please excuse dodgy punctuation– working out thsi Hungarian keyboard is quite challenging)

“No, I can’t give you reservations on the train  Bucharest.  I have only 3 beds and I must sell them.  But you can buy in Thessaloniki.  The Romanians have more — it’s easy”

1.30pm Larissa train station, Athens.  Inernational booking office opens:

“No train to Bucharest”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!”

1.40pm at international booking office, Larissa again, armed with Thomas Cook timetable showing the 23.45 train fom Thessaloniki to Bucharest:

“Train full. No beds.  I have no beds until 4 August.  You can make reservation to Beograd in Thessaloniki”

(But we want to go to Bucharesti, not Beograd!)

20.50 Thessaloniki doemstic ticket office:

“International ticket office opens at 10pm.  Ask there.”

21.50 Thessaloniki international booking office opens, Thessaloniki station:

“You get bed on train.  Just get on train and pay for bed.  Plenty of room.  Bulgarians take money on train, but Romanians don’t do that.  In Romania you have to make reservation.”

So we get a couchette to ourselves with some friendly Germans next door and a very friendly and helpful Bulgarian guard the other side.  The air conditioning works and we’ve croissants in the bag for breakfast.

I’m so proud of Callum who’s been a model of calm throughout all the uncertainty!

The train journey from Athens to Thessaloniki goes down as one of the most stunning ever.  Past Mount Parnassus and then Mount Olympus from where Zeus is sending out dramatic streaks of sunlight from his home tucked up in some of the first clouds we have seen for weeks. A very swanky train and a window facing back down the miles of straight track.

Woken twice by border guards (Greek and then Bulgarian),  Stunnning scenery again from Sofia as we go through a lush river valley with mountains on either side.

We pass field upon field of dropping sunflowers and people working the fields by hand with horse and cart.

One of the train highlights are the “wheeltappers” — people who tap each wheel of the train periodically with a special hammer to make sure that the wheels give the right sort of chime and aren’t damaged.  And the departure board at Bucharest staion was something else…

We’re booked on a couchette tonight to Budapest, so it looks like we will make it home!  But in Romania you have to book at a special railway agency, rather than at the station…

” =)

kkkkkk

“CALLUMULLAC”

1 Tiropita

13 Oranges

7 Bottles of water

4 Large tomatoes

2 Cucumbers

1 Packet of chocolate biscuits

1 Piece of baclava

300g Feta

200g Emmenthal

2 Loaves of bread

Olive oil

1/4 jar Strawberry jam

2 packets “PICK” crackers

3 Croissants

1 packet Sesame snack

”

“CALLUMULLAC”