Letter from Spain #40
Rishi Mondays, Debauchery Parades, Jo Nesbø ... plus TBC notes & research
First things first. The Rishi Sunak fasting experiment went well. Very well. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying it was brilliant.
I’m repeating it tomorrow, Monday, and I have even pencilled the word ‘Rishi’ in my diary on every Monday page for the next few months - except 18 March when I’m visiting family and friends in the UK, and it will be impossible to ‘do a Rishi’ then. Also on Easter Monday, 1 April - which is really another Sunday - Rishi has been moved to Tuesday 2 April. Other than that, it’s ‘Rishi Monday’ all the way. As I wrote last week, despite all the bullshit that he and his party come out with, fasting on Mondays is a good policy.
I think I found it easy enough because I’d recently had some practice doing ‘ayunos’, anyway - which is the Spanish word for making sure you have an empty stomach (never popular in Spain). Back in January, I’d had to fast before a stupidly scheduled mid-afternoon blood test, to check my ability to undergo a planned eye op. I then had to fast again before the eye op itself, scheduled at noon.
So on Monday, I simply pretended that I couldn’t eat or drink because I was due to have blood tests late in the afternoon. Then when Monday evening came, I pretended I was due to have an operation on Tuesday morning, so I still couldn’t eat anything. It’s not the most glamorous way to spend a Monday, but it worked for me.
From midnight on Sunday until 8am on Tuesday (32 hours), I only had black tea and coffee, plus sugar free Aquarius, and I even went to a couple of meetings where I only had black coffee with ice. I felt more alert and energetic than I have for a long time.
A couple of tips if you ever try it:
It doesn’t help to receive WhatsApp messages and photos from good friends, deliberately winding me up with photos of how they’re enjoying a full-English breakfast, brunch or lunch - and you should definitely avoid social media ‘foodporn’ posts by people who regularly Instagram their food at cafés and restaurants.
To be totally honest, I felt okay until after sunset, but then I started to get a serious twinge of wanting to eat or drink something. It also doesn’t help if there are others at home preparing and enjoying an evening meal; the sound of cutlery and crockery, or a bottle being uncorked - the smell of food being cooked. You have to hide from it. You have to shut yourself away. Luckily I could do so - I got more work done - and I also didn’t have to wash up!
I emerged later to watch something on Netflix with them, enjoying my sugar free Aquarius from a wine glass. Once you get past 9pm, there’s no turning back. You might be craving a proper drink or a bite of something, but there’s only three hours to go before you can then sleep for the next 7-8 hours before tomorrow’s make-believe open-heart surgery … or being allowed to have breakfast again. If Rishi can do it, you can do it. It’s the self-discipline that he spoke of. At the end, I felt I’d achieved something new. I’d succeeded. I felt better for it, certainly healthier - hence I’ll be repeating it.
As far as the weight is concerned … well, weighing in on Tuesday morning at 8am, after not eating since midnight on Sunday, I was, believe it or not, 2.5kg less than I had been at the same time on Monday morning.
Some of that has returned, of course, but the starting point - the base line? - should/will be less each week, especially combined with other stuff I’m doing. Eating 14.28% less a week has to have an impact, and I’ve read about many other benefits that the body sees from fasting, too.
Anyway, I will continue with the Rishi plan at least until I can get my weight down to what it needs to be (and maybe longer) - but I’ll try not to bore you with it again.
After a weekend of Six Nations Rugby and the Carnival here, I’m actually looking forward to the Monday detox …
Yes, it’s Carnival time all over Spain right now, supposedly celebrating the last ‘day’ before the commencement of Lent, but the ‘day’ here in Sitges officially started on 8 February and the debauchery continues until 14 February. That’s excluding all the presentations in the weeks building up to it, of the Carnival Queen, and the Rei Carnestoltes, and the children’s Carnival Queen, and all the other ‘vermouth’ events they have for whatever excuse, as well as all the ‘Agrupació de Balls Populars’ …
Yesterday, we had the Carnival’s ‘Bed Race’ in town - hysterical - and I spent the day with friends who were dressed up as bottles of vodka, champagne, tequila, traffic cones and policemen. I don’t want to sound like a humbug, but I avoid dressing up for it all, and I still enjoy it …
This evening, in an hour from now, we’re heading off to watch the main parade, known as the ‘Rua de la Disbauxa’ - ‘Debauchery Parade’. Then they repeat it all again on Tuesday night with the ‘Rua de l’Extermini’ - the ‘Extermination Parade’. With around 50 floats, 2,500 participants and 250,000 people expected in the town … the Sitges Carnival is the second most attended event in Catalonia after the Mobile World Congress.
On 14 February, Ash Wednesday, it all ends with ‘The Death of King Carnestoltes’, who is supposedly judged and condemned to be burned the night before. We then have his burial, also known as the ‘Burial of the Sardine’ … and always with Drag Queen mourners in tow. From Thursday onwards, things might start to get back to normal, but I can’t promise it …
Last Thursday, I was delighted to be invited along to Barcelona City Hall to see the Norwegian author Jo Nesbø receive the Pepe Carvalho Lifetime Achievement Award, as part of the BCNegra Festival. A very talented and nice guy. Of all his great work, I was very influenced by Headhunters - both the book and the film - and it remains on the ‘vision’ blueprint document, among other series and films, that the director we have attached for developing The Barcelona Connection is working on. But more on that in due course … ;)
The Barcelona Connection - Research
My notes on the locations behind The Barcelona Connection will conclude in a couple of weeks, with all the images and research that I carried out for the final chapters in Cadaqués. As I’m currently working on a re-issue of A Load of Bull (planned for this Spring), I might instead start to share a lot of Madrid images that relate to the book - especially as it is being updated with a new introduction and some extra chapters.
In the meantime, most of the action in Chapters 78-87 of The Barcelona Connection takes place around the Passeig Marítim de la Mar Bella, El Poblenou neighbourhood and near to the Port Olímpic. I’m particularly fond of Benjamin squinting ‘into the distance, southwest along the Barcelona coastline, as the sunlight slowly began to drift away’ in Chapter 78 …
The shimmering Mediterranean Sea was now tinged with pink, and the lengthening shadows of giant palm trees deepened into blue and purple along the promenade. The lanterns of beachside bars and restaurants were flickering to life, while the sounds of shrieking kids mingled with guitar music from street performers carried along the seafront …
Here are some random images, courtesy of Barcelona City Council …
Previous links to my research notes are here:
Chapter 66 in Letter from Spain #37 (Séverin and Hendrik)
Chapters 59 and 63 in Letter from Spain #36 (Benjamin visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres).
Chapters 50, 52 and 57 in Letter from Spain #35 (Benjamin on the train to Figueres).
Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #34 (G20 Spouse Party, museum visits and ‘art attacks’).
Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #33 (Picasso Museum).
Chapters 39 and 42 in Letter from Spain #31 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).
Chapter 36 in Letter from Spain #29 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).
Chapter 29 in Letter from Spain #28 (Nîmes to Barcelona and tollgates).
Chapters 28 and 32 in Letter from Spain #27 (Pedralbes and Jaume, the Marquès de Guíxols).
Chapter 26 in Letter from Spain #26 (pijos and Beltrán Gómez de Longoria).
Chapter 25 (again) in Letter from Spain #25 (Benjamin’s thoughts on Púbol, Figueres and Port Lligat-Cadaqués).
Chapter 25 in Letter from Spain #23 (Benjamin and Elena on the Passeig Marítim).
Chapters 22 and 24 in Letter from Spain #22 (Plaça Sant Jaume & Nîmes).
Chapter 21 in Letter from Spain #21 (the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya - MNAC).
Chapter 18 in Letter from Spain #20 (Nîmes).
Chapter 16 in Letter from Spain #19 (Marta Soler visiting the offices of La Vanguardia).
Chapter 15 in Letter from Spain #18 (Sants, Les Corts and the Plaça de la Concòrdia).
Chapter 14 in Letter from Spain #17 (introducing Inspector Vizcaya and Marta Soler).
Chapter 13 in Letter from Spain #16 (the painting - the possible study of The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dalí).
Chapters 10 and 12 in Letter from Spain #15 (Isabel Bosch and Lieutenant Trias).
Chapters 8 and 11 in Letter from Spain #14 (Benjamin at Girona Airport and finding the Marqueses’ home in La Bisbal).
Chapter 7 in Letter from Spain#12 (Séverin and Jürgen).
Chapter 5 in Letter from Spain#11 (Elena in Girona).
Chapters 3-4 in Letter from Spain#9 (Marcos Constantinos in Hampstead, plus Benjamin at the UEA & Stansted).
Chapter 2 in Letter from Spain#8 (the home of the Marqueses de Guíxols, not far from La Bisbal d’Empordà).
Chapter 1 in Letter from Spain#7 (Benjamin waking up at the service station).
The Barcelona Connection - Reviews, News & Events
Links to reviews & articles
A review of The Barcelona Connection by Michael Eaude was published in the October 2023 edition of Catalonia Today.
‘Short, fast-moving scenes and the deft joining of two completely different plots … the novel is not just breathlessly rapid and action-packed, but overflows with humour and satire.’
‘The excellent plotting, the local knowledge, the surreal humour, the political satire and the speed of events … it’s an admirable and very readable crime novel.’
A review of The Barcelona Connection by Dominic Begg was published in La Revista, a publication of the British-Spanish Society.
‘The Barcelona Connection is a fast-moving page-turner with a helter-skelter plot.’
‘The background to this thriller is realistic and familiar to those who know Barcelona well. It’s a world of cynical, ambitious politicians; civil servants promoted via enchufe; friction between Spanish and Catalan investigators; disruptive anti-capitalist activists; bumbling US dignitaries and security guards; the continuing influence of old supporters of Franco; the soulless 21st century, exemplified by apartment hotels seemingly without human staff-members …’
Here’s a link to a review of the book by Eve Schnitzer published by the Spain in English online newspaper.
‘Tim Parfitt very cleverly weaves together two parallel though quite different stories, set against the background of a contemporary Barcelona that is even busier than usual with major international meetings.’
‘Two plot lines interweave, with some highly ironic as well as suspenseful results … this book has a lot to offer the reader, from pure entertainment to solid information and, possibly, a fuller understanding of the complexities of Spain and Catalonia in particular.’
Here’s the link to an article I was asked to write for The Art Newspaper about my research on Salvador Dalí.
You can also click here for the latest reviews on Amazon, as well as on Goodreads and at Barnes & Noble.
The book is available on Amazon or you can also click here to choose where else to order your copy from. It can also be ordered from any bookshop simply by giving the ISBN number: 978-1-7393326-1-7.
You can also click here for the Kindle edition of A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid.
For professional enquiries and foreign rights for The Barcelona Connection, please contact my agent Justyna Rzewuska at the Hanska Literary & Film Agency.