Page 49 of Hook, Line and Single

‘What have you two got planned for tomorrow?’ I’d asked Brad and Gail as we’d made our way towards the main dining room for dinner.

‘I’m giving Brad a Spanish lesson,’ Gail had told me. ‘He’s got to order our lunch and ask directions without using any made-up words.’

‘I don’t know why she thinks it’s necessary,’ Brad had said to Cameron. ‘I’ve already told her I’m fluent in Spanish.’

‘And we both know that’s totalmierda,’ Gail had countered with a laugh. ‘That’s bullshit to you, honey. Your first proper Spanish word.’

I did knock on the door of Sam’s cabin before we left to get the bus up into Barcelona this morning, but there was no response. I’ve decided to take the optimistic view that she’s somewhere with Robin, rather than worrying that she’s thrown herself overboard. I know she goes all-in when she falls for someone, but I truly don’t believe she’d ever resort to self-harm if a relationship didn’t work out. At least, she’s never shown any signs of it in the past.

‘I know everywhere we’ve visited so far has been amazing,’ I say to Cameron as the bus trundles towards the city centre, ‘but Barcelona is one of the places I’ve been looking forward to the most.’

‘Me too,’ he agrees. ‘Although I think we’ll find a day is nowhere near long enough to see everything.’

‘I’ve got tickets for Parc Güell and the Sagrada Família,’ I tell him. ‘I reckon those two should satisfy even the most ardent Gaudí fan. If we find we haven’t had enough, we could probably just about get a peek at Casa Batlló, but I don’t have tickets for that and we might be needing ice cream by then.’

Cameron smiles. ‘I do like the way your mind works. Just the right blend of culture and snacking.’

‘Absolutely. If I don’t have achurroat some point today, Barcelona will be ruined forever.’

‘I reckon we’ll be able to cross that one off with our morning coffee.’

* * *

As the bus drops us closest to Casa Batlló, we decide to take a quick look at that before the half-hour journey on the public bus up to the park. The heat is already starting to build, and the city is busy, so watching the world go by from the relative comfort of an air conditioned seat proves to be a welcome oasis.

‘Is there anything in this city that wasn’t designed by Gaudí?’ Cameron asks as we pass Casa Milà,another world heritage site.

‘He does seem to have been given free rein,’ I agree, consulting the guidebook. ‘According to this, it all stems from the Modernisme movement at the end of the nineteenth century which, along with bringing back the Catalan language, was one of Catalonia’s attempts to distance itself from Castillian Spain. It’s based on the Art Nouveau school, although I think we can agree they went a bit mad with it.’

‘Public transport is such a good way to see a city, don’t you think?’ he remarks a little while later as we pass through tightly packed shops and apartment blocks. ‘I mean, we could have done the official tour, but this is giving us a real flavour of the place.’

‘Yes. It’s always a bit daunting to try to figure out how it works, but as long as you do your research in advance, it’s usually manageable. I got the idea from this guy my business partner, Jono, was keen on for a while. He works in IT and travels a lot with his job.’

‘Like Brad,’ Cameron interjects with a smile.

‘I’m not sure anyone travels quite like Brad,’ I reply. ‘Anyway, he was explaining how he always tried to use public transport when he went to new places, because you saw much more of the location and people than you did from taxis. I think a lot of his trips were basically airport to office to hotel to airport, and he found that frustrating because, although he’d technically been to Stockholm or wherever, he hadn’t actually seen any of it. So using buses, trains and trams gave him that missing part of the jigsaw, and I thought it was a brilliant idea.’

‘I’m certainly going to be copying it from now on,’ Cameron agrees. ‘Although I’ll have to up my research game.’

‘The internet is your friend,’ I tell him smugly as the bus pulls into our destination. ‘Shall we?’

* * *

By mid-afternoon, the heat is oppressive, but Cameron and I are doggedly plugging on. Having covered a good chunk of the park, we’ve ridden the bus back down into the city centre and, after the obligatory ice cream stop, we’re now heading for the Sagrada Família, our final tourist attraction before we return to the ship and the promise of a long, cold drink by the pool. The pavements around the cathedral are packed, and Cameron takes my hand as we make our way through the crowds. Despite the heat, his hand is dry and his grip is firm, but I’m unable to enjoy the sensation as much as I’d like because we’re jostled several times as we try to get to the entrance and I’m having to concentrate on not losing my footing. Once inside, although it’s still busy, we savour the relative cool as we take in the extraordinary architecture. For the first time on this trip, I’m starting to wish I’d invested in a proper camera, as my elderly iPhone is struggling to do justice to it. Eventually, having seen pretty much all we can, we make our way back to the entrance and step out into the dazzling sunlight.

‘I want to get one decent shot of the exterior,’ I say to Cameron as I let go of his hand, shielding my eyes from the sun with one arm and raising my phone over my head with the other so it’s above the crowds and hopefully has a clear view of the cathedral. I’m just about to press the button to take the picture when I’m almost knocked from my feet as someone cannons into me.

‘Oof, sorry,’ I say automatically as the iPhone slips from my grasp. I glance downwards, hoping it hasn’t smashed as it hit the pavement but, to my surprise, there’s no sign of it.

‘Is everything all right?’ Cameron asks.

‘No. My phone’s disappeared,’ I tell him. ‘I was taking the photo and then this guy bumped into me and I dropped it, but I can’t see it anywhere.’

‘Let me help you look,’ he says, trying to clear some space so we can search, but I already know it’s too late.

‘I think I’ve been robbed,’ I tell him. ‘I bet that guy jostled me on purpose and stole it while I was distracted. Fuck.’

‘OK, don’t panic,’ Cameron says, suddenly sounding every inch the policeman. ‘Does it have tracking?’

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