A prescribed way of life?

Barcelona - Day 21

To layer or not to layer?

I took the plunge a couple of Saturdays ago to have my haircut here.  It was woefully overdue (5 months since the last cut) and shame on me for having left it so long. 

I've been lucky and nothing disastrous has happened to my hair during pregnancy - in fact it's looked rather good, and unsurprisingly quite long after such a period of neglect.  Keen to keep it long and mindful of advice of never to consider a new hairstyle while expecting, I made sure I was equipped with the vocabulary to request a modest trim ("me cortas los puntos") and off I went to la peluqueria.  There appear to be thousands of hairdressers in Spain - one on every corner - that and pharmacies (more on the nation of hypochondria and self-prescribers another time).

The conversation went something like this...

Hairdresser: "What can I do for you today?"
Me: "Just a trim please"
HD: "But it's all one length and I think you should have it layered"
Me: "I don't want layers, and I definitely don't want it done like the woman who was before me.  Just trim the ends please"
HD: "But it would look much better with layers"
Me: "I don't want layers - it goes curly when it has layers and I've spent about 4 years growing them out"
HD: "Curly is nice - I think you should have layers"
Me: "No thank you - just a trim please"

Guess what?  I now have more layers than a mille-feuille pastry.  I almost screamed as she picked up her scissors and cut off a good 6 inches.  "Que haces con mi pello?" - "What are you doing to my hair?", I demanded.  She just smiled and said it will look much better.  I'm not going there again.  It will take me years to grow out.

Yet when I look at every other woman here in Spain with hair over a certain length, she also has layers.  It's as if all of the hairdressers have received instructions from a central authority that long hair must be layered.  Either that, or the hairdressers only know how to do one style.

Instructions to pee

When I was given my receptacle to deliver the first of my weekly urine samples here in Spain I was a little surprised that it came with instructions.  My experience in the UK in this area has never been great...it doesn't seem to matter how many times you practice, peeing into a small pot to provide a urine sample is inevitably a bit messy.  Coupled with using Wandsworth health centre's toilet to deliver the goods and all the etiquette that comes with using public loos...handbag must not touch the floor, bottom must not touch the seat...I don't think it could be described as pleasant.  But in the UK it was simple.  Show up for your appointment, take a pot, provide a sample, wrap it in tissue paper (I only started doing this when I saw someone else had done it and thought it was quite a considerate thing to do for the nurses), and take your sample in when called to see the midwife.

Here in Spain you are given at least a day in advance: 1 pot, 2 test tubes and 5 instruction points in 2 languages, roughly translated as follows:

1. The sample must be the first flow of the day
2. Use the large pot to catch the urine, being careful to avoid the start and finish of the flow
3. Using the large pot, fill the two test tubes with the urine
4. Firmly close the test tubes
5. Finally, invert the test tubes to check that there is no leakage and that they are well closed.

As for points 1 and 2, at home, any flow will do and as for not catching the start and finish, when your bladder has been crushed to a fraction of its normal size sometimes that's just all there is to catch.

So, I've come to a country where it feels as if some aspects of life are quite prescribed.  My hair must be cut in a certain way and I must pee according to lengthy instructions.  Lordy.