Has the age of the traditional motor vehicle run its course? Is the hydro-carbon era coming to an end? The amount of vehicles we see travelling around the major roads during our short EU sorties at any given time, would suggest not. Despite what we hear from the political elite. All nations have become ‘beep-beep’ ever dependent.
It’s hard to imagine the emissions effect that over 1.2 billion cars has each and every day. With 500 cities worldwide having populations of over 1million (in 1950 there were just 83) is it any wonder times are hotting up?
We passed by Bilbao and its fascinating Guggenheim Museum a couple of weeks ago. A case of bad timing. Ours and theirs. It’s closed on a Monday. Today is Wednesday. No excuse then.
A twenty minute hike, plus a forty minute metro journey of €1.90 each, ends as we come to surface in the heat and heart of Bilbao. With necks swivelling like a couple of meerkats on the lookout for danger, we go in search of a road sign to tie in with Mr G and his MAPS swivelling triangle. Whoever came up with that one? Is it pointing this way, or that way? Why does it only point the right way, when we’re walking the wrong way? Shade becomes a must, just to see the screen clearly.
The gyratory of Federico Moyúa Plaza is a liquid merry-go-round of traffic. Many of the buses either hybrid, or fully electric, silently float by. A good reason to pay heed of the many equally silent, green light crossings. No one’s left fuming in the fumes. Everyone’s patient. No jay walkers. Its hot, but there is a calm chill in the air. No rush. No push. No fuss. The buses a tribute, perhaps, to having the predominately Qatar owned Iberdrola energy company housed off one of its main arteries.
A huge puppy greets us outside the museum. His flowery overcoat hides his water filled oases.
The whole of the ground floor exhibition rooms are given over to the phenomenal works of ninety-three years old contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama. Her dotty dot creations are quite extraordinary.
Her creative genius lends itself to many mediums . . .
Floor two houses a frustratingly disappointing selection of abstract paintings, by artists who obviously must have been unable to abstract their heads from up their own backsides. We let them remain there, in order to consider a different point of view. Await a new perspective. We turn heel. Can you blame us?
