It´s either a snake wearing a wig or some alien lifeform, like a crap low-budget remake of Predator. Or a caterpillar, to be exact; the Spanish creepy crawlies never fail to astound.
The thought of this toupeed soon to be butterfly flew into my head because of a very interesting Frenchman I met the other night; not only that, a Parisian too. As expected, he exuded an effortless cool with his ´va va voom´ accent and neatly manicured beard, though it was his unusual analogy of the human race that´s made me ponder his words for several days now.
We are all, according to Charles, ´inherently tuned to work like ze ants´. (Apologies for the appalling French colloquialism, but it really is necessary.)
It was 10:30 p.m. on a crisp evening in Hornillos Del Camino, a small village some distance away now. Lights out was half an hour prior, but we´d accidentally managed to stage a mini rebellion in the corner of the kitchen by staying up with hot chocolate and random chatter; that´s about as rebellious as it gets on a Christian pilgrimage, let´s face it.
As everyone is almost nocturnal in these hostels/albergues as they´re known in sunny Spain, some daft eegits rising at 4 a.m. to start their walking, we had to keep our voices to a harsh whisper. Yet nonetheless, Chaz´s passion was evident.
´You zee, when we club together to work as a teeeem, individuality disappears; POOOOF.´
Don´t be alarmed, he wasn´t shouting an inflammatory homosexual term at me. Rather, he blew some imaginary object out of the crook of his palm and looked around the room mysteriously, eyes wide and mouth half open. At this point, I assumed one of three things:
1. He´s on drugs.
2. He can see dead people/ants.
3. He enjoys bringing a touch of dramatisation to proceedings.
We´ll opt for option 3. But why Charles, I can hear you asking bemusedly, why are pilgrims and the human race in itself like ants?
´When I do zee dishes after deener, you help me. When I run out of water on ze road, another stranger gives me zeir drink. We are achieving something great through small acts of unityyy.´
By this time the hot chocolate was making me woozy so I nodded in agreement till he buggered off. However, a very interesting/deluded/puzzling man.
In other news, the weather forecast for Spain continues as follows: a hurricane of pollen giving me the worst hayfever of my life, and strong spells of ruby red sunburn to the backs of my ears. It looks like I have two lumps of beetroot on each side of my head, so won´t be making that mistake again!
I have nooo idea of what´s going on in the news, asides from Man. Utd signing that Espanola goalie; nice to see the one thing I heard was integral to current global events... Hoping beyond hope that the Queen hasn´t been revealed as an evil fembot operated by a Nazi lizard, and that Essex hasn´t been ravaged by a plague of giant guinea pigs.
Till next time, G x
No comments:
Post a Comment