As on their journey here, they once again had problems with their flight reservations and were unsure whether all of them were getting all the way back to Manchester in one day. Four of them only had boarding cards for the Vigo-Paris leg of the journey and would have to argue the toss with the Air France people at Charles de Gaulle airport. They even considered staying another day but the girl at the check-in desk said they could well have the same problem the next day! The wonders of modern travel arrangements! Maybe I’ll just stick to Ryanair; perhaps they are thinking of charging for the use of the toilets on the plane but I’ve never yet got to the check-in desk to discover they don’t have my name on their computer.
The children in the party were quite oblivious to any of these problems and continued playing chess to the bitter end, even sitting on the floor in Vigo airport. I was most impressed!
I left them at the airport, keeping my fingers crossed that they would all get home in one go and headed for the library. They had phoned me while I was on a bus to Santiago de Compostela earlier in the week to let me know that the book I had reserved was waiting for me. I had been too busy to go and collect it but this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Imagine my frustration when I got there to find this notice on the door.
Yes, the place was closed for several days for de-ratting, de-bugging and general disinfecting! It is a very old building but I have to admit to finding the sign somewhat disconcerting. It is not a sign I have ever seen on libraries in the UK. There the libraries, especially in small places, are more likely to be closed because of cutbacks several days a week.
Another sign that I have never seen in the UK but which is common here in October is the notice in florists’ windows: Se recogen pedidas para Todos los Santos – we are taking order for All Saints’ Day. Traditionally on the 1st of November you visit the family graves, tidy them up and put fresh flowers there. (That is what is going on at the start of Almodóvar’s film Volver.) In the couple of weeks running up to All Saints’ Day the cake shops here sell huesos de santos, marzipan representations of saints’ bones while in Mexico they sell sugar skulls! Remembering your own dead has always been more important in Spanish culture than being scared of the spirits out and about on Hallowe’en.
In recent years, of course, like everywhere, else Spain has been invaded by the American version of Hallowe’en with Trick or Treats. The local Irish bar was advertising a Hallowe’en party: Con cada pinta una terrorizante máscara – free scary mask with every pint. Early yesterday evening the centre of town was full of young people dressed up as witches, werewolves, skeletons, vampires, ghoulies and ghosties. It is significant, however, that the Spanish use the Anglo-Saxon term Hallowe’en. Somehow la víspera de Todos los Santos doesn’t have quite the same impact.
Finally, just after midday today there was a ring at our doorbell. I could hear a lot of giggling before I opened the door so I was not surprised to find a bunch of children, all dressed up as witches, ghosts, vampires and other would-be scary creatures. They held out hats and plastic pumpkins to receive our offerings. Thank goodness I had a bag of toffees available.
It was the local children doing the Trick or Treat rounds of our block of flats, going from floor to floor in the lifts and having the time of their lives. I didn’t have the heart to point out to them that they were almost a whole day late. Perhaps they have misuderstood or then maybe it’s just another example of mañana and the Spanish turning up fashionably late.
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