At the airport.

This morning I was back in Portugal meeting my daughter and her children. A brisk walk to the bus station got me onto an early bus and then I had a longish wait at Oporto airport.

Waiting for people to arrive at an airport is a strange experience. I felt like a kind of voyeur watching the other temporary residents of this unreal space. In the café there was a couple having an emotional reunion. A young girl positively bounced for joy at being met by a man who I suppose was her father. Some people ate croissants and pastries with evident delight. Others just looked bored. One small girl got rather fractious but Sa Caneiro is a small airport and there are rarely crowds of squabbling families.

Outside the airport this morning someone had organised a children’s activity area on the grass. There was a bouncy castle, climbing frames, an obstacle course, a climbing wall and a sort of suspension bridge for older youngsters.

Monitors dressed in superhero suits or perhaps elf outfits supervised proceedings. They must have felt rather hot, as well as silly, in their fancy padded outfits.

In one section easels were set up for those who felt creative and a tent was set up at the end of the grass was devoted to Lettura Divertida, presumably intending for someone to read stories to children. A monster size book decorated the entrance but at 11.00 am there were no takers.

The sign at the front indicated that they intended to look after the world but gave no information on who was organising it.

Eventually the arrivals board told me that my family’s plane was due to arrive ahead of schedule: another opportunity for a Ryanair fanfare!! There was time for one more coffee before moving to the barrier to meet and greet my visitors and then hop on the bus back to Vigo.