Last year Phil played in the August Pontevedra chess tournament and we got to know Daniel at that point. He organises chess training camps where young chess players sleep in dormitories on the site of the tournament and after a week's preparation, take part. After that his youngsters usually then go off and do a similar thing in Extremadura. Amazing!
So we discussed the idea of some of Phil's young chess players coming along and taking part, with the idea that later a group of young Spaniards will go back to England on a return visit. We already have a small group with flights booked, looking forward to poolside post match analysis. The date of the return visit is a bit problematical, however. Spanish schools do not like their pupils to go off on visits, even educational visits, in term time.
Immediately after the English trip to Galicia is no good as the Spaniards go off to play chess in Extremadura. Early September would suit them as Spanish school does not start until mid-September but, of course, most UK schools start up at the beginning of the month. It's that long summer holiday as opposed to the UK's six weeks. I've had this problem in the past organising college exchanges.
The October half term doesn't work as the Spanish don't have such a thing. Possibly All Saints' Day, 1st November, might be extended to make a long weekend but this year it's a Saturday, so it won't even be a bank holiday. And so our discussion went round in circles but no doubt we'll work something out.
And so we left things in the air for the time being and Phil and I went off a found a menu del día lunch in the centre of Pontevedra: €9.50 each. Not bad. And they had a wifi connection as well. Excellent.
After lunch we explored a new short cut back to the station. This turned out to be a long cut, causing us to miss the earlier train and leading us to spend some time inspecting the "improvements" to the railway station. There's nothing quite like waiting for a train in the middle of a building site. It's to be hoped that the AVE fast train service makes it all worth while when or of it eventually gets organised. There's that building site in Pontevedra station and another one at the former site of the station in Vigo. Both of them seem to involve an awful lot of earth shifting but look far from completion. 
On our way down to the station in Ponters we went past this shop. I wonder why they have a double T in Kensington. Is this supposed to be trendy? Is there some problem with copyright if they spell it with only one T? Or is it just plain ignorance? While we waited for the train in Punters station we found that the wifi connection in the station buffet is less than useless. It pretends you are connected and goes so slowly that you fall asleep waiting to read your email. Consequently, I was reduced to reading paper newspapers.
There I found this bit of campaigning for better driving. This one is reminding drivers to use their indicators. What a novel idea! I am always moaning about drivers who swing round corners without letting you know they plan to do so. 
This is the second of these campaign posters I've come across. The other one was all about "el síndrome del carríl izquierdo" - left lane syndrome. Just as drivers on motorways in the UK have a tendency to move out into the right hand lane, or the middle lane of three, on the motorway and just sit there, forgetting to return to the inside lane, the same thing happens in reverse in Spain.
Someone is getting safety conscious at last.
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