Camino bore: The Movie

Oh wow! I see that I now have TWO followers! Thanks, Em!
Been to see the film 'The Way'. Mmmm. MMMMM. Don't want to spoil it for anyone. What do I think? Well, a good adjective I have heard used of it here is 'clunky', and that fits. But it has many good aspects, and it has given me the chance to become a Camino Bore Supreme Class 1 by being able to say with a sad shake of the head 'They got that wrong, you know! Orisson is between St Jean Pied de Port and Roncesvalles, and NOT somewhere near Pamplona'. This shows that I have ascended a steeeeeeeeeep learning curve from when we set off and I said to D, 'Is Santiago a village?' Of course, the film is 'blister-lite', and seasoned pilgrims will be shaking their heads and boasting about their own, fisherman-style. (This will come in a fuutre episode of the CBB).

Oh, and that bit where they stand on Monte de Gozo and see that view of Santiago cathedral, which isn't actually visible in real life, as it is hidden by some trees that look like a row of Leylandii. Yes, I know: trees are really important. BUT NOT THE ONES OBSCURING SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL FROM THE VIEW OF PILGRIMS WHO'VE WALKED 780 KM OR MORE! OR FOR THAT MATTER THE ONES OBSCURING THE VIEW OF ST PETER'S IN BARTON-ON-HUMBER FROM VIEW FROM THE PORCH OF ST MARY'S! HOW MANY LITTLE TOWNS HAVE TWO MEDIAEVAL CHURCHES??

Oh dear, I'm shouting, and I know that is very naughty. I wish I could say in a low, soft and breathy voice, 'Since I did the camino, I've changed. You know, I'm so much calmer, and I haven't got that dreadful ANGER in me any more.' Sorry folks. I'm even more angry, especially when the health people refused to come out 100 yards and attend to my friend when he felt very ill, and they told me to tell him both to lie down with his feet above his head AND to walk to the medical centre. Yet more shaking of head sadly. I'm still in Ireland, by the way.

So while I have been here I have been learning things. Such as I don't really care very much that the queen has been here this week too. And I do not like Irish news broadcasting; gimme that 5-minute slot on Radio 3 any day, and get back to the music.  (Other ways to know about what goes on in modern life are  http://theweek.com/ and http://www.thetablet.co.uk/ and the Rule of Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html)

And that Seamus is Irish (or Gaelic) for James, as in 'Ospideal Naomh Seamus' where I spent a considerable amount of time yesterday, and without any book to read or crocheting to get on with. It was 'Just Like The Camino', that field-hospital air. But at least an Irishman in a wheelchair gave me a bit of verbal delight when he said to me as I passed on the way to the sandwich machine, 'That's a noice hat you're wearing, now'. And the people running the place were good to my friends, and when I laid my head down to attempt a nap, a smiley nurse out to me to see if I was OK. (Just like the camino).

And I got this idea today for the paper camino while at the film: today I was trying to depict the flower bushes cascading down the 1000 m drop into Molinaseca, lavender and cistus, and I didn't have any good pic of them to work from, so it looked very rubbishy, and then after the film I thought - 'Sprinkle my ashes along the camino!' and so I splurged a lot of pink blobs onto the pic, and it improved it no end. At the film too, there was a slip of paper to fill in to win a free trip to the camino! For two! (Jez! What about it? A walk with Mummy?) And tomorrow I sail back to Engeland - ENGELAND! on the Stenaline HSS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EWg9RnOat8

And today I saw it do a funny twirl in the sea, for no apparent reason! It went round and round in a circle going nowhere for a bit! Just like me!

And then on Saturday I'll be at a gay gay gay gay GAY 'do' in Chelsea which I hope will have me dancing on the table. (Yes, the wine I'm drinking now is Spanish. Riojan.) But first I will be a Good and Sensible Grandma for a night. And in between the champagne-and-Lincolnshire-sausage reception and the evening 'do', I'll be going to the Miro exhibition at Tate Modern:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/joanmiro/default.shtm

and there is this Spanish connection of course:

"Working in Barcelona and Paris, Miró tracked the mood of the Spanish Civil War and the first months of the Second World War in France. Under the political restrictions of Franco's Spain, Miró remained a symbol of international culture, and his grand abstract paintings of the late 1960s and early 1970s became a mark of resistance and integrity in the dying years of the regime."

Gosh! It makes me feel so trivial. I only ever wanted to depict Proverbs 25:11 - 'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver'. You will say I would do well to learn it too.