Wane in Spain
Still in Linares.
I guess getting a ride from here won’t be so quick after all – especially at siesta time. Xin Hui and I are hitching at different exits and she keeps getting offers of rides from dodgy men (or groups of men) who change their minds when they see me.
(Don’t worry, Mrs. Chan, I’m looking after her. I can see her from where I’m standing now.)
An amusing incident: As I was standing by the road next to the exit from the service station with my sign, a large white van with three men pulled up. Blinking, I suddenly remembered where I’d seen them before: on the Portsmouth ferry! They were movers from Witney, Oxfordshire, who had been hired to drive to Gibraltar with a van full of furniture. They’d said they’d have loved to give us a lift but the van was full.
Now they had driven by quite randomly, looking to get a cup of tea on the way back to Oxford. By an amazing coincidence, they were heading by the service station just as we were there! Now that the van was empty they were able to give us a ride, but it was in the wrong direction.
They wished us luck and headed off. Although they couldn’t give us a lift, it was very encouraging and uplifting to see friendly faces again.
At the service station I met a British family who were also headed in the other direction. The father had done some charity work in a similar vein before, so he had plenty of encouraging words for me.
Xin Hui remarked that whoever decides how the dice fall has a sense of humour after all.