After my flying visit to the UK, I got back home safely Sunday afternoon after another smooth journey. Once more my thanks to Jim for getting up at 4.45am to get me to the airport.
On the flight over to Malaga I was sat beside Geoff the homeopathic sheep farmer from Devon. He said he found it near impossible to sleep on a plane, but after 20 minutes of stimulating conversation with me, he gave it a bloody good go!
At Malaga the route through to the station doesn’t seem to have changed too much since last December, but unlike last year, when I ended up as part of a group of about a dozen wandering around in circles, I found my way through easily the first time. As ever there was the obligatory group of inept looking brits stood around the ticket machine pressing random buttons – I was obviously in my element.
For once I did make a positive contribution and the first pair of tickets were dispensed to a couple also heading for Córdoba as the train arrived. Fortunately the next few tickets were quickly dispensed and myself and a couple off on a walking holiday just managed to get on before the train departed. It wouldn’t have affected my journey had I missed it, but it did mean that I didn’t need to spend the next 30 minutes exposed to the elements. The rain in Bristol appeared to have followed me all the way to Malaga.
By coincidence, the ticket I bought for the trip to Córdoba placed me next to the couple I met at the ticket machine at the airport. They were a teacher and teaching assistant from Swindon on their way to make arrangements for an exchange trip for their school. Last year I spent the trip to Córdoba chatting to Jonny, who I’m convinced was a Harry Enfield character bought to life – I’ve still got his phone number in case I should ever be passing, but haven’t had the need to call yet.
I had a stroke of luck at Córdoba, just managing to catch the 1pm bus, rather than the 3.30pm departure I had been expecting. We had torrential rain after coming over the hills outside Córdoba, but fortunately the typically Spanish bus driver adjusted his driving style to cope with the dangerous conditions – he accelerated to about to twice the normal speed to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. He must have been quite an inspiration to those other drivers as he appeared from nowhere in their rear view mirrors.
All told I was home a couple of hours earlier than expected.