LOOKING OUT 2013!

Occasional Comments on the Passing Scene in 2013

Barry and Margaret Williamson

See also: Looking Out 2018,  Looking Out 2017,  Looking Out 2016, 
                    Looking Out 2012,  Looking Out 2011

April 2013 (Portugal, Spain, France, England)

Return Delayed: We had planned to return to England by the middle of April. However (our lives are full of 'howevers'), the weather here in eastern Portugal has become so good – warm spring sunshine, light winds, flower-filled fields, blooming roses, birdsong, blossom on the trees – that we have postponed the possibility of return until the end of the month.

Also, digging back into the history of Portugal (back from the Reconquista, the Moors, the Visigoths, the Romans) we have discovered an amazing number and variety of Neolithic Monuments which demand further investigation!

March 2013 (Spain, Portugal)

Spring in Portugal: If you haven't, please add Portugal to your list of countries to live in for a while. We haven't been here for 13 years and now wonder why not. Spain has its fascination but it is always overlaid with its absurd burst of affluence and over-building, now all abruptly halted in mid-bricklaying, as if at a single whistle blow. As for the British, German, French and Dutch motorhomes and caravans it attracts, too much has been written about this already. But they gravitate to their linguistic enclaves on the coastal fringes, as if propelled by centrifugal forces. We kept away from them by keeping away from the coast, meeting them only on their migrations. The White version rushing south, the Brown species hurrying north.

But Portugal immediately felt different, as soon as we crossed the border. Like coming home, like knowing where we belong. A bit (perhaps a lot) like Greece. Here in the Alte Alentejo, occupation revolves around olives, cork, wine, oranges and sheep. Tourism is low key to the point of vanishing in all but a few hot spots on the south coast (Algarve).

The days of dominant Catholicism with its overwrought cathedrals and horrific Inquisition, of the oppression and expulsion of the Jews, the exploitations of Empire, civil wars and 20th century Fascist dictatorship are all fading into history. Now, we experience a simplicity, a calm and a welcome amid the austerity and unemployment enforced by the unholy alliance known as the Troika. It is no coincidence that the word 'Troika' is Russian for a sled or carriage pulled by three horses. In its modern usage, the three unbridled horses are the IMF, the ECB and the Eurozone, while the sled, dragged over rough ground, is Portugal (and Greece, among others).

The Troika is also a Russian dance and this country is indeed being led a 'merry dance'.

February 2013 (Spain)

Keep Pushing: Dealing with the recent Assault in Aranjuez, to some extent we were being ironic (really?), and to some extent we like pushing things to see what happens next. That's what studying physics does for you. 'I wonder what would happen if ...' is the beginning of many a useful bit of learning and a luxury of retirement and life on the road.

It's also how we got to ride our bikes across continents (push bikes?)

Safety First! Sorting through photographs for our new website www.magbazpictures.com and linking them to places and dates, we came across the following roadside safety slogans from India. We noted them while driving a hire car from Jammu to Srinagar on the tortuous and narrow road which runs over a 7,250 ft pass for 300 km (190 miles) until it reaches the Kashmir Valley at about 5,000 ft. It is frequently closed by snow, avalanches, rock falls and mudslides. Hence the exhortations to drive carefully:

No race, no rally, just enjoy the beautiful valley.
Live and let die.
Better late than never.
Speed thrills but kills.
Bad overtaker means undertaker.
Be Mister Late, not the late mister.
Beacon Highway – not runway.
3 enemies of the road – liquor, speed, overload.

A Moving Experience: If we hadn't come across Caravaning Cambrils in the seaside town of Cambrils, if Albert hadn't spoken English, if we hadn't had time on our hands waiting for post from England, if they couldn't have got one delivered in a couple of days, if they couldn't have fitted it straight away, we might never have bought a Truma GO2 caravan mover. But we did and it's great. Both fascinating to watch the caravan move by remote control, and practical in that we can put it exactly where we want it. And now it edges precisely up to meet the tow ball, rather than the clutch-slipping Sprinter van having to judder backwards – and miss!

Catalan Independence: After spending last summer in Scotland, it's extra interesting to be in Catalonia at this time. Here they hope to learn from the experience of the Gaels; not least how, as a new country, to get membership of many international bodies and how to renegotiate thousands of agreements. The UK is a member of the EU, UN, IMF, WTO, OECD and NATO, to mention but a few, and a signatory to about 14,000 international treaties.

But the Catalans are way ahead on language: our Spanish dictionary has been relegated to a cupboard under the bed!

Dancing in the Dark: We are now passing the winter on the road in Spain and away from the Usual Suspects in their Line-dancing, Bingo-playing, Quiz-nighting, Lotus-eating, Bus-tripping, Sea-siding, Mono-cultural Retreats. Unemployment for the Spaniards bites deep with 26% out of work, within which hides a figure of over 50% of idle young people. There are many signs of closed businesses, fewer visitors and unfinished construction projects. Very sad: people here once believed in Capitalism, thought they were safe in its hands, but now they are not so sure! But the line dance goes on, regardless.

The Rain in Spain falls Mainly . . . . somewhere else. For some 7 weeks we have lived and travelled in northeastern Spain: Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia, and it has rarely rained. The ground is dry, hard and dusty. Most days the sun shines, most nights the clear skies give a drop in temperature but not below zero.

Three New Websites: A good WiFi connection on a good campsite on Spain's Mediterranean coast means that we have been able to develop a website just for some of our pictures. MagBazTravels is now 8 years old: its structure is ideal for its hundreds of articles, with an almost unlimited opportunity for expansion through branching menus, but it is slow and limited for photographs.

Our new website, http://www.magbazpictures.com/, loads easily and displays pictures flexibly in a gallery or as a slide show. We will use it for photographs from some major past journeys and for all our photographs from January 2012 onwards. Photographs still illustrate articles within magbaztravels and its archive holds thousands of photographs, if you have the patience to dig.

We used Weebly again, as we did for the two websites we developed last summer for the Rev Murdoch and Dr Anne MacKenzie, old friends from hard days in Madras, many years ago:

www.murdochmackenzieofargyll.com and www.macdonaldsisters.com

January 2013 (Spain)

What's Spanish for Christmas? It is possible to be in Spain and not even be aware that there is a festive or religious season, or indeed a New Year to be celebrated. In this Catholic country, as in Orthodox countries such as Greece, there is less emphasis on Christ's birth than there is on his resurrection and on year-round festivals celebrating the lives of their very (too?) many saints.

We don't miss, and thankfully here in Spain have seen little of, the German/Victorian/Nordic Yuletide indulgences such as Father Christmas, Presents, Festive Food, Christmas Cake, Christmas Pudding, Mince Pies, Supermarket Super-consumption, Christmas Trees, Christmas Lights, Decorations, Carols, Christmas Pop Music, Reindeer, Sleighs, Christmas Cards, etc. The only outward sign of Christmas in the city of Pamplona was a simple crib scene high up on a balcony of the cathedral: just Joseph, Mary and a manger. In the undecorated main square, over mugs of hot chocolate so thick and creamy that the spoon stood up, the music on the loudspeakers was not 'Jingle Bells' but Johnny Cash singing 'Walk the Line'!

On the other hand, 6 January is a National Holiday in Spain: Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (the Day of the Three Royal Magi). Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, representing Arabia, the Orient and Africa, arrive on horse, camel and elephant respectively, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. Traditionally this is when children who have been good get presents – left in their shoes.

Le Tour, By Gum: We hear that next year the Tour de France will ride its first two days in Yorkshire. Starting in Leeds, the race will follow our tyre tracks over such famous (in Yorkshire) mountain passes as the Buttertubs (between Swaledale and Wensleydale) and Holme Moss (crossing the Pennines west of Holmfirth in 'Last of the Summer Wine' country).

The peloton passes through Huddersfield on its way to the Holme Valley: get your ticket now to hang out of our back-bedroom window!

Yorkshire vs Australia: We also hear that Yorkshire came twelfth overall in the 2012 Olympics medal table, ahead of Australia!

Barry Crawshaw: The MMM's illustrious Foreign Travel Editor has finally thrown in his sharp editing pencil. We never met, but over many years we built up what we are proud to call a mutual respect. He accepted our first article for publication in 1996. It was called 'By Eck' and described a Yorkshireman's experience of motorhoming in Germany. The 'Eck' referred to the Deutsches Eck, the German Corner, where a gigantic memorial to German Unity stands on the point in Koblenz (Roman name Confluentes) where the Mosel meets the Rhine.

Barry Crawshaw has also edited his final reader's report on a foreign campsite, and will no longer manage and compile the magazine's popular 'Marketplace Products and Publications' Section. Now Barry and his wife Muriel can concentrate on their own travels in a new, specially modified 5-metre 'masterpiece' (his words) from East Neuk Campervans. They recently completed a 5-month, 4,000-mile (25-ferry) journey in Scotland surveying 160 campsites for a new edition of the Vicarious Publications 'Seaview Camping Guide'.

In addition to first name, motorhoming and writing, I also share with Barry a history of teaching physics, a similar age and a love of life!