On The Move Again

          I will admit to being a bit of a grump about Halloween. The way I see it, what started as an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of harvest season was subsequently hijacked by the Christian church, then popularised and commercialised in the USA, before being exported back to Europe as a mock horror tableau. It serves no useful purpose in my universe. Still, having spent the night of 31^st October in the centre of Santander, Spain, I can see it’s a lot of fun for a lot of people. The local populace dressed up and stayed up, partying in the streets for most of the night – and so they might, as the following day is a holiday, designated by the Church as All Saints Day (which sounds like an all-purpose excuse for a party).

          We’re currently on a leisurely round-trip, staying for a week or so with a friend who now lives off-grid on a finca – or smallholding – that she acquired in NE Spain some five years ago. Although hers may sound like an isolated existence, she is in fact at the centre of a networked community whose social life would be the envy of many a city-dwelling nine-to-fiver. Get-togethers are frequent and laughter abounds, though underlying anxieties related to battery capacity and rainfall often dominate the conversation.

          In fact, just before we arrived, a storm had brought them much needed rain, though in such vast quantities that it ran down the rivers to Valencia and caused catastrophic flooding, leaving the country in mourning for the death of hundreds of its citizens. The event was covered by news media in the UK, but distant tragedies are usually only of passing interest to those who are not immediately affected. Such is the extent of human empathy. Being in Spain at this time makes it feel a little more personal, but only to the extent that my touristic pleasures are tinged with a vague feeling of guilt.

          If measured by the extent of human suffering, then every news bulletin contains greater tragedies than this, though that does not deter us tourists from carrying on regardless. Life goes on. It used to be easy to maintain a state of oblivion while on holiday, working abroad or travelling. I recall being overseas for months at a time and losing touch with current affairs for want of an English language news-source. It was as if geopolitics had been suspended, such was the degree of my ignorance.

          But the internet has changed all that and not necessarily for the better. I have been able to continue following the US presidential election as reported by CNN, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times and various free news sources. Where once there was famine, now there is feast, which is a marvellous thing but, in the current circumstances, does nothing to lift the spirits. The geopolitical storms don’t look like abating. Wars, the depletion of nature and climate change are driving the migration of millions from their homelands. It's not surprising that we humans take care of our own welfare before we give much consideration to the suffering of others: it might so easily be our turn next to fall victim to the cruelties inflicted by others acting in their own self-interest.

          Anyway, my leisurely trip can be likened to a circular hike: assuming all goes well, I will find myself back at home, safe, sound and satisfied. It’s quite unlike the linear, open-ended journey that I contemplated, just for the sake of adventure, at the age of eighteen. And it’s in a different league altogether from the desperate, dangerous setting forth of the migrants who seek sanctuary from the all too real horrors they face in their homelands.