Patronal Sunday

Although St George's Day is tomorrow, we celebrated him as part of celebrating the Easter mysteries this morning. After the Eucharist and fellowship time, I met with two of our adult candidates for Confirmation for a session about prayer. This was, as I suspected it would be, less than easy, as their everyday life is conducted far more in Spanish than English or their mother tongue. They can speak English and participate well in services, but engaging in discussion on a new topic, is another thing altogether. I needed to keep checking that my questions had been understood. It made me realise how out of practice in teaching I am nowadays.

After a late lunch, I walked to the port alongside Playa La Malagueta, and was surprised to discover another street market, selling clothes, jewellery, trinkets etc., about fifty stalls altogether. It looks a bit more downmarket than the extensive stylish array of stalls along the port, but clearly there's going to be demand, even before the peak holiday season arrives, as the beach is full of weekenders.

Down at Muelle Uno the market stalls there were also busy, and the Artsenal was hosting a couple of DJs with a live guitarist jamming together on the open air stage, and there was hardly an empty seat around the bar or the performance area. I took the opportunity to walk through and take a look at some of the 'alternative' sculptures and paintings on display. A striking and disturbing painting of a naked woman, hands bound, wearing an anonymising face mask caught my attention. It portrays symbolically the dehumanisation of women and children trafficked, enslaved by prostitution and pornography, reflecting Malaga's current theme of community solidarity with abuse victims, which provocatively overlaps with this weekend's Festival of Spanish Film.

Later in the day, it clouded over and there was a lengthy outbreak of thunderstorms with wind and rain, as it got dark. I had a grandstand view of this, sitting in the lounge. Slowly the weather is getting decently warmer, but not without protest it seems from intermittent bouts of cold damp air, afflicting many other parts of western Europe also.