Unusual dedications

Another tolerable night for sleeping, though today has been a bit more humid at 29C, like yesterday, and about the same as Cardiff. Record breaking temperatures in parts of Britain, with some serious outbreaks of fire and rail network problems, as predicted. It seems UK infrastructure is designed to function up to an average 35C, but above that, there's trouble with rails buckling and overhead power cable supplying trains loosening and un-suspending themselves. Apparently countries with hotter and colder average temperature are engineered to withstand different extremes.

I met with Patricia at eleven, and she guided me down the A7 to the beach resort of Sabinillas, or to use its proper name, St Luis de Sabinillas, and the parish church is dedicated in his honour. St Luis was a saintly 13th century king of France, French and Spanish monarchies were inter-related in those days, which may explain the dedication. 

Talking of unusual dedications, the church in Sotogrande is dedicated in honour of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes - Our Lady of Mercies, a title which first came into use in the 13th century when a new 'Order of Mercies' was founded in same spirit as St Francis, dedicated to rescuing Christians captured by the Moors, but moving on post-reconquista to serving poor people in general. It's a dedication which is well known in Latin American countries though with work of Spanish missionaries.

More curious is the dedication of the church Anglicans use in San Pedro - not the  parish church of that name but the church of Nuestra Señora del Rocío. 'Rocío' means mist or dew.The dedication goes back to the 13th century discovery by a hunter of an image of the virgin in a wood near the Andalucian village of Almonte in the province of Huelva. The wood was shrouded in mist which remained until he performed a vow to establish a shrine for the image in that place. The region is gitano heartland, and devotion to Nuestra Señora del Rocío is part of their culture. There's an annual pilgrimage procession of gitano clans to Almonte for devotions and a week of fiestas around the feast of Pentecost. Pope John Paul II thought it wasn't much more than a big religious picnic, as many of its ritual embellishments seem to derive from pagan folklore. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! 

Six of us met at the American Bistro on the sea front. We had to use an underground car park, as all the on-street parking was taken, but for €1.50 it was worth it to return to a cool car after an hour of siting outdoors, though we were under a big canopy, the increased humidity made it feel hotter.

We stopped briefly at the big Mercadona on the way back as Patricia needed groceries and I needed to get the razor blades which I forgot to buy yesterday. I also found where the soya dairy products were stored got some milk and yoghourt. I'm well supplied now. To make my culinary day complete Patricia donated her garlic press to the chaplain's kitchen. It was the only essential that was lacking to my mind! She said she no longer used one since discovering frozen garlic and chopped onions in the supermarket. What will they think of next? 

After lunch, I worked on my side of preparations for Saturday's wedding. As I was leaving for a beach walk late afternoon, a car pulled up with a young family and their suitcases, taking over from the couple next door who left yesterday, unless they are related in some way, number twenty nine may be a holiday home to let. I hope I can test my conversational skills and find out in due course.

After catching up on the UK news and 'The Archers', with a brief call to Clare, with nothing of interest on telly, it was tired enough and ready to turn in for the night,