Kath arrives

I slept well, but less than I do habitually, waking with the bright early sunlight. After breakfast I worked on my Sunday sermon, until John called in to collect me for an introductory meeting at the Balcon Hotel with the two wedding planners I'm doing blessing services with in May. One of them had come from Burgos, eight hours away by car, and almost as long by public transport. There's be other wedding planning meetings with them in coming weeks, with or without the happy couples. These weddings are elaborate affairs, staged scrupulously in detail. Giving an inward spiritual dimension to such outward facing events is a challenge, to say the least. 

After we parted company, I walked up to the Mercadona to do some more food shopping, then went to get the bus, not realising that the last bus before the three hour siesta gap had left an hour earlier. Serves me right for not noticing the time. I had to walk back carrying three kilos of shopping. The last thing I needed was a steep hill at the end. Taking it more slowly than usual with double the number of recovery pauses, I coped without exhausting myself

Early evening, everything was ready for Kath's arrival,  She sent me a message when the flight was about to take off, punctually. This gave me time I needed to prepare a meal for her, knowing she'd be hungry after a day's work ending in an outbound flight from Birmingham. I drove to Malaga airport via Torrox Costa. The traffic wasn't too heavy, but driving westward all the way into the setting sun kept me on the alert and careful. The sun was touching the horizon as I drove into the airport, exactly on time.

Kath's flight arrived ten minutes early, and she made her way up to the Express short stay parking zone on the Departures level, where we had arranged to meet. As I drove in, there she was, standing just inside the entrance smiling and waving. I stopped in my tracks as there was nobody on on my tail, she got in and we headed straight out benefiting from two minutes of fifteen minutes free parking! The return journey in the dark took slightly longer, but by ten o'clock I had the pasta cooking and the accompanying veggie sauce warming up. We talked until very late, happy to be together and share this special kind of togetherness in a country we both love and enjoy.