2geonomads

London Madrid

Saturday 3rd October

No need to get up too early as our flight to Madrid is not until 2.00 pm.

Yet another full English breakfast and then it’s time to pack and for Gail to catch up on paperwork such as printing off boarding cards etc. Gail would make a great travel agent if ever she tired of living a life of relative leisure married to this old member of the ‘ Zipper Club’.

Dropping off the rental car proves to be totally hassle-free and we arrive at the airport hoping to use the British Airways lounge. No such luck as after their new agreement with Emirates BA no longer have reciprocal rights allowing Qantas Club members use of their lounges.  Nevertheless, the whole procedure through Terminal 5 is a far cry from the previous days when it was all too often a scene of utter chaos.

A very smooth flight down to Madrid although Gail is seated next to the Argentine Puma’s forward pack in the shape of one man-mountain with thighs that would make Clive Palmer look anorexic.

However, he is a very friendly guy from Córdoba in Argentina and we manage to conduct a conversation of sorts on the RWC given his total lack of English and my very rusty Spanish.

Not for the first time on our travels we get caught up in a protest , this time in favour of the flood of immigrants coming into Europe. Many of the roads to our hotel are blocked but our very friendly taxi driver manages to manoeuvre his way to our accommodation , Hotel Europa, overlooking the popular Plaza de la Puerta del Sol.

As the Wallabies are playing England this evening we set off to try and find the James Joyce Irish pub, one of the very few public places where the match is to be shown on TV. On arrival we find the pub packed out with well lublicated South Africans and Kiwis and even if I pull myself up to an impressive 1.72 metres we both feel that we would be safer in the hotel room.

We once again get caught up with the protest whose slogan is ” construyamos otra Europe. Por un Europa de las personas digamos ! Basta! a la Europa del capital” ( we are building another Europe . For a Europe of the people we say ” enough of the capitalist Europe”.

It’s a very impressive turnout with noble sentiments although I’m not sure what the majority of the population think when youth employment currently stands at just under 30 percent.

Back at the hotel where we are able to watch the Wallabies put in great performance to beat England 33-13 and we’re able to scream and shout like a couple of superannuated, out-of-control old rugby tragics.

The victory has whetted our appetites for a good late night dinner in an outdoor setting at the hotel.

Unfortunately, the half-cold meal served up doesn’t even bear a passing resemblance to lasagne and we resolve not to eat at the hotel for the rest of our stay.

To end the day on a good note we wander around the still very lively Sol square and soak up the atmosphere. It’s well after midnight before we return to the hotel where the guys on reception explain that such crowds are the norm for a Saturday evening.

View from hotel room 1:00am

In bed by 1.30 still on a high after the boys in green and gold have come up with a performance which has made all the other teams sit up and take notice.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.