The trains in Spain race swiftly across the plain

Like most countries, Spain succumbed to the motor car a long time ago. Unlike, Britain, however, it did not give up long-distance travel by rail for travel by coach [bus].
Forty years ago, the rail network in Spain was very poor and the country backward by European standards. To visitors, that was one of its attractions, [...]

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The Misteri d’Elx

I spent the summer of 1967 in Spain on an ILEA scholarship. I was in Alicante in August and had the opportunity to attend the Misteri d´Elx, a medieval mystery play that takes place every year on 14-15 August in the Basilica de Santa María. The mystery play focuses on the Assumption of the Virgin [...]

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Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards

Every so often, I read of some long-dead and forgotten author who has been re-discovered. I’m not sure why some writers survive in the culture and others do not; it is not simply a question of the quality of their prose or poetry.

Some months ago, my mind turned to Salvador de Madariaga, whose treatise “Englishmen, [...]

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Love at first sight

Old school magazines lent to me by friend Alan have been my bedtime reading for the past few weeks. They have proven to be very useful for clarifying many points related to school life during my years at Stogs. I came across the following article about the first school trip to Spain in which I [...]

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Train journeys through Spain

(“Typical Castilian landscape,” taken from Wikipedia)
Friend Alan and I talked about our train rides through Spain in the ’60s, first on school trips and then as lone students. In my memory, steam engines were as exciting and romantic as they are cracked up to be. Trainspotting has long been a popular hobby in Britain but [...]

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Vosotros españoles seréis pronto americanos

I remembered the Spanish phrase when I read this news item. Back in the ’60s, Vespas were the height of cool as far as Mods in England were concerned (read about them here). In Spain, which was still a relatively poor country, they were very much luxury items. Hence, people said that Vespa was [...]

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School trips to Spain

My friend Alan sent me this photo of one of our school trips to Spain. It must have been taken around Easter 1966. Alan is standing fourth from the right. I’m sort of in the middle, at the back. The boy in front of me is Juan José Badiola, a friend I made in Córdoba. [...]

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Alea iacta est

That is what Julius Caesar is supposed to have said when he crossed the Rubicon (a pivotal moment in the history of western civilization). If I had known the phrase, I might well have uttered it myself the first day I walked through the gates of St. Olaves. But I was only about to start [...]

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