I’m a little obsessed about where I sit and am not too sure where it comes from. I’ve thought about potty training but have no memories of that. So once seats are booked and I don’t have one up the very front, that’s okay, but if they are free flowing seats, that’s when it’s scary. So I determine where the bus will arrive, have Corrie put the luggage on, while I try to be first on the bus.
Today it did not work but I got second best, half way down in front of the stairs. A couple told me they were theirs but I said that the ticket seller insisted they were free flowing, which I took as non reserved, thinking that the number on the ticket was the order in which they were sold. The couple, convinced, sat elsewhere.
Meantime I was scanning the countryside and seeing patches of olive trees, orange trees and sporadic farming which did not look as good out a side window! There were un-farmable rocky hills further on surrounding farm houses that didn’t seem to want to live anymore, but with the odd oasis that seemed to ignore the bad luck around them.
As we collected passengers from the airport, they were also complaining people were in their seats. I felt very uneasy when the driver microphoned “please take your correct seats” and the young couple again wanted theirs. I’m not sure what was worse, having to give up the second best seats, or apologising to a disbelieving wronged woman that we were wrong.
There were still no poppies, but a continuation of storks on power line poles for over 5km and continuing way into the distance. With each stork having 3-5 babies, I can’t imagine where this will go. We stopped for a mini break soon after; nearly everyone got off except the girl whose seat we had accidentally stolen. Perhaps she had heard that possession was 9/10’s of the law and a loo break could destroy that statute.
We crossed the border where the olive tree plantations were much more established in greater numbers and fastidiously planted which gave them a much more commercial look than the Portuguese ones. Houses were smarter with hardly visible signs of deterioration, and with extensive irrigated farming there was a greater look of prosperity.
I say this while knowing we are covering one long but narrow section of the two countries which may not be indicative of them as a whole. Evidence does show that their production of wood products from Cork and Mediterranean oaks, and Gum trees, has replaced extensive farming areas and the high profits from them has been a great economic boost.
We alighted in Spain and, after walking a few hundred metres, asked a man for directions to our second bus station to take us to Cadiz. After a 1km walk to the tram he correctly told us about, 2 women helped us with the right stop. It was exactly 3.00 and time to go.
