Setting out for Malaga

Hmm, where to start?

Another night of chronic jetlag-induced insomnia. I had intended to go into Malaga today and have a look around. Once again I was awake at midnight and found it impossible to get back to sleep. I’m writing this at 8.20am, having lain awake reading for the past three hours. So much for my Erskine Childers theory: it was no help at all. The sun rises late here: it was still dark at 8. The temptation to go back to bed is strong – but that will mean sleeping till noon at least, and setting the whole cycle in motion once again. No, better head for Malaga.

The whole day, to be honest, was clouded by the lack of sleep. I walked around like a zombie, looking for interesting things to see outside of the centre. In the end, there wasn’t too much – but that is part of travel too. I had got off the train at Victoria Kent and wandered. The streets were mainly full of small shops, many of them run by visible immigrants, selling vegetables and fruit, clothes and shoes. That is what makes a city for me. I liked it very much. I sat on a bench near the city hall and had to fight to keep my eyes open. What stopped me from sleeping was the endless procession of old people in wheelchairs being walked out from somewhere and parked in the sun. The carers didn’t leave them, though, they styed and chatted with them. At one time, there must have been half a dozen of them, in a line, laughing and smoking, passing time in a public square.

Why, oh why can we not have this in North America? – and by North America, I mean Canada. Small individual retailers, making a living from selling fruit and veg; public squares where people can sit and be people? I miss that stuff so much, and it shouldn’t be that way. In Ottawa, if you want to go and sit by the river, say at Mooney’s Bay, you have to PAY an exorbitant amount to park. And you can’t get there easily by bus because, well, because it is Ottawa. It shouldn’t be that hard to make a city liveable.

There’s a municipal election on Oct. 24 – and we have a non-binary candidate running for mayor. They (not usually good with preferred pronouns) are absolutely frigging brilliant. They were the only one to stand up to the convoy protesters. They haven’t got a chance, because part of the city is in The Incel King’s riding, and Poil-aux-levres has clout. But it is a start. A liveable city? Yes please. Maybe we’ll get sidewalks next.