Las Tres Señoras

Today was my turn to take part in the "When You're A Stranger" project. These ladies are not my subjects for the project but were sitting outside the bookshop where I took my actual project shot. They were very willing subjects and were delighted with the outcome. They always meet and sit on this bench on a Sunday before going off for some ballroom dancing later on!

Earlier, I was having a coffee in the bookshop on our corner with BB when I saw an interesting looking elderly man who I had never seen before talking to other customers. The shop has just been extended and there was a new wall of books on display with good natural light. I thought it would be nice to photograph the man in front of the books and plucked up the courage to approach him! It turned out he was the owner of the bookshop which he had opened 56 years ago! His mission with the shop extension is to create a kids area to encourage early relationships with books, and I offered to hold readings in English with them using hand puppets, if he was interested!

His name is "Helios" after the Greek god of the sun which he had received from his parents at birth. However, under the Franco regime he was not allowed to have it entered on his birth certificate or use it officially. When the military came to his barrio ( Las Colonias, which Bb has often blipped) to take him off for military service, they went round the houses looking for "Francisco" which was the Castilian name that had been imposed on him. "There isn't any Francisco here", said his neighbours! And he was thus was able to avoid his military service altogether!

It took him eight court processes and many years before he was able to have his birth certificate amended to have ''Helios''on it. He proudly showed us as his identity card which he said was the only one in Spain with that name on it!

I told him it would be several months before the project was published. ''Ah, one more reason to stay alive!'', he laughed.

It was a great story to uncover and, along with that of the ladies above, has made me more interested in using my camera as a way of connecting deeper with our local area.