Making Some New Friends

Bruce Chaitwin, the legendary travel writer, seems to have a knack of getting on a train in some obscure part of the world and striking up a conversation with a seat-mate who, it turns out, is a fascinating local figure filled with tidbits of information and wisdom.

By contrast, I never meet any interesting people on trains in foreign countries - most of my seat-mates have been tired, grumpy, and barely conversant in their own language, let alone mine. But on our recent visit to Italy I became acquainted (in a manner of speaking) with two people with whom I intend to carry on a life-long friendship.

The first is Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible things. This is a guy I want to know better. It seems I am forever needing the kind of help that he apparently specializes in.

The second I stumbled across in the Cathedral of Barcelona, a remarkable lady known as the "Virgin de la luz - patrona electricidad y fontaneria" - the patron saint of electricity and plumbing. As the owner of a home built in 1927, I have often had need of the kindly woman but was totally unaware of her existence.

So, all in all, it was a pretty productive trip.