250 Kilometres for a Dinner

Woke up thinking we will head to Gibraltar and see the strait and photograph some visiting ships. Instead while having tea laziness set in and the plan was narrowed down to being in Malaga for the day. After a quick shower and a meal at Burger king, the body came out of the sluggishness and was raring to head for a road trip again. So the plan changed accordingly, this time though the ambition was to visit Cadiz, recommended by a guy we had met in the hostel. Being Christmas day everything everywhere was closed. So we were left with the main option of travelling around and do some sight seeing. It was a long drive, though the road was smooth. The motorway made the drive quick though interesting. All the while listening to Adele’s recent grammy nomination of ‘Chasing Pavements’. Every now and then Abhi wanted to switch to some Indian music which I personally find icky sticky and full of only one thing ‘love’. The word reminds me of the continuous texts that I was receiving which kept my mind at things other than the road.

Touched Algiceras at 6 PM and stopped at a booth for a coffee and a cigarette. The booth was full of old Spanish folk spending their Christmas evening at cards. As expected none of them had a clue about the existence of any word that we spoke in English. But were more than willing to give us an ear and see if they could give us something we needed. Unfortunately the only drink they had in the small shop was some beer, and our driver’s instinct and the long drive ahead made us keep our mouths dry. The road ahead was not a motorway and it was already getting dark. Abhi insisted on taking the wheel and his limited exposure to night driving kept me on the toes. At every curve the brake lights went strong red suggesting to the guys behind that there is an intoxicated tourist on the road. The next 60 kilometres were a roller coaster ride in which the only thing I could do was to keep my fingers crossed. I took over at the motorway again and realizing that we would have to do the 250 kms back that night itself, I stepped on the gas touching speeds of 180 kms, which on any speed camera would have entitled me to losing me my driving license. Why don’t these countries learn something from their german counterparts. Autobahn anyone?

At about 9 we were in Cadiz, which like other Spanish cities we had seen so far was decorated for Christmas. Cobbled streets in the old town, were beautified with shimmering lights in the shape of a tree or leaves. The city looked so beautiful that I spent almost an hour taking photographs. The wish was to head to a pub/club to get a hang of the local people. Regrettably most of the businesses were closed. Headed to an open cafeteria, manned by an old man who seemed to be sulking for having to work on the Christmas day. Or it could have just been an argument with the wife last night. Ate a typical Spanish meal of tapas, with some British chips thrown in for a tourist. Yea sure, an Indian living in Britain, visiting spain and missing british chips! The food was good and the conversation over the cup of tea was even more interesting. Revolving around our German friends and the strange attitude that one of them has subjected my dear Indian friend to. A conflict of cultures or just a misunderstanding? Hard to say but possibly this mystery can be solved only when one them throws in the white flag and decides to move to our shitty city of Glasgow.

At about half ten, the desire to head back to our warm beds started creeping in and after an inexpensive meal and some photographs of Cadiz, we were on the road again. Possibly one of the longest distances I have driven for a meal. Abhi as usual was very eager to take over the wheels. I cautious on the other hand told him gently to ‘SOD OFF’. Surprisingly he listened. Again back on the motorway, our biggest concern was that we had only two cigarettes left. We decided to not smoke for an hour. Things got a bit worse when I noticed that the fuel meter did not look very encouraging. It was late in the night and being a holiday, the respite centres may not be open. There was of course again a small feud about the music and this time I had to relent. With sounds of ‘pyar’ (love) I drove with my ears partially closed. After driving for about a 100 kilometres found a petrol station open and tanked up the Golf. Not very surprisingly we were on a German car too. These Germans are everywhere.

Though now I had to let Abhi drive the remaining distance and also had to subject myself to the melodies of bollywood music, which sounded like fun at one in the morning. Tried to take some pictures of the road by trying out a variable shutter speed and came up with some amazing results. My first stint at trying out photography of moving objects in the night time. I would not say that the pictures are jaw dropping, but the effects that the camera is capable of producing are definitely noteworthy.
At about 2 in the morning we hit our beds to wake up to another bright sunny day.