People I met on the camino

It was early Sunday morning: dark, cold, wet, drizzly, and there was not an open bar to be found. Yet we were in good spirit but yearning for breakfast. Gerrit began by insisting that there were two route possibilities. He studied his guidebook endlessly and obsessively. A cursory glance at my reference did not support his conjecture. Yet, he was unable to drop the idea, and all the while we followed way marks that indicated otherwise. A shepherd offered us temporary shelter from the elements and furthermore confirmed that we were on the right track. Yet Gerrit maintained his two route position: that we were not on the 'true' camino, and that had a wearing effect on my patience.

Gerrit told me that he had completed the Via de La Plata in 2009, and had carried president Barack Hussein Obama II's photograph on that journey. It was a 'please get me out of here' moment. Gerrit was a man of 59 years who stated that Obama would solve all the world's 'problems'. (The 'problems' were never defined or elaborated on despite my best efforts for his clarification.) How could an educated, professionally trained architect carry a photograph of Obama and believe such utter nonsense that could only end in bitter disappointment, denial or whatever. I viewed Gerrit as a total nutter, and decided that our camino relationship would best be truncated in the interest of my well-being, and ultimately lasted some 4 weeks.

I recall two particular elections that ended in bitter disappointment following brief moments of joyful elation: the 1972 election that ended 23 years of conservative government in Australia. The incompetent Labour government of Gough Whitlam was eager to make long-planned reforms, although it struggled against a lack of experience in its cabinet of silly tossers; and the United Kingdom election of 1997. The Labour Party, under Tony Blair's leadership, won with 418 seats, the most the party has ever held.

Australia has a compulsory voting system. I do not intend to cast a vote on 21 August 2010. I have two options: not attend the polling place and incur a fine; or attend the polling place and spoil my ballot papers to avoid a fine. I will probably choose the latter option.