I've not heard a lot of news while on the road beyond the outcome of the two elections, in the UK and in France. You become very close to people's day to day lives, and it turns out that most of what makes up global news had very little impact at this level.
As we began to eat lunch, though, a piece of news filtered through. " Have you heard," asked one of the retreatants, "about the shooting in America?" And so came out the story of the attempted assassination of the previous US president.
The conversation drifted around in odd directions: the ethics of time-travelling to kill Hitler, the impact of right wing politics in the current western world, the recent ban on tattooed workers in the Vatican, the best ingredients of a good pesto sauce, how to control pests in olive groves without using chemicals. The US news, as you can tell, quickly became uninteresting.
But then came a real flare up. Brother Nimal commented on a shift in Italian society which means young people are no longer marrying and having children, with the result that birth rates are plunging. Federico, here with his partner Lucia, robustly argued back that the cost of marrying was simply too much. The talk became heated and much hand-waving ensued.
Make of it what you will. But even on such a dramatic day, world affairs were quickly forgotten while day to day life remained vital and immediate.
I love this, the joy of pilgrimage and living in the moment with the day to day concerns of those you meet along the way. For me the journey onwards can only benefit from trying my best to remember this each day.
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