I hate Spanair

OK. I have my rucsack. I can get on with my walk. I can change my clothes. I can put after-sun on my face. Such luxury!

HOWEVER, the one thing that doesn't belong to me - on loan from my sister, is missing from my bag. A rolled up inflatable mattress. She said to me, "It's expensive though, so if you lose it, you'll have to replace it". It was strapped in so tightly, and the man at the airport strapped it in even tighter. But it's not here now. I phoned Spanair who said that they have the one reference number for my bag which I have, and any excess items are my problem. So they couldn't land which admittedly was the weather's fault, but they forgot to put my bag on the plane. I've had to pay for a place to stay tonight because I couldn't start walking thereby qualifying for cheap hostals. I missed the friend I was supposed to meet this morning to begin the walk. I didn't want to hold him up. And now they've lost my mattress. And instead of apologising (not one apology) she actually said it was my problem for not strapping it in securely and it would be impossible to look for it.

However, I forced her (at conversational gunpoint) to do something about the situation, and she put a message on the 'system' (why do I get the impression that the system is a post-it note) and gave me a phone number for the airport so I could check there. Yeah! With my pay-as-you-go phone which will soon run out of battery and has no charger will really cope well with an 'information line' which is only open at stupid o'clock and in Spanish.

If the albergues are very busy (which they could well be in June) then the only option is floor space. That's one problem. The other is I would rather lose anything of mine than of another person's. I will of course write to Spanair, but with Spanish bureaucracy the way it is I very much doubt they'll offer any kind of compensation. I will try though.

I know this is all meant to be about 'obstacles' and 'character testing'. Well, turns out I'm the kind of character who's going to bust some balls and demand justice!

With luck, they may trace it and be able to send it to me wherever I am. But that depends on the Spanish being efficient (haha) and my mobile staying alive until I make a friend who owns a nokia charger. I took the advice of a website and didn't bring a charger because everyone else has them and they're heavy. I just hope everyone else didn't take the same advice. Ha!

Well. I'll explain to my sister when the poor girl is out of hospital. She's having an operation tomorrow. Can't help but feel I'd be substantially more useful by being with her rather than by standing with my hands on my hips and glaring at my incomplete luggage.

Stupid trivial shit aside, I've had a lovely day. San Sebastian is beautiful. I walked for hours and broke in my shoes. I got sunburnt through the clouds. (In my defense, my suncream was in my backpack). The place where I'm staying is gorgeous and the señora has been exceptionally kind to me. Perhaps it's moments of aggravating cock-ups that best highlight the good in the world. Tomorrow I have to get the bus to Pamplona, go to the Archbishop's palace and get my 'credencial', (my pilgrim passport). Once I have that I start to walk due west. The one blessing with not having the mattress is the possibility I won't need it, and I'm therefore avoiding the extra weight. Spanair will still have to buy a new one, though.

Bastards.

Hmmm. Not a very pilgrimy thing to say. Oh well. Hopefully Jesus understands that even the very best of people can't help but get really pissed off when the airline loses their stuff. I still have my hiking pole (and yet that didn't escape from the bag!) so if anyone else irritates me, I'll beat them to death with it, and then carry on walking to receive 50% off my punishment.

Ha.