The train ride to Gijón.

Pretty uneventful, except for our layover in the small town of Miranda de Ebro. The train station was pretty much deserted during our time there, except for the town lunatic and his constant companion, the town security guard. I had left Warren in the station cafeteria while I made reservations with the ticket vendors. I was at the ticket window, and this guy approached me. I didn’t really notice him until he started asking me to do something with his train ticket. I turned to him to say I didn’t understand what he wanted, and came face to face with a total madman. He had a wandering eye, and was wearing a turtleneck that he had unrolled up and over his nose, to just under his eyes. He was wearing a noose around his neck that looked like it had been made out of old T-shirts. I became seriously afraid for my safety. I looked at the ticket agent for help, and he seemed completely non-plussed by my harasser. Finally, he ran off, much to my relief.

I returned to the Warren in the cafeteria and with adrenaline still running through my veins, told him of the total wacko I had encountered. Warren told me that I was overreacting. I told him I didn’t think so, but didn’t have anything to reinforce my position of white-hot fear. Well, not to fear, a few minutes later the crazy guy burst into the cafeteria and was mumbling something about el bano. I told him the bano was outside, and he was clearly disgusted with my not understanding whatever it was he had said about the bano, and turned away. At that point, I noticed that a security guard trailed him. What a relief.

It was finally time for Warren and I to go out to the platform to await the arrival of our train. We had to get to a platform that was not attached to the station, and traditionally you descend a staircase to a tunnel that goes under the tracks to other platforms. We started for the stairs when the security guard yelled over to us, “No pasan. Don’t go.” I looked down into the dark depths, and saw the crazy guy dart through a shaft of light. Apparently the security guard had managed to trap his quarry in the underground tunnel.

We climbed over the tracks and made it to our platform. As we waited, the crazy guy emerged from the tunnels and was safely across the tracks. He was singing to himself, yelling and pacing. The security guard was just hanging around, waiting for his subject to try something funny. It wasn’t long he had to wait. A pigeon touched an overhead electrical wire, and fell to the ground. It was still alive but clearly in shock. The crazy guy went to leap over the train tracks to investigate. The security guard yelled, “No pasa! Don’t go!” So he had to stay and just look longingly at the stunned and bleeding pigeon. Poor crazy guy.

The train finally arrived, and we left the Nut of Miranda de Ebro behind.

Warren's note: When Stephanie told me about meeting this guy I reminded her that it's the "normal" ones you really need to worry about (characters never bother me).