The synchronicity stuff that happened in 2004 has another place and time. This is supposed to be about the writing of Duende so I'll try and stick to this. Madrid - October - 2009 - and I'm stranded in a city where I can't speak their language and they can't speak mine. With basic Italian and a pocket-size Spanish dictionary, I navigate myself around with the introductory words 'No hablo espanol. Parli Italiano?' and then a lot of gestures on top. Somehow I survived 4 days in Madrid, not knowing why I was there and in a situation not of my own making and really not knowing what the hell was going on. I did a sort of daily routine which involved waking up, going to a cafe in the centre for a morning coffee, doing a circuit around the same streets which soon became familiar. One day, I was crossing the Plaza de Santa Ana for the I don't know how many times and I thought 'I feel as if I'm in a film...in which nothing happens.'
The last day, a Wednesday, and I woke up with a massive sense of fear. I was overcome with real and horrible fear.
Shit. Maybe i need to go back a few steps and explain exactly why I was in Madrid in the first place. I mentioned it in my previous post but haven't really explained at all.
I went to Madrid to meet a guy I thought I'd fallen in love with. A Cuban guy called Darwin (and yes, his name ended up providing many ideas for my novel in which a central character's a philosopher living in Spain at a time when Charles Darwin's ideas were being fiercely attacked by the hardline Catholic church)
I went to Madrid and I did indeed meet Darwin. All real. All passionate. We shared a pizza in a place I never found again during my daily walks round the centre of Madrid. We spent 4 and a half perfect hours together. When he kissed me goodbye on the Plaza del Angel, I had no idea I'd never see him again.
And I had no idea what a journey this would lead me on.
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