Jack out of the Box

Posted on 21st Nov 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Over the last few years, around this time of the year, it has come into my mind that I really must read C. S. Lewis again. And not just that I must but that I’d really like to do so.

The reason for this feeling is easy to discern. Tomorrow (22nd November) is the anniversary of his birth in 1898. Next week (29th) is the anniversary of his death in 1963 (Oops).

I have no doubt also that God is using these dates to nudge me in the right direction. He, as always, is being very patient as every year I read something and then pretty quickly stop.

A few months ago, I started reading The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton. I bought my first copy of this book after my Catholic conversion in 1996. Chesterton wordplay bowled me over.

Unfortunately, I lost my copy of the book when I returned to London from Dundee in 2000. It took 24 years for me to get round to buying another copy. An edition edited by Dale Ahlquist of the American Chesterton Society:

It comes with a commentary by Ahlquist, which is a nice bonus. The book was as good a read as it was the first time round. I have to admit I often got lost in the fairy woods of Chesterton’s prose so had to make a conscious effort to remember what the book was about but as I am not a GKC scholar that didn’t matter.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was Ahlquist editing out certain words. Or rather, one word in particular. Unless it comes from the author, I don’t like any changes to an author’s text. Once a book has been published, the text is – or for good or ill should be – remain as is. In all circumstances, I want to read what the author wrote not what a later editor has decided for any reason whatsoever should be included.

Anyway, I’m digressing. as I said, I started reading The Everlasting Man a few months ago. I put it down, I picked it up, stop-start, stop-start. Last week, I decided no more: I would read it solidly and try and finish it by today. I read the last 250 odd pages between Saturday and Wednesday.

Prior to reading The Everlasting Man, and indeed, while I read it, the desire to read the authors who really, really, matter to me bit my heart. There are only two in that category: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

I guess as we are now on the cusp of Lewis’s birthday I decided to start with him. But rather than read one of his books, I thought I would read one about him. C. S. Lewis Remembered, essays about CSL edited by Harry Lee Poe and his daughter, Rebecca has been on my shelf for ages without being opened so I decided to start there:

Oh! I am only a few pages into it but reading people’s memories of Lewis has been like drinking a fine wine. Wonderful.

Apart from the fact I have already read all of Lewis’ own books, albeit mainly in the 90s, one reason why I’m happy to read a book about him is the attractiveness of his character. Here was a man who was close to God. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved God more than I love God, and I would like to love Him just as Lewis loved Him. I will start reading Lewis’s books again, but in this moment, I want – feel a desire and need – to be inspired by him directly.

To that end, I watched Max McLean’s wonderful The Most Reluctant Convert film this evening. I couldn’t have asked for a better start. I may watch it again this weekend. The film does a super job of showing Lewis’s journey to faith.

One thing is funny, though; every time I see Lewis and The Great Knock debate, or Lewis debate in his Oxford rooms I wish so much that I could have has that life. Sadly, though, I would have been terrible at it. I don’t have the brain or mental strength. Why do I have a desire for something I know would not be good for me? It’s not like it is something addictive. Or maybe for me it is?

Anyway, one last thought: while watching the film I began thinking about Lewis the Anglican. I have over the years, if only in my own thoughts, ragged on the Church of England a bit but it gave us C. S. Lewis (and, by-the-way, John Henry Newman among others). Ragging on others, I see now, is such a dull thing to do. Why not pray for them, love them. And what do you know but I am running ahead of myself: for most of this year I have been visiting the C of E churches in the City of London. Why? To admire their beauty. Just that? I don’t think so. I’m not sure where I’m going with this enterprise but thinking about it in the light of Lewis gives it an interesting if still mysterious complexion.

MAGA and MRGA

Posted on 20th Oct 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Last June, the BBC published an article on its website titled UK must ‘actively prepare’ for war scenario, government warns. The obvious danger, according to the government, comes from Russia, but Iran and China are also threats.

Iran has been a hostile nation ever since 1979 when the Shah was overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamic revolution, as has China ever since the communists came to power in 1949. But Russia – and this is what I have been thinking about, recently – while she was certainly a threat during her own communist period, that ended 34 years ago. How did we get to being, if not on the brink of war, then being warned that we have to at least prepare for it?

I guess the most immediate answer to this question is Vladimir Putin. He became president of Russia for the first time in 2000. At some point thereafter, or maybe from the moment he was elected, he decided he would pursue a campaign of military conquest, one that would not only see Russian dignity restored but lead to her becoming an imperial power once more. Maybe he decided to do this when the Soviet Union fell and built up his power and influence during the Yeltsin years with the aim of succeeding Boris Yeltsin and beginning the campaign properly thereafter. Who knows, but it led to him annexing Crimea in 2014, and then in 2022, launching a full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Looking back to 1991, we can only be frustrated by what has happened. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Communism had fallen, the Cold War was over. Russia was now a democracy, and an age of individual freedom and economic prosperity, of friendship with the West, lay ahead as far as the eye could see. 34 years later, she is a democracy in name only, Russians live under an effective dictator with an economy being undermined by sanctions. Russia’s only friends are only other dictators like Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un or leaders on the make, like India’s S. N. Modi.

I have forgotten a name: Donald Trump.

Except, I am not wholly sure he is a friend of Putin’s in any meaningful sense. Being a narcissist, Trump’s only friend is himself. Everyone else he either disdains if he thinks them beneath him or tolerates if he admires or fears them. In the case of Putin, I suspect Trump both admires and fears him.

What a time for America to elect such a man. How did the USA ever end up with him?

I guess the answer is simply that in 2016 and 2024, they either put aside what they thought of his awful character or never allowed it to intrude upon their thoughts to begin with, and voted for him because he spoke to them where they were.

Their jobs were going or gone. He met them outside their (former) office, factory, or farm.
They felt left behind by the changing morals and mores of the world. He met them in their isolation.
Too many drugs and migrants were entering America. He met them as they read of the opioid crisis and illegal immigrants in their paper.

The best politicians make everyone in the room feel like the most important person there, maybe like the only person there. I have read that Bill Clinton and Tony Blair had this ability. To be sure, I haven’t read it of Donald Trump but for all his deficiencies, he is clearly able to connect with people.

Of course, there will be people who support him out of ill will towards others but I don’t think for a minute that is anything other than a minority of voters. Most of them simply want a leader who ‘sees’ them, and who in the seeing will make their lives better.

That’s fair enough, but how did America get to the stage where her people felt so bad that Trump became their best option?

Jobs Gone and Going: I guess the current decline started with the financial crisis in 2008. However, crises don’t come out of nowhere; they happen when a fault in the system finally reaches breaking point. If that is accurate, when did the decline start? I don’t know
Changing Morals and Mores: People turned to Trump because they were unable to keep up with the fast pace of progressive social beliefs (look at how fast transgenderism has become accepting compared to how long it took gay rights). They didn’t understand the changes and so could not accept them (or maybe just disagreed with them
Drugs / Migrants: The 1980s? That was when the ‘war on drugs’ started. But drugs have been wreaking havoc on Americans since long before then, maybe from the 60s? As for migrants, I confess I don’t know

If Trump is the product, as it were, of historical currents in America, maybe Putin is the same in Russia. And indeed, it does feel a bit like that he is – in a manner of speaking – not only channeling Russia’s communist-imperialist past but also its Tsarist one; he is a nationalist, after all. Aided and abetted by the fact that the country has no democratic tradition to hold him in check (as it does Trump) his foreign actions are all part of an attempt to, well, Make Russia Great Again just as she was in the age of her former leaders. The question now is will he be able to bend those currents to his will or will he ultimately be swept away by them. The same question could be asked of Trump and the MAGA movement in America.

image
Ivan Bandura (@unstable_affliction) | unsplash.com

The End of The Way

Posted on 5th Aug 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Last weekend, I finally got round to finishing watching The Way. It only took twice as long to do so as actually walking the Camino Francés, but never mind, I’ve made it to the end!

When I started the film, one of the things I wanted to do was use these posts to point out the various mistakes that the film makes: characters walking in the wrong direction such as we saw last time out, etc. Because I love the film so much, however, I ended up not only doing that but also rationalising the characters’ actions so that their mistakes did not need to be seen as such after all.

Still, as it turns out, I haven’t needed to do half as much rationalising as I thought I would. Indeed, in this last portion of the film, I haven’t needed to do any at all. A shame. I rather enjoyed the creative reasoning!

Pilgrim Luxury
So, to resume and conclude. When I finished the last portion of the film, Tom and co. were standing outside the splendid Parador de Turismo in León. Nothing in this film speaks more to Tom being very well off than the fact that not only does he stay the night in this luxury hotel but pays for Yoost, Sarah, and Jack to do so as well. No doubt he paid the extra for Sarah’s beauty treatment as well.

Once in the hotel, the four come together in Tom’s room. Here, the tensions that have divided them all film come to an end. The tension started when Yoost sat down uninvited at Tom’s table in Saint Jean Pied de Port, and reached its peak outside Torres del Rio when Sarah punched the latter as both of them reached down to pick up the box containing Daniel’s ashes. All that divided them is now forgotten as the four share a drink and laugh together.

Friends Looking Out for Each Other
After leaving León we see the film takes us forward to the group’s arrival at the Cruz de Ferro. The Iron Cross is surely the most iconographic point of the Camino Francés outside Santiago itself and is given an appropriate amount of screen time. We don’t simply see the characters stop to admire the cross or be thoughtful, etc. Sarah tries to say the prayer she has brought all the way from Canada to read at its foot. The moment overwhelms her so Tom reads it instead.

The pilgrims are now not only friends but their lives are, in a sense, becoming intertwined. We see this more fully a moment later when Tom stops to deposit more of Daniel’s ashes. At the start of the film, he made sure to do this away from the others. Now, it is not only in full view of them but with them as participants in the action. Yoost, Sarah, and Jack are all drinking beer. When Tom looks towards them, they raise their bottles in salute.

Signs of the Time

In the photo above, you can see the signs indicating the distance to various (pilgrim) destinations. This is a real signpost. Well, maybe. Here is the signage as I saw it in 2019:

In the film, Tom and the others pass the signposts in the very next scene after the Cruz de Ferro. In 2019, I thought this meant that the two locations were right next to each other. In actual fact, the signposts are a little further down the road.

Choose Life
At O Cebreiro, Jack tells Tom that while at university, he wanted to be a writer like W.B. Yeats, or James Joyce. He ended up, however, being a travel magazine writer. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” he says, “It’s the life I chose.” This statement puts Jack in disagreement with Daniel Avery who says to his father before leaving to travel around the world. “You don’t choose a life, dad; you live one.” So, who is in the right? Are both of them? Neither of them? That is left for the viewer to decide.

Meeting St. James
The group arrive in Santiago. Their arrival at the cathedral is a really touching scene. My favourite moment here is seeing the mighty Botafumeiro in action. The size of the thing make it an amazing sight to see as it swings from side to side right across the transept. Speaking as a Catholic my heart jumps with joy when I see the incense smoke billow out. According to the Faith, it is a sign of our prayers going up to God. Every time I watch the film, I pray this line from Psalm 102: ‘O Lord hear our prayers, and let our cries come unto you’. The Way is the only film that inspires such a religious action in me.

From Santiago to Muxia for the conclusion of the film. Sadly, I can’t speak to this (fleeting) section of the film as my friends and I took a coach to Finisterre (a day’s walk down the coast from Muxia). I would have loved to have kept walking, but we wanted to spend three days there and both time and money were against us. Next time!

As for the film, the penultimate scene takes place outside the Santuario de la Virgen de Barca looking out to sea. Here, Tom spreads the remainder of Daniel’s ashes across the rocks, soon to be consumed by the sea. Unfortunately, we learn no more about why Ishmael thought it so important for Tom to come here. As soon as the last of the ashes have gone, Tom puts his hands together in prayer. What happened to the bag? He doesn’t seem to drop it but the way the film is edited it doesn’t look like he has put it into his pocket, either. And yet, this is what must have happened.

Simple But Profound
The Muxia scene gives us a most beautiful piece of dialogue between Tom and Daniel.

Tom: “I came here to bring you home. I don’t have anything to take back.”
Daniel: “Yeah, you do.”

Yeah you do. I love how Emilio Estevez delivers this line. He fills it with so much meaning. Beautiful. He is referring, of course, to Tom’s memories. But surely also to Tom’s new friendships, and renewed religious faith.

So, there we are, the end of the film. In the final scene, we see Tom on pilgrimage once more in Marrakesh. With The Way 2 in pre-production here’s hoping it becomes a segue into a sequel as good as the original picture! However many mistakes it happens to make, I will – God willing – be there on opening day for it. I owe Emilio Estevez so, so much. Here’s to not too much time passing before I watch The Way again.

From Darkness to Light

Posted on 15th Jul 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

It is nearly a month since my last Way post. I have finally stopped procrastinating, scrolling, and displacing and put the film back on. This morning, I watched it from Tom and co.’s night in the wild after their hasty exit from Torres del Rio to their arrival in León.

In this section of the film (specifically from 1:07:08 to 1:33:12), Tom hits rock bottom. Firstly, a misunderstanding leads Sarah to punch him. Then, he gets drunk and starts verbally abusing his friends. When he falls over, the police come to help pick him up. In his drunken state, however, Tom thinks he is being assaulted and takes a wild swing at them. This leads to him being arrested. Finally, in Burgos a young gypsy boy steals his backpack – and Daniel’s ashes; everything ends well but for a while it looks like Tom’s Camino is over. Without the ashes he has no reason to continue.

Across the Vineyard

Following on from Tom and Sarah’s set-to (either the same day or within a day or two after), we see Tom, Yoost, Jack, and Sarah crossing the vineyard above. To the best of my knowledge (although I know it isn’t perfect), there is no point on the Camino Francés when pilgrims need to do this. I would be surprised if there was: vineyards are private property, after all. It makes a great shot, however, and I guess that is why it is included in the film.

Would it be possible for there to be an in-film reason why Tom and co. would trespass in this way? Definitely: they realised they had taken a wrong turning and the vineyard afforded the quickest way back on to the correct path. It is admittedly unfortunate that not only are they walking far too casually for people on someone’s land but Yoost has even grabbed a bunch of grapes! But hey, no one appears to be around to tell them off, and the grapes do look awfully inviting. Plus, there are ever so many of them: a handful won’t be missed. Yoost is being naughty but worse things happen at sea.

Tom Gets Busted
As I mentioned above, Tom is arrested after he gets drunk during lunch. Busted. Orr is he? He is certainly carted off to the police station but we don’t actually see him being formally arrested. In the next scene, we find him as below, handcuffed to a radiator in the reception area of the police station. If Tom had been arrested, I would expect to see him in a cell. Maybe the police just left him there to sober up before paying the fine for his behaviour. This seems a rather too informal way for the Spanish police to deal with a drunk, especially one who – even if wholly ineffectually – took a swing at them, but it does allow the film to get Tom into trouble then make everything alright so that the pilgrimage can continue with no further consequences.

Anyway, how long is Tom at the police station for? This isn’t made clear. If he was taken no further than the reception area, however, I would suggest that it is no longer than a few hours: just long enough for him to get sober and consider the error of his ways. Certainly, when he leaves the station, the light outside is a bit dimmer and the group immediately enter a building which, with pilgrims sitting outside, we can take to be an albergue.

Tom’s Rosary
A few days later, Tom and co arrive in Burgos. There, they run into some pilgrim friends, including Fr. Frank (Matt Clark). Tom shows him the rosary beads that the priest gave him when they first met and says happily, “They’ve come in handy.”

This is a fascinating scene to think about because Tom, as he says to Ishmael (Antonio Gil) that night, he is ‘not a very religious man’. There is no surprise here: when Fr. Sandoval (Joe Torrenueve) asks Tom if he would like to pray with him at the start of the film (just after Tom has received the bad news about Daniel), Tom replies, disconsolately, “What for?”.

Regarding the scene with Fr. Sandoval, however, it is worth noting that it takes place in a church. Tom is there contemplating what has happened, no doubt arguing with God as well. He may not be very religious, but he does have a religious sensibility. It lead him to the church rather than anywhere else and it leads him to understand the value of the rosary beads.

Muxia
During their conversation, Ishmael tells Tom to take Daniel’s ashes to Muxia and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Barca. There, he says, for himself and Daniel, he should deposit the ashes into the sea. Why? Not for religious reasons – Ishmael is very clear on that point. Unfortunately, he doesn’t explain his reasoning any further. My in-universe guess is that the area of the Sanctuary has some significance either to Ishmael or to gypsies as a whole. Maybe this is true in real life as well.

Carrión de los Condes
We come to the one ‘mistake’ in this portion of The Way!

Here are Tom and co. walking right to left past the Monasterio San Zoilo (which, I think, is now a hotel) on the outskirts of Carrión de los Condes.

All well and good, but the hotel is on the pilgrim’s way out of Carrión de los Condes rather than on their way in. Tom and the others are, therefore, walking back into the town when they should be leaving it.

I placed the word mistake in inverted commas above because you could argue that they are on their way back into town after leaving it having decided, actually, our destination is too far up the road: let’s stay here, after all. The fact that the above scene takes place as part of a montage makes this very easy to say. The only drawback is that they would surely only go back into Carrión if they were too tired to carry on to their intended destination. In the scene, however, they are walking very purposefully. My answer to that is that having decided to go back into town, they are enjoying their second wind!

So, there we are. I now have half an hour of The Way to go, and look forward to watching it very soon. I have enjoyed writing this post, and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. The Camino continues to give both in fact and fiction.

The Heat is On

Posted on 20th Jun 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

London is currently enjoying the hot weather she has waited all winter for. As I write these words, the time is coming up to 6am and the temperature is already 18 degrees. The forecast is for a high of 28 today. That is lower than yesterday’s 31 but still high enough.

If you live in a hotter country, of course, you’ll be laughing at me. 28? That’s cold for us! I’m not jealous of anyone who scoffs at 28 degrees. I know that if I lived in their country, I would melt on a daily basis.

Last night, I thought the heat had got to me when I tried to buy a book from a self-published author’s website. The book, a paperback, was a slightly expensive but on the whole acceptable £16,99. However, the P&P was an mighty £7,99 Second Class. I like this author’s books and really want to support them but that fee was too much, especially since the book would only be coming from one part of London to another. I don’t know how the Royal Mail stays in business with these prices (First Class postage and packing, by the way, was £9,99).

What about the book? Well, as it is self-published it won’t be in the established book shops. There is one where I might find it, and so it is to there that I will head. Yes, yes, I should have gone there first but the heat is hot, man!

In late 2018/early 2019, when I started preparing for my Camino, the first YouTuber pilgrim I discovered was Efrén González. He walked the Camino Francés in 2017 recording his experience from start to finish, and I watched each video – taking notes – to get a sense of what the journey would be like. This week, without really meaning to, I started watching the series again. It has been like visiting an old friend for the first time in years. Doubly so because not only am I meeting (in a manner of speaking) Efrén again, but I am also getting to visually catch up with the French Route and become reacquainted with the places I visited. Efrén is such a gentle and friendly host, and the Camino Francés such a beautiful route that it has become the perfect way to start each hot and dreamy day.

The photograph up top was taken by me and is an altar dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. It can be found at St. Patrick’s church in Soho Square.

The illustration of Christopher Robin and co. comes from a card once given to me. CRM knows how to spend his summer days wisely.

I started writing this post just before 6am. It is now heading towards 8am. The temperature has now reached 20 degrees.

The Way After Pamplona

Posted on 18th Jun 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Welcome to Part Three of my thoughts and observations on The Way. You can read Part One here, and Part Two here.

On vs About
By the time Tom and Yoost leave Pamplona we are already 45 minutes into the film. Just over an hour and a quarter remains. That is not much time to cover the rest of the Camino Francés. In case you think this is bad plotting, it’s worth saying that although The Way is set on the Camino Francés, it is not about Camino Francés. What it is, is about the characters and how they find healing from the traumas they bring to their pilgrimage. Don’t watch the film and expect to see all the major locations of the Camino Francés represented. No few are but as we have already seen, the film is as happy to film away from the real life French Route as it is on it.

Climbing a Hill Downwards
After leaving Pamplona, Tom and Yoost meet sarcastic Sarah. She and Yoost hit it off immediately. Tom, as you might imagine, is less enthusiastic to see her again. Despite this, she starts walking with them.

Between Zariquiegui and the top of the Alto del Perdón, Sarah complains about Tom walking so fast. The camera cuts to this shot of him being guilty as charged:

I mention this here because the camera gives the impression that Tom has gone down an incline and is now at the bottom of a slope. My memory of this section of the Francés is that it is uphill all the way. I am not going to call this a mistake on the film’s part, however, as I know that after six years, I may just have forgotten the points at which this section goes down as well as up.

Good Jeans
Presently, the three reach the top of the Alto and come to its iconic pilgrim sculpture. It was at this point in watching the film that I remembered another ‘unusual’ fact about it: Both Sarah and Yoost are wearing jeans:

There’s nothing wrong with wearing jeans but I wouldn’t recommend them. Too few pockets and too sweaty for a long pilgrimage.

The Camino as a Numbers Game
On what is presumably the next day (you can never be sure with film edits), Tom, Sarah, and Yoost meet the man who will become the fourth and final member of their Camino family: Jack from Ireland (so called because that is how he introduces himself to them). Jack, too, is wearing jeans. It must have been the vogue in 2010. Happily, at least for me, Yoost is now wearing proper hiking trousers. Perhaps one of these days I might watch the film with an eye to what each character is wearing. I started my Camino with three pairs of trousers (of, I need not add, the hiking type). I quickly got rid of the third, however, as my backpack was too heavy. I wonder if we see Yoost et al wearing the same two or three things throughout their journey or if the film allows them to go beyond that.

Friendly Fields
By and by, Tom and co. meet Jack in a field that looks more like part of the Meseta than Navarre countryside. The hills in the distance, however, tell me that they are still in the latter region. What is interesting about the meeting, though, is that at the start of the scene, we see Sarah and Yoost sleeping on some bales of hay and Tom walking past them as if returning from somewhere else. He looks up and sees Jack throwing his stick around in frustration (he is suffering from writer’s block). How did the three not see him when they stopped in the field? Maybe Jack arrived after them. But if he did, why did he not say hello? Maybe, because of his frustration, he didn’t want to. But if so, why is he more than happy to do so upon seeing the three a moment later (okay, you could argue that maybe he had to after accidentally throwing his stick at them, but he doesn’t act like someone greeting people because he now feels obliged to). Where has Tom been? They are in the middle of the open countryside – there aren’t exactly many places to go. Perhaps he was sleeping but woke a moment earlier to go to the toilet. If so, why didn’t he see Jack then? So many questions! My suspicion here is that the film’s script is at fault. However, I am going to suggest that Jack does indeed arrive after Tom, Sarah, and Yoost, and that he is so engrossed in his own thoughts that he doesn’t see them. And neither does Tom when he wakes up. Why? Because the bale of hay that he was resting on was behind some others. Jack, therefore, was out of sight and too far away for a sleepy Tom to hear as he rolled off the bale and relieved himself.

Camino Angles
Finally, I want to come back to Tom, Sarah, and Yoost on their way up to the Alto del Perdón. After writing it above, I watched the scene again and realised that when Sarah and Yoost look towards Tom, even though the camera shot of him gives the impression that he is lower down the valley, they are looking straight ahead. That makes more sense but I wish the camera shot of him reflected the way they are looking at him.

Finally finally, isn’t that a beautiful view behind Sarah? It really is as nice as that. Here is a photo I took of the same in 2019:

Gosh, I love the Camino!

Continuing Along The Way

Posted on 4th Jun 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Read Part One Here
(here be spoilers!)

Tom’s Trials and Yoost’s Far Flying Stone
Tom and Yoost leave Roncesvalles together. Considering how deep in his grief Tom is at this point, how much he wants to be alone, it is a wonder that he lasts five minutes with the intrusive Dutchman. In light of that, you could argue that their walking together is unrealistic but I would sooner say that it happens because (a) Tom is too polite to tell Yoost to go away, and (b) even in his grief, his inherent friendliness is breaking through. We see it again in the way he refuses to rise to Sarah’s bait at the villa that evening.

By mid-afternoon, Tom is exhausted and decides to stop for the night at the villa. Yoost, however, elects to continue on; Pamplona, he tells Tom, is just ‘a stone[‘s] throw away’. However, as we shall find out, this is entirely incorrect.

The next morning, Tom sets off once more. At some point the following afternoon, he pauses for a rest on a bridge. He takes his backpack off only to see it fall into the river below. Had it not contained Daniel’s ashes he might have (and would have been sensible to) let it go. Their presence, however, mean that that is not an option. Tom runs downstream, plunges into the water and successfully retrieves everything.

We don’t know when in the afternoon this accident happens. It would be tempting to place it late in the afternoon since we see Tom still wringing out his clothes at dusk but when he is on the bridge it looks no later than mid-afternoon. Perhaps it took him a while to wring his clothes although given that he should have no more than a couple of sets of everything that is unlikely. Maybe he rested first. The river was a strong one, after all, and it took him a fair bit of effort to recover the backpack. After doing so, he could easily have taken off the wet clothes that he was wearing and covered himself under his sleeping bag or something else.

Either way, if Yoost had been correct and Pamplona really was just a stone’s throw away from the villa, Tom should have reached it either before but certainly by mid-afternoon. No only does he not do so, he doesn’t reach the city until mid-morning at the earliest on the following day, the second after leaving the villa.

How should we interpret Yoost’s mistake? Well, it’s simple. There was no mistake. Yoost was deliberately exaggerating. We know that he knows how far away Pamplona is because while still at Roncesvalles he tells Tom that Pamplona is ‘a couple days’ away. Yoost doesn’t like being alone. He makes a big exaggeration to try and keep Tom’s company. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.

Where are the villa and the river relative to Pamplona?
As I mentioned above, by the time he reaches the villa, Tom is exhausted. That would imply a full day’s walking. In real life, this would take Tom at least as far as Zubiri or Larrasoaña (depending on his pace). In that eventuality, Tom would be able to reach Pamplona the next day by mid-morning or lunch, which is exactly what he does. Indeed, he is reunited with Yoost while the latter is eating his own lunch at a restaurant.

Sarah’s Slowness
Sarah, the Canadian pilgrim whom Tom meets at the villa, tells him that it has taken her ten days to make it this far. We are not told explicitly the reason for this but her addiction to nicotine is heavily implied to be the answer. Despite this, it is clear from this scene and all subsequent ones that Sarah is actually in good health. She never wheezes or tires and is able to carry quite a large backpack. So, what could be the reason for her slowness? I don’t think she is lying. It is clear from their conversation thus far, which has on Sarah’s part been openly antagonistic, that she doesn’t care what Tom thinks about her. For the same reason, I don’t think she is exaggerating. What I would like to suggest has happened is that from wherever she started (presumably another French village) she has walked more slowly than she is capable of and taken more rests than she has actually needed using her chain smoking as an excuse. It is also possible that the emotional turmoil arising from her abortion, the real reason for her pilgrimage, is likewise slowing her down.

Walking Backwards
On the day Tom leaves the villa, we see him taking lunch at the Refuge Orisson. All very well, except that Orisson is in the Pyrenees, a few hours out of Saint Jean Pied de Port! To get there, Tom would have had to walk back the way he has come for two days.

As the film progresses we will see other scenes that, in terms of walking the real Camino Francés, don’t make sense. For example, in one scene we really do see Tom et al walking back the way they should have (and would in real life) just come. Speaking of the French Route, some of the scenes take place away from the real life path. Neither the villa or river, for example, are on the actual Camino Francés. This isn’t a mistake. Emilio Estevez’s primary purpose (as both writer and director of the film) is to tell Tom’s story. Everything else is subservient to that. The story takes place on the Camino Francés but because the film is not about the actual physical route he can afford to mix the real French Route with paths and places that, while they are not part of it, still provide an impression of what it is like. If you would like to watch a Camino film that takes place entirely on the actual Camino Francés, I recommend The Way, My Way (2024).

The Day of the Jackal

Posted on 1st Jun 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

Read The Day of the Jackel! As advice goes, this piece is probably completely redundant: Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 political thriller is an absolute classic and I may be the last one to read it. Not just me but my mother also as it has been our breakfast book for the last two months.

In case you don’t know the book, it is about a mysterious hitman known only as the Jackal who is hired to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle on Liberation Day in Paris in 1963. Once the French authorities get wind of what is happened a detective named Claude Lebel is ordered to find him.

Lebel is a brilliant detective but the Jackal is not only a brilliant hitman but even better at disguising himself. Thanks to this skill, his ruthlessness, good luck, and moles the Jackal closes in on Paris and his target…

Now, we know that de Gaulle was never assassinated so – spoiler alert – the Jackal doesn’t succeed in killing him. The book, however, is not so much about the actual attempt on ‘old Charlie’s’ life, although it is in there, but how the Jackal gets into a position to be able to take the shot. Forsyth takes us from the Jackal’s hiring to the moment of the shot with forensic precision: the Jackal’s disguises, his fake identity documents, where he gets his gun from, his movements across France are all covered in detail. Forsyth is so precise it rather disturbingly feels like you could launch your own assassination attempt using The Day of the Jackal as your guidebook.

If you prefer the visual arts, The Day of the Jackal is also a successful 1973 film with Edward Fox in the lead role and a 2024 TV series with Eddie Redmayne playing the Jackal. I haven’t seen either; if you have do let me know what you thought of them!

Finally, the book has a rather neat plot twist at the end which allows the book to end on a kind of high. All in all its a super read and well, well worth your time.

image: Abe Books

Of Churches, Pride, and Patients

Posted on 31st May 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

A few days ago I mentioned St. Philip Neri whose feast day it was last Monday. The week just gone saw two other significant feasts, that of the Venerable Bede last Sunday (25th), and St. Augustine of Canterbury on Tuesday (27th).

Bede spent his life as a monk in Jarrow and is famous today for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which, I think, everyone should read. I appreciate, however, that not everyone shares my love of the Anglo-Saxon age so maybe only read it if English or Church history is your thing. But, man, what a read! The tale of the sparrow that flies into the hall through one window and out through the other, to go who knows where, is a beautiful and poignant one.

As you may know, our new pope, Leo XIV, is an Augustinian. This order is named after St. Augustine of Hippo rather than of Canterbury, who helped found the English Catholic Church, and whose feast day was last Tuesday. Of course, the Faith was already here when Augustine and his missionaries arrived in AD 597 but the Church that we have today comes from him. The English Reformation, of course, means that the Church of England also traces its origin back to him.

Sticking to the spiritual theme, next week is a very significant time. Next Wednesday, 4th June, marks the 124th anniversary of Hilaire Belloc’s pilgrimage to Rome, recounted with aplomb in his most famous book The Path to Rome. Every year, I read Belloc’s account of his pilgrimage a day at a time, and this year – God willing – will be no different. I can’t wait to get stuck in.

On a sadder note, the next couple of weeks mark the 2,348th anniversary of the decline and death of Alexander the Great, which took place in 323 BC. It all began around the 31st May when he fell ill at a party given by his friend Medius. Was he poisoned or did the conqueror simply succumb to natural illness? Probably the latter, aggravated by the various injuries he suffered during his various campaigns. The problem with the poisoning hypothesis is that it first appeared in the years after Alexander’s death when it was in certain people’s (cough cough Olympias) interest to besmirch others (Cassander).

Not that Cassander needed any false allegations against him for anyone to know what a git he was, but that is a story for another day (and my Alexander blog). Oh, and obviously, please excuse my French.

June is Pride Month so here is something always worth saying:

I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before, but I have an on-going project at the moment to try and visit all the churches in the City of London (you can follow it on my instagram page @sehnsuchtandwine). I found the above card at St. Mary at Hill on Lovat Lane. The church is also used by the Lutheran church and by them is called St. Anne’s. Does it really have two names? I must check that out as it seems a bit unusual. Anyway, the Word is Out and I am happy to repeat it: God loves us all!

Speaking of Pride, the big march is not until the start of July this year. I don’t know if I will go along this time round. I still remember how corporate it seemed last year, and also political. I can understand why the Palestinian cause might feel relevant to many in the LGBTQ community but surely it is its own thing and shouldn’t by bundled up with LGBTQ rights. Especially since a free Palestine would probably not be a pro-LGBTQ place. However, I know that here I am discussing a very delicate matter and that, ultimately, I did not mind the political element to Pride.

The other two photographs in this post were also taken by me. The first is another product of my City Church project, and was taken this week at St. Magnus the Martyr church on Lower Thames Street. Actually, let me show you St. Magnus, standing with his instrument of execution: an axe.

If you zoom in you might see his horned helmet. The vikings never had them. Their origin lies with Richard Wagner.

The second photo in this post is of three aeroplanes flying over Duxford airfield. I was fortunate to be able to attend a flying day there a few weeks ago. We saw spitfires and other assorted planes, including biplanes, which I enjoyed immensely as they reminded me of The English Patient. I have been listening to the sound track a lot these past few days. Another viewing of the film might be in order.

A Good Read

Posted on 29th May 2025 by sehnsuchtandwine

I have been following the Monk Mindset account on Tik Tok and Instagram for a while now. I don’t know who runs the company but they are very good at distilling the spiritual life of monks into their posts. They also enjoy a little humour. For example:

Of course the little doggo is wearing a Franciscan habit, and quite naturally the Dominican wears glasses!

The real reason I mention Monk Mindsets and this post in particular, however, is because of the Carmelite ‘starter pack’. You’ll notice the book in the bottom right hand corner: the Liturgy of the Horus. This is certainly a typo, but it is a funny one – as if a Carmelite might spend time reading an ancient Egyptian text – and I wish I could have shown it to my friend Christine who died last year. She was a Secular (Third Order) Carmelite and I’m sure would have loved the typo as well. So, the joke brings happy and sad memories to mind, a chance to pray for and to, and is a reminder to love more. All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.