Out of the blue about a month ago, I received a WhatsApp message from a lady with whom I’d had a brief fling 50 years before in San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa).
What a pleasant surprise! Did she want me back again after all these years? Don’t be daft – she saw a reference to me in a post on Facebook and thought she would get in touch.
I'm glad she did.
This is Barbara, back then, posing in front of Playa de la Concha in San Sebastián.
The Backstory
I studied Spanish and German at university and went to San Sebastián, now Donostia, for six months as part of my compulsory year abroad. This was 1970. I was 20 years old.
After taking a three-month course with my peers at the university in the Basque seaside resort, we had three months to do what we wanted – in Spain, of course.
I had managed to get a job with a local tourist agency, as a tour guide.
The company, DORFE, worked exclusively with Roman Catholic pilgrims from Britain and Ireland, who took tours to Lourdes in France. They then came on down to San Sebastián for a few days to let their hair down.
As Toni, my boss, explained, we were obliged to “empty their wallets”. We did so by offering them excursions and then selling the photos Alberto took of everybody. I was so successful at selling these trips: San Sebastian by Night; Loyola; and a Flamenco afternoon, that I was invited to come back for the high season in subsequent years.
This coincided with the summer holidays, and I did go back for several years, even after I graduated and started work as a teacher. It only stopped when I got married, in 1975.
My boss, Antonio Dorronsoro Feliner (Toni), hence the name of his company, DORFE, liked to employ pretty British and Irish girls in the office and I got to know many of them over the years. At my age, I fancied them all, of course, but did very little about it.
The other tour guides were all Spanish girls, and all gorgeous. One, Coro, I loved to bits, but she had a Spanish boyfriend. María was sexy and we had a brief liaison that went nowhere. Marisa was tantalising but was engaged to be married to Mariano. Amaya was older and certainly not interested in little ol’ me. Begoña, well, I think I missed my chance there. There were a couple of English girls in the office one year, but nothing clicked.
Then, one year, 1972 I think, there were three Irish girls in the office: Barbara, Pauline and Pearl. They were great fun, good-looking and, as always, I fancied all three!
This time I did something about it and enjoyed a short-lived relationship with Barbara before I had to return to England. We kept in touch, and I was looking forward to seeing her again the following summer when I went out to work in SanSe. But, she wasn’t there!
Coro
50 years later
It was Barbara who contacted me a month ago. She had seen a reference to me online and decided to get in touch. I’m glad she did. I rang her and we spoke for around two hours on the phone, the longest telephone call of my life!
I learned that these three Irish girls, who hadn’t known each other before going to work in San Sebastián, had remained great friends and from time to time met up in the city.
L to R in both photos: Barbara, Pearl and Pauline
They are good friends with Rosi, the widow of our boss, Toni.
Two
of them, Pearl and Barbara are going to be in San Sebastián at the end of October. I’m going to do my best to "pop up" and see them. That would be great. Trouble is, you can’t "pop up" to San Sebastián from Ronda. The two cities couldn’t be further apart. It’s a hell of a long way. By train is 16 hours; flights, there aren’t any direct ones; and by road it’s also a long way, necessitating an overnight stay. Plus, I have an important commitment here in Andalucia which clashes.
Next year perhaps …..
Rosi
© Pablo de Ronda
Tags: Antonio Dorronsoro Feliner, Barbara, Donostia, DORFE, Loyola, Pauline, Pearl, Rosi, SanSe, San Sebastián