Many posts were requests for transport advice. Why oh why don’t they do a search or check on Grant Spangler’s website ?
Wednesday 20th August:
Spanair MD 82 Flight 5022 skidded off the runway in
Misc: Backpack weight: costs on the camino: bed bugs: sandals: credentials… nothing really new.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saintjames/messages?o=1
24 messages in August and 11 so far in September.
How many are new messages and how many were replies to these posts?
Rosina Wachtel has posted 7 X 2007 stats on the forum – WHY?? - perhaps because it has been so quiet lately. (No replies as yet)
The good Rosina did post the latest 2008 June/July stats (which can be found on the www.Archicompostela.org website.)
86 year old Robert Spenger announced that he is off on trip # 5.
There were 8 replies – most wishing old Bob a buen camino.
You can see a video of “Uncle Bob’ on the Indoor Rowing website –
http://indoor-rowing.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
Sue Kenney, the Canadian ex-rower who has built a business out of ‘paddling 
her own canoe’ on the camino, announced that she was doing a one-woman theatrical show on the camino . (See her website at http://www.suekenney.ca/order.html - there was a time you could watch an extract of her DVD video Las Peregrinas...the women who walk, but it seems that this is no longer possible.
No replies.
Sue reminds me of this 1851 poem:
Nothing great is lightly won,
Nothing won is lost,
Every good deed, nobly done,
Will repay the cost.
Leave to Heaven, in humble trust,
All you will to do:
But if succeed, you must
Paddle your own canoe.
Paddle Your Own Canoe - Sarah Bolton, 1851
Silvia - the member with MPD - aka Sil - aka Sillydoll - aka Camino Pilgrim- announced that a pilgrim was doing a north-south VDLP to raise money for an illness suffered by his deceased mother. (Everyman has his or own reason for walking el camino).
No replies.
The girl with MPD has a not so bad blog at http://www.amawalker.blogspot.com/
The latest post is on Costs. She forgot to mention, however, that a bottle of
Bugs reared their ugly little heads again on the forums. 6 replies.
Recommendations ranged from:
Sawyer Clothing repellent - developed in cooperation with the U.S. Military, government agencies:
Lavender oil
Diatomaceous earth is very effective against them; it punctures their exoskeleton and they simply dehydrate. Normal bug repellents seem to have no effect, so you can't protect yourself while sleeping.
… and - "They are attracted to Carbon Dioxide, so if you just stop exhaling they might leave you alone." Yeah, right!!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Santiagobis/
174 messages in August (306 in 2007) 70 in September to date.
Bed bugs, snoring, plastic bags, kindness ......
Jesus Jato's albergue: A lively discussion on Jesus Jato's albergue in Villafranca del Bierzo. One peregrina complained about noisy peregrinos keeping her up night and early morning. Most replies were in defense of Ave Fenix and its policy not to open the gates until 7am.
Costs in France was another lively post. Seems that it can cost between 1 1/2 and 2 times as much in France as walking in Spain. Viva Espana!
Plastic Bags to be outlawed in Spain? According to Lillian Alicia: Well, starting January 1st 2010, plastic bags will be outlawed in Spain. That's music to the ears!
Well, disposable plastic bags - those dished out at supermarkets - have been phased out in many countries but I can't see general plastic bags being outlawed.
And, according to Wiki: In Spain, supermarkets give free plastic bags except some as Día which charge between 5 and 20c per bag. Recently, Spanish Government wants to adopt the National Plan of Integrated Waste which has among its objectives in 2010 to ban plastic bags single-use non-biodegradable.
Spain is the leading producer of plastic bags for a single use and the third consumer in Europe. Each year are distributed 10,500 million plastic bags in Spain, equivalent to 96,000 tons. 62% of plastic bags are reused as garbage bags and 10% are recycled through the yellow containers. But most of them finish their lives in landfills or worse still at sea.
http://www.pilgrimage-to-santiago.com/194 posts in one month. Some, like those on bed bugs, have had over 1 500 replies and 34 had ZERO replies. (I'm sure a statistician or social anthropologist could make some sense of this little bit of trivia.)
Ok, most posts were the usual directions/boots, feet. socks, albergues, weather etc etc. Here is a list of some of the posts that did not attract any replies:
Litter on the Camino - 80 views
Albergue Closures in Extremadura - 128 views
Castles in Spain - 84 views
Pilgrims & Pilgrimage CD Rom - 79 views
Buy shares in a Camino Movie for 30 euro - 92 views
Dormitory rooms in Madrid - 95 views
New 3-in-one Camino Cycling guide - 63 views
1230 Anniversary of the Battle of Roncesvalles - 73 views
200,000 to attend mass in Lourdes on 14 September - 74 views
New Swedish site - 90 views
List of cycle ways around the world - 90 views
Looking for Bernie from Canada - 102 views
North to South 800 miles - 139 views
Pilgrims office busy - 120 views
Georgiana's Gems - 139 views
Festival dos Abrazos in Santiago - 70 views
Georgiana's Gems 2 - 126 views
Filipino Catholics home pilgrimage - 68 views
Pilgrimage to Heresy - 103 views
A day in a refuge - 107 views
Less pilgrims July 2008 than 2007 - 101 views
Live blog from St Jean - 161 views
Zoom and other airlines - 69 views
Blog Le Puy to Santiago - 70 views
Lost pilgrims - 72 views
Camino Wiki reborn - 88 views
Detour from Leon Sept 27th - 79 views
June and July stats - 64 views
Strong winds and rain - 52 views
Camino still busy - 130 views
Georgiana's Gems 6 - 50 views
The most replies to a post (besides the Class of 2008 which has has had 10,700 views and 509 replies) is Bahai Graffiti with 1949 views and 23 replies
BED BUGS is a close second with 1550 views and 21 replies: Add to this Insect Alerts - 1173 views and 23 replies, and it says to me that most peregrinos are concerned with Graffiti and Bed Bugs:
Down in the country where I was born,
We'd go to church ev'ry Sunday mornin',
Then in the evening the lights would fade,
These are the words that my mama said:
"Children I hope you sleep tight,
And don't let the bedbugs bite,
If you should die before you wake,
Pray good God your soul will take."
Don't let the bedbugs bite ya,
Don't let the bedbugs bite ya,
Don't let the bedbugs bite ya.
Ivar announced that he has resurrected the Camino Wiki - so I took a little gander at it. In the past, a too informative FAQ's list could kill off an interactive forum (like Grant Spangler's forum) but I don't think the Forum is in any danger from this weak little wiki just yet. Grant Spangler's site has much more info (almost too much for the average peregrin to search through) but, perhaps a link to his website wouldn't hurt Ivar's Wiki.
The Feedburner on the Forum is quite useful if you want to save and share a topic on your Facebook.
So, to recap this month: Main topics - Bed Bugs, Overcrowding,
Posts
