Xavier Alcalá

Even though I like travelling, the most vivid and interesting memories I keep from my trips are not about places but about people. Living in a city where 35% of the residents are foreigners (unofficial figures are even higher), my girlfriend tells me that I would save a lot of money by travelling within Brussels instead of going abroad. Maybe she has a point. Last Saturday we were talking with an Indian engineer and on Sunday we had a party with a few other foreigners too. It is always refreshing making these contacts.

A few days ago I also had the chance to meet one of the many interesting people that pass by here: Xavier Alcala, a Spanish Telco Engineer and a renowned and prolific Galician writer. He heard about me and said he would like to meet me, so somebody –thank you Richard- arranged for us a Saturday morning breakfast at “Le Pain Quotidien”. We thought we had two things in common, but there was also a third one –affinity for Argentina- that we discovered during our conversation. First thing is we are both Engineers in Telecommunications. Well, he believes I am not, although I hold an official diploma. He asked me a few questions and I failed the exam, so he concluded that I should be a different kind of Engineer. I didn’t take it badly, because I’ve always seen myself as an Information Technology Engineer. Telecommunications alone don’t go very far in this converging world. It seems he is a purist and I am an eclectic, so I can only agree with his remarks. I’m even proud of them.

The other point was his interest in the Galician evangelicals and the repression during Franco dictatorship. He is busy with the final book of a trilogy about this topic, and he keeps collecting material, and interviewing people across the world. He has been to Argentina with a cameraman to record the stories of some exiles, and he is about to go the UK to interview some other witnesses of those days, all very old people. I was happy to give him some details of my family –which he wrote down carefully-, and that maybe he will use at some point. He wants to put together all the material in a documentary once he finishes with the book.

It made me think that it is such a pity not having recorded myself the stories of my grandmother Adelina. I used to question her for hours, trying to keep alive her memories before she died, but I never thought of using simple tape recorder. Shame on me. The stories of the simple woman she was, but heroine of faith and free conscious in a hostile world are today almost lost. Thankfully I do believe they are all written in the history Book of the one she venerated, a much more complete work than the ones Xavier is busy with.

They call it security...

(Warsaw, 10/Sep/06)

I’ve been travelling quite a bit this week, first Berlin, then London, and finally Warsaw. I am currently in Warsaw airport, on my way back to Brussels, and quite annoyed after all the security checks I had to go through. Almost two hours queuing. I don’t think I ever queued for so long in an airport. All because they check hand luggage thoroughly piece by piece looking for something that may be used as weapon or explosive. No toothpaste, no drinks, computers turned on and off in front of the officers, all that stuff after the alleged attacks in London a few weeks ago… In my opinion taking security to these levels is simply ridiculous. It is always possible to bring explosive or weapons in. For example, many laptops take can take two batteries. One can be a real one to switch the computer on in front of the police, and the second one a bomb. Unspottable. And even one battery can be manipulated. Typically they contain several units inside the same battery. The difference cannot be seen in X-rays. Explosives can be placed in plenty of places. It is a matter of imagination. Other dangers that are completely disregarded: crystal bottles. I bought a crystal bottle of juice at a café in the boarding area, and there are plenty of bottles of whiskey, champagne and other spirits for sale here. Each one of these can turn into a weapon just as plane cutlery was used to hijack the planes in 11-S. It’s only a matter of having one group of terrorists trying to use a new technique to create terror, and then the police will add the new idea to the already extensive list of potential dangers. Meanwhile, nobody checks what you carry when you travel by metro, by train, by bus, … And there have been examples of blasts in all of those means of transport.

I experienced another of those inconsistent security polices during the London trip. I took the Eurostar train under the Channel and they only made a quick scan of my luggage. I didn’t need to turn on my computer in front of the officers - which as I just learned is a requirement of strict application according to the Polish Police. Once in London, I moved around freely and I crossed the town in the tube without being questioned. Nevertheless on my way back my cab was stopped at a police checkpoint in the street. We had two dogs sniffing the car, and a chemical analysis of several surfaces around the driver’s seat. Never saw something like that. Anyway, no explosives found, so I could proceed with my trip back to Waterloo Station. Final surprise of the day, I was allowed to go back to Belgium without showing my ID card to anybody. Haven’t they heard about Shengen space of which the UK is not part of? Besides, I could bring in the train and through the X-ray scanner a bottle of water despite the sign saying otherwise outside the checkpoint. How to explain this laxity after the careful scrutiny in the cab? Random checks increase the statistical chances of finding terrorists, I agree, but I still cannot see how different corps can apply such different standards and especially where all this security paranoia is going to lead us to. Does the current terrorist threat in the Canary Wharf area justify policemen walking around with chemical labs? And two hours waiting at the “heavily threaten” Warsaw international airport?