1. This is a short thread for @Boltonbhoy, @DKMacPhee, @CelticDylan9. Hello, bhoys. A tough October. My hope is that this may cheer you up a wee bit. I came across a columnist called José Peláez who has become a bit of a sensation in El Norte de Castilla this year.

2. He says things we might not agree with (politically), but he writes beautifully about Castile and about Valladolid and it will make you very nostalgic. He has a favourite bar near the old college, specifically very near San Andrés, where we used to go every November 30.

3. The bar is called El Colmao de San Andrés, and he makes it sound amazing. It wasn’t there in our day, but, amigos, that was a long time ago. I looked it up and something really caught my eye. The bar is in a street called Calle del Parroco Domicio Cuadrado. Familiar name?

4. Domicio was the parish priest of San Andrés when I arrived in 1980 and, it seems, had been for years, so maybe you will remember him too. I recall John McCaig talking about Domicio’s ability to connect with his people and having a street named after him suggests he was loved.

5. The laugh is that, when we went round there for the feast, Fr Tommy Holleran always told us the same story, ahead of meeting up with Domicio.

Tommy, as you will recall, was part of the first cohorts to go to Valladolid after the civil war and WWII. The first first-years since 1933 went in 1950, and (DK) included the late Bishop Ian Murray. Wee Tommy went in 1951. He coincided at the seminary in Valladolid with Domicio.

6. Every year, as in our time, the Scots played the boys from the seminary at football. Wee Tommy went up for a high ball and basically stuck the heid on Domicio and knocked him out cold, sparking a square-go. Paddy-Joe Byrne, Tommy’s classmate and great pal, was in goal.

7. Big Paddy-Joe was holding people off at arm’s length from getting to Tommy and 30 years on, Tommy had total recall of the event. He told us that Domicio told me later that Tommy was not to blame. The sun was shining and everyone’s vision was impaired.

8. We would be heading round to San Andrés and Tommy would be telling the tale and, at this point, he said: “What Domicio said to me later was, ‘Tomás, I couldn’t see you, so I think it’s fair to say that you couldn’t see me.’” And in we went for the feast day Mass.

9. Peláez talking about El Colmao de San Andrés brought this all back and I thought I’d share it. You can read some of his columns online at @nortecastilla and he has written a diary of 2020 at https://magnificomargarito.com/2020/03/19/diario-del-confinamiento/ and, after lockdown, at https://magnificomargarito.com/2020/05/17/digresiones-de-la-nueva-normalidad/