Mark Liam Piggott

#MilitantFactionsQuotes 89:

We head north east to Soria, a small town in Castilla y Leon of Oi! graffiti and churches capped with the enormous nests of white storks and their broods. But I can’t take it in: I’ve been struck down with a combination of sun stroke and a heavy cold, and insist we stay in a pension: the Hotel Viena (36 euros), with cramped toilets, a bar, TV, and two soft beds.

To recover Hemingway would have jumped out of bed and wrestled a bear, or shot a fascist. I just lie and groan, allowing Lynda occasionally to dab at my brow with a damp cloth as I wait for the Paracetamol to work. It doesn’t take long - they’re soluble. I can’t swallow pills.

A real low point: I sneeze, and bang my head on the corner of the bed unit, puncturing the skin, snot everywhere. Hemingway would have taken a goat skin of wine to recover; I take Ibuprofen. Of course, Hemingway had the advantage that global warming hadn’t then been invented. He might have found blowing up a fascist bridge harder if he’d had to worry about applying Factor 4 to his moustache first.

-From " Fever Espana: the sun also surprises” (or, “The Road to Pamplona: Fiesta In A Clio)", a shorter version of which appeared in TNT Magazine (2002), and one of the stories in Mark Piggott's fiction/non-fiction collection "Militant Factions" available in paperback or Kindle from Amazon.

*From 20-24 December 2021, all four of my published books will be available FREE on Amazon Kindle.