Spanish Signorita

There I am sitting at the bar in O'Cerbreiro, waitjing for the overworked and underpaid (and it is FAR too early for any self-respecting Spaniard to be out of bed) bar tender to serve me. I have nothing on her when it comes to early morning blues- she is SO GRUMPY. All the used plates get banged around, the dishwasher is flung open, loaded and slammed shut and she totally ignores whoever is waiting at the bar for the paltry 'cafe con leche and tostada'. Hence this is repeated 3x and all the crockery and cutlery is sparkly clean as she hasn't actually given anyone a drink in a long while. The whole shenanigan reminds of the electric bus service in Zermatt where the point of the bus service is not to transport people at all- oh no, it is to be ON TIME! So if the bus is running late it just drives past all the queueing people until it catches up with its time schedule when it will deign to actually stop again and pick a passenger up!
She has ignored us all for so long that there is an enormous queue to pay 3 euros for a piece of toast and a coffee. The pelegrinos, who are normally so good tempered are also fed up waiting and the general atmosphere is a little tense. This is the only bar open at 6.30am.
Eventually it is my turn so I put in my order only to be requested by a friend to order for 2 other people as well. That is a step too far for this signorita so in return I recieve a mouthful in Spanish, which , blissfully, I understand not a word.
There I sit with 3 coffees, two of them doubles and a cafe con leche. At first I expect said friends to arrive any moment, after a while I cover the cups with the saucers and then, after a pointed finger and another mouthful of myrthful Spanish from our signorita, I start to drink all the coffee.This pleases the signorita no end especially as having downed all 3 coffees my friends arrive and she can go through the whole delaying process all over again. The problem is I am actually buzzing by now, so much so that I do not stop for another coffee all morning,-which is how I get to meet John.
John is from Melbourne, Australia and has been travelling as a life occupation for the last 5 years since he decided to retire early. He is married but is pragmatic as to this saying he would not BE married today if he was required to stay at home. He spends many months living in other countries across the world and he is rather reluctant to disclose how all this works with family and married life generally. As usual on The Camino we get talking about the deeper things of life quickly and without needing to know anything about him I am urged onto a conversation about affairs and adultery.
He talks in the 3rd person, he discusses 'friends' and their problems and their different takes on such matters and he keeps it all at arms length whilst apparently discussing this topic. I share my own story briefly and he seems very intense in his listening. He wants to know what the living reality of 'the grace of Christ' means to me, which is surprising as he believes in 'nada, nothing'. He is not perturbed by the thought of death. He never thinks or dwells on the spiritual. He does not believe in a Creator of any kind. None of it concerns him. Neither of us argues or disputes any point of the other and after a short while he says he is going to stop for a while so I go on.
Later, whilst I am eating my squid and salad John walks by. I think nothing of it until 10 mins later he re-appears and says 'Kate, that conversation- it was really something else. Thank you. Goodbye!'
I have no idea what it meant to him and I don't need to. It was a 'passing in the night' to me.
Much love, Kate