The first thing that struck me was the dogs. They were everywhere.
A meeting place of Las Dalias in the heart of the Ibizan countryside for the Silver Mines Walk had a group of about 30 of us gathered to tackle the14km jaunt ahead. Collies, a Basset hound, a few smaller dogs whose breed I couldn’t identify, and a small white rough haired puppy accompanied us.
Attached to their owners by leads on the side of this busy road they were eager to be off. Greeting each other sometimes tentatively with a sniff here, a nose rub there, the occasional growl – overall blatant friskiness and exuberance was the shared canine mood.
I hopped into an Uber. One of my first. Would the driver be ‘black cab’ chatty, or would the whole process of booking a car through a phone app remove that human element?
I arrived five minutes early and asked the librarian where the writing group was meeting. She pointed to a corner where two elderly people sat – one reading the newspaper, another with a large stack of books indicating fervent research. “It starts at six thirty – right – until eight?” I asked.
Conversations with Strangers 