Wednesday, October 22
What does one do at the headquarters of a Fede e Luce pilgrimage? I haven't the faintest idea. But here I am. The Paris team arrives with maps, schedules, meetings, problems, prayers, appointments, translations, smiles, worries, suggestions...
It dawns on me that this will be serious business—and fun too. We'll need to know how to answer questions.
Questions about what?... Everything!!!
Thursday, October 23
My first "customer" arrives. A charming American woman. She came from Vienna to embrace her grandmother, who is coming from the United States with Fede e Luce. Where can she find her?
—"Easy as pie, miss. The pilgrim lists just arrived... Several kilos of them!!!"
Lists by country, lists by assignment, complete lists with names, surnames, addresses, lodgings, numbers on the right, numbers on the left—all compiled by generous volunteers.
Let me dig in!... the blue book... the yellow one... the pink one... Nothing!
—"Excuse me, could you repeat the name? Say it letter by letter? Spell it..."
Still nothing! As far as I know, Dupont should be between Dubois and Durand!!!...
A phone call rescues me from the puzzle. When I return, my charming American knows exactly where her grandmother is staying!
More resourceful than I was, she figured out that you have to be less rigid about the alphabet: "Dupont," it turns out, was filed under "U"—because when the volunteers got cold or sad or frustrated, they sometimes skipped a letter!
Nicole Schulthes, 1975
The Gathering
Monday the 27th: a grand celebration at the Stadio Flaminio.
There was singing and dancing, games and people taking turns at the microphones on the platforms...
Quite a crowd cheering and chatting away.
A stranger to it all asked a traffic officer on duty: "What kind of demonstration is this?"
The officer's reply: "If every demonstration were like this, I wouldn't miss a single one!"
Thomas, 1975