What Day Is Today?
Th ursd ay morning my father had an ophthalmic appointment at one of the three hospitals in Santiago de Compostela. It was a routine appointment for treatment of a problem in one of his eyes at 11:50. It was an awkward time for lunch, though good in the sense that no one had to get up extra early. We leave an hour before, to allow around twenty minutes for the trip, ten or fifteen minutes for parking and some time to sit until we're tired of sitting. When we arrive, I drop him off at the front door, and I go searching for a parking space. There are many cars, and few spaces. I go to my usual spot and find an empty space on a lawn. (Necessity is the mother of invention; whatever open space isn't cordoned off is free game for parking.) Five minutes later, I meet him in the front hall and we go upstairs. I go to the receptionist with the appointment slip. The secretary takes it, checks the name, and gives it back to me. Suddenly, she asks me for the slip again. She checks it a...