For a number of years around 2018 – 2012 I conributed paid for columns to a number of the English Speaking Newspapers here in Spain: The Reader, The Sol Times, The Round Town News and The Euro Weekly News to name but four!
Reading through my notes for these columns, I was taken by a) how relevant many of them still are today, and b) I had no online record of them of my own.
So I have added the original submissions to this blog, so if you want to read them just search for expatarticles.
There are a LOT and I have no record of which were submitted to which paper so I have grouped them together into a series of short essays!
Smoking Ban Debate
Two things to comment on this week, both discussed on iTalk FM with Pippa Jones, the ongoing debate over the smoking ban and attempts in Spain by the Federation of Bullfighting Associations of Catalunya to make bullfighting a Cultural Asset throughout Spain.
Personally I would ban the bullfighting and allow the smoking as I remain convinced that the smoking ban has killed the bar and cafe culture here in Spain. Where it was once pleasant to sit on a terrace enjoying the sun or a cool summers evening, now the terraces are full of smokers, ashtrays, fag ends all over the place and if you do want to venture inside (and let’s be honest the above isn’t exactly an attractive front of house) you have to cut your way through a wall of smoke. Here the ‘good news’ continues, as you will more than likely have the bar to yourself as all the other ‘non smokers’ will be sat outside on the terrace with their smoker friends as we all know that people don’t ‘pop out’ for a smoke to the terrace, they go and sit there all evening!
I appreciate the arguments for allowing bullfighting: the tradition, culture, magnificent spectacle, fact that the bulls ‘live like Kings’ ….. until they are mocked and then killed in front of thousands of people. In one debate on this recently someone tried to compare it to boxing, missing the rather obvious point that in boxing both parties decide to participate, the bull as far as I understand isn’t consulted!
The cause of these two debates this week: a photograph on Facebook of two 6 year old girls kicking at the body of a dead bull in the street, and the fact that I couldn’t find one bar owner locally who thought that the smoking ban was a good idea. Rather like the bull they weren’t consulted and are now slowly and cruelly being put to the sword it seems.
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A few snippets to get your mind around to show how little the news has really changed over the years: banning prositution, egg shortage, tourism figures, using mobile phones while driving …. haven’t we heard it all before!!!
Barcelona is to completely ban prostitution on the streets of the city before the summer. The CiU Municipal Government has supported a proposal from the PP which would enforce the prohibition and toughen the existing fines. Apparently they have had enough of sub Saharan prostitutes approaching drunk tourists in La Rambla.
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A total of 8,711 drivers have been fined for using mobile phones while driving during a two-week campaign against distractions while driving. Over the two weeks, officials from the Guardia Civil Traffic Department checked nearly 855,000 vehicles and fined 10,889 drivers for carrying allowing themselves to be distracted whilst driving.
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The Ministry for Development has reached agreement with the unions on minimum transport services during the General Strike on March 29. They are almost identical to the minimum services during the last General Strike in 2010.
Well to be fair they should know what they need to be by now as they keep repeating these strikes!
A poll carried out by Simple Lógica shows that 47.6% are against the proposed general strike on March 29th with 44.6% supporting the action. This is despite the vast majority apparently opposing the labour reforms.
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Consumers in parts of Europe are dealing with an egg shortage because of reduced egg production. The shortage (French egg production is down from year ago levels by 21 million eggs per week) is the consequence of egg producers who have closed their barns because they did not make the transition from conventional cage housing for hens to enriched colony housing by Jan. 1
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5.6 million foreign tourists came to Spain during the first two months of the year, a 2.7% rise on the same period in 2011. There was virtually no change in the number of tourists coming to Spain from the UK, the leading source market of foreign tourists – up 0.3% to 1.1 million. However, there was a slight decrease in the number of tourists from Germany, the second most important source market – down 1.2% to 870,030 tourists in January and February.
Economy 7%
Lot of numbers flying around Spain this last week: 800,000 took to the streets to protest at the new labour reforms which make it easier to sack people in Spain, the number of new mortgages approved in January was 41.3% down on 2011, the 21st month of consecutive decline, the speed limit on Spain’s motorway may be increased to 130km/h, 51% of drivers tested for drugs had proved positive, the Government has approved a 27€ billion deficit-reduction budget, Spain has emerged as the European country that spends the second highest amount on private healthcare (26.7€ billion) representing 26.4% of total health expenditure, and electricity prices are to rise by 7%.
Off all these numbers it is the 7% that caught my attention, and arguably the majority of the headlines online, primarily because it could have been a lot more, and I don’t really see what all the fuss is about!
For the vast majority of us I suspect that it wouldn’t be too hard to use less electricity: turn of a few lights, boil less water, turn the computers off when not being used etc etc. As I see it is an increase in the price of electricity is to all intense and purposes a discretionary tax for many of us. If we don’t want to pay more we can use less, with a few obvious exceptions, so why the big fuss?
And as I said, it could have been worse, a lot worse! The ‘problem’ is an accumulated 24€ billion deficit due to utilities selling electricity below nominal costs.
The Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria claimed the increase would have been 30% if consumers alone had been required to pay to keep the “tariff deficit” within legal limits for this year, and to eliminate it next year.
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There used to be a joke along the lines that if you saw Kate Adie turn up to report in a war zone you knew you were in trouble: well her equivalent has turned up this week as far as the Spanish economy is concerned.
Citi’s chief economist Willem Buiter has said that Spain looks likely to enter some form of a troika programme this year i.e. will need a bailout, and the Bank of Spain have predicted a 0.3% fall in GDP for the first quarter of 2012, which means two consecutive quarters of negative growth i.e. Spain is in a recession again.
Slightly encouraging then that Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to expand Europe’s bailout reserves, to what the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria described as “the mother of all firewalls”. The ministers, meeting at the Copenhagen summit, have decided to boost the joint lending power of the “firewall” from 500bn to 800bn euros. The firewall is the permanent mechanism to bail out troubled eurozone nations.
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Not sure that what Spain needs right now is to encourage more of it’s people to gamble with what little cash they have, but Madrid and Barcelona are both vying to woo casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and the $22 billion he wants to invest to erect “Eurovegas” – an array of six casinos, 12 hotels featuring 36,000 rooms, a convention center, three golf courses, shopping centers, bars and restaurants.
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Freedom of information in Spain came one step nearer last week after the government agreed to introduce a bill in response to widespread disgust over corruption and mismanagement by elected officials of both main political parties.
The country’s Cabinet agreed to put forward legislation that will allow Spaniards to find out more about how their money is spent by government. Spain is one of Europe’s few countries without wide-ranging freedom of information legislation.
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And while Rome burns …….. the EU’s response to all the turmoil and issues facing Europe at the moment is to ban free plastic bags across Europe!
I kid you not. Top of their agenda are proposals to make shoppers pay for single-use carrier bags are to be looked at next month and could become law within two years.
It Can Only Get Worse
Interesting and busy time for me last week as I have started by daily Paper Review on iTalkFM, and my latest Telegraph Expat column has generated a huge amount of feedback, as I challenged Spain to resist the expats attempts to turn it into a series on mini Britain’s, and to hold onto their cultures and traditions. My point was basically that unless Spain remains as Spain it will lose it’s appeal for holiday makers and future expats alike, so taking the long term view was essential.
It is the long term, the future, that has dominated much of what I have been discussing and debating this week, as more than one analyst has argued with conviction that 2013 is going to be a ‘financial crunch’ for Spain, with many predicting that a EU bailout will be required.
The main problem is that the financial markets are concerned over Spain’s rising public debt, bulging deficit, fragile banks and a slide into recession at a time of soaring unemployment.
Of course this means that the investors have taken the opportunity to force the government to pay higher borrowing costs at recent bond auctions and snapping up securities that pay out in the case of a default on sovereign debt.
So far Spain has fudged the issue, kept it’s head firmly in the sand so to speak, by accepting massive loans from the European Central Bank at rock bottom rates.
We have started to see the effects of this short term, some would say desperate, strategy, with the EU demanding yet more budget costs and austerity measures from Rajoy and his government, despite the announcement of 27€ billion of cuts in the last budget, and 800,000 taking to the streets to protest against the labour reforms.
Analysts remain concerned that Spain will struggle to meet the new targets to cut the public deficit from a runaway 8.5 percent of annual economic output last year to 5.3 percent this year and just 3.0 percent in 2013, as the country enters a new recession and with official forecasts that the jobless rate will rise to 24.3 percent this year from 22.85 percent at the end of 2011.
Large annual public deficits have rapidly pushed up the accumulated public debt, expected to rise to 79.8 percent of economic output this year from 68.5 in 2011, and international investors are convinced that Spain will need to restructure its debt at some point in the next 10 years.
So with growing consensus that Spain won’t meet the deficit reducing target for 2013 of 3% or get unemployment down, many feel that there won’t be much growth for Spain for the next 5 years, with the current recession lasting for two years, followed by two years of ‘timid’ growth, with yet another recession to follow.
Depressing isn’t it!
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Travel dominated last week (we did our first ALStrays UK Dog Transport) with Spain celebrating the 20th anniversary of the AVE high speed train, which first ran on April 14th 1992 between Madrid and Sevilla.
Driving through Spain it still seems pretty rare to see these trains, although there are now 2,600km of high speed lines, connecting 23 Spanish cities, although not Spain to Portugal for the foreseeable future as the ongoing financial crisis has put those plans on hold.
On the subject of driving I read with ‘interest’ that the DGT traffic authority expects to issue 3.8 million fines this year, collecting 410€ million in fines, with a reduced budget of 7.54%. Reports say that this will exceed the budget by 136€ million, with 20% of the fines paid online and 25% by telefono. A success story then!
Not such good news for Ryanair customers as the company have blamed UK taxes for their decision to axe a large number of flights from the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, including our local airport Almeria.
The real story though last week was the economy, or more accurately the state of the economy and the increasing likelihood of a EU bailout for Spain.
Rajoy remains adamant that a bailout wont be required, and approved a crackdown on the black economy in an attempt to raise confidence as well as tax income. Cash transactions are now limited to 2,500€ between companies or between an individual and a company and to 15,000€ for non-residents.
The problem facing Rajoy is an increasing lack of confidence and the resulting increase in bond yields, with interest rates getting close to the levels seen in Greece, Portugal and Ireland before they required a bailout.
It seems that every day the government announces another measure including allowing tax evaders to pay 10 percent of undeclared assets, a move designed to raise 2.5 billion€.
Arguably the best news was that house prices have dropped again at Spain, with many believing that prices are more realistic now, although why anybody would want to buy a property in Spain these days is beyond me! Personally if I was an expat looking to sell a property in the UK and move to Spain I would keep my cash in the bank and take a long term rental.
Education Cuts Make No Sense
Something wonderfully ironic in the reports of the recent demonstrations against the proposed cuts in pubic spending on education. The organisers claimed that 30,000 turned out to protest, the police put the figure at 2,000.
Somebody can’t add up, although I suspect that the truth is that neither side can do their sums.
The Spanish educational system is a mess, has been for years, but until recently it didn’t seem to matter with the country so reliant on non skilled industries for their employment: construction, tourism and agriculture should you be wondering.
Hard to tell someone with cash in their pocket they need an education to get on in life.
All that is changing and with close to 50% of the under 30’s unemployed in Spain you would have thought that at the very least they would be bolting the stable door after the horse had bolted, but no, this is Spain after all so what are they doing? Kicking down the rest of the stable it seems!
New legislation will increase the maximum number of children in a classroom by 20% and fix teaching hours at 25 for infant and primary teachers, and 20 for secondary school teachers. It will mean that sick leave of under ten working days will have to be covered by the schools themselves; ‘intermediate’ and ‘higher’ level vocational training with more than 2,000 hours will not be introduced until the 2014-2015 academic year; and the obligation for schools to offer at least two of the three types of ‘bachiller’ (sixth form studies course) will be temporarily suspended.
“Education is the best way of overcoming the economic and social crisis, and public education is the only way we can guarantee social cohesion,” said a statement by parents, unions and educational associations.
Very true indeed, surprising only that it seems to have taken the country so long to realise, and for the current ‘lost generation’ one fears that it is too late. By the time this latest recession is over, and the one that is predicted after that, it is hard to see what skills they will have that employers need.
For those that think I am being somewhat harsh in my view of the lack of importance the Spanish have placed on education in the past let me share a fact with you: 3 in 10, that’s 30% (I have an education you see), of university students in Spain drop out before completing their degree costing the State a staggering 3,000€ million a year!
All of which makes it sheer madness that the government is going to cut back on their educational spend in Spain.
Adios Cheap Flights
Lot of debate online regards the recent announcements by Monarch and BMI, and the ongoing strike threats by Iberia. Well I say debate, but that is exaggerating the point really. What I have seen is more a one way torrent of abuse directed at the airlines for having the audacity to cut loss making routes to Spain, and elsewhere, by a whole range of people.
Primarily, it should be said, my perception is that the ones shouting the loudest are the rental property owners who are struggling to get people to rent their apartments which some may say is slightly ironic given that the cost of renting a property in Spain remains higher than in many countries as second property owners who can’t sell or visit their properties join the investment property owners in trying to earn some rental income. Appears that many have gone down the route of maintaining or even increasing their prices as they try to make as much as they can from the few that are coming out, and my inbox these days regular receives requests to help find cheap rental properties.
Just behind the rental property owners in the vocal stakes are the ‘British’ bar and restaurant owners who are being hit with a double whammy: fewer expat residents with less money, and fewer tourists, with those that do come over looking more towards self-catering or all inclusive.
One voice noticeably absent from the ‘debate’ appears to the tourist, but that isn’t a huge surprise as those wanting a cheap holiday will go anywhere that is, well cheap! Many I suspect are happy enough to try Greece, Turkey or other destinations offering cheap flights and cheap holidays.
So what for the future? BMI have gone belly up, stopping a number of routes now, and all by September. Monarch have stepped up to the plate and announced more flights out of Birmingham, and a new base at East Midlands, and Ryanair are looking to expand operations out of Dublin and the East Midlands.
But can the budget airline model continue to work, and indeed should it? One rational for the introduction of the budget flights all those years ago was to encourage people to fly to different places by making it cheaper, and to reward those that flew frequently with more options for weekend breaks. There is still merit in this model: if you are prepared to check out the cheapest flights and book them regardless of destination then you will get good deals still, and be in good company as these flights are still heavily populated.
For those wanting regular, scheduled, flights to the same destination though I suspect the days of budget flights are fast fading, and I can’t say I blame the airlines.
The ‘budget model’ wasn’t developed for the once or twice a year ‘regular’ flier. With more and more people flying to their own properties, or properties of friends, being collected at airports by family and friends, or the many expats offering unregistered airport transports, and taking their own food on board the opportunities for airlines to generate secondary revenues are fast diminishing.
Less people, taking fewer flights, and spending less when they do. Sounds attractive doesn’t it …. not!
Keeping It Simple
Sat the other evening outside a bar with a friend I was reminded why we chose to spend this period of our life in Spain.
Note I said ‘this period of our life’, as although we have no plans to not live in Spain for the rest of our naturals, neither have we a committed plan to be here for ever.
Leaving the UK to live abroad we were determined to create a more relaxed, less structured, de-stressed and unplanned lifestyle. Far too old to be ‘living for the moment’ the best we could aim for was not to be ‘living for the future’. No more planning, setting objectives, having life goals, career worries or ‘we will do that when we are older’
We may well miss out on opportunities and have to go without in doing this, but at least we will be sat in this wonderful country watching the world pass us by, rather than be rushing along at 100mph, with our heads stuck up the proverbial not seeing a thing apart from some fuzzy, undefined destination in the future.
So back to the other night. 9.30pm, warm enough still to be in shorts and a polo shirt, sat outside a restaurant/bar that we have used for 12 years. We were sat on the pavement, partly because my friend smokes, mainly because this is what you do in Spain, on some cheap plastic seats at a cheap plastic table. The red wine was adequate, slightly rough, but after 12 years as familiar as an old friend, and as with any friend it is the familiarity and comfort that counts the most. I don’t recall the tapas or menu changing over the last 12 years in the restaurant, a classic case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and much can be said for my friend!
We have known each other for years, are as different as chalk ‘n’ cheese, and go for periods of not seeing much of each other. We have distinctly different talents and interests, but over the years have identified enough common interests and views on life to get along well. I have no doubts we both feel that ‘less is more’ and that we would drive each other nuts if we lived in each others pockets.
You could say that rather like the restaurant we have found what works for us, and by keeping it simple, being honest about ourselves, and not trying to force the pace we enjoy our time together, as indeed we enjoy our time apart.
And that pretty much sums up why we are currently living in Spain, and would be my advice to anybody wanting to make the most of this great country: just keep it simple!
And the News Is …. No News!
I was back in the UK last week which always brings a different slant to my daily segment with Pippa Jones on iTalk FM as we tend to look at the news from the UK more than when I am in Spain, and not being immersed in the Spanish news 24/7 as per the norm I tend to get a slightly different perspective.
For example, I subscribe to literally hundreds of RSS ‘feeds’ each day, and these drip through on a regular basis. When I am here in Spain I pick them up on an ongoing basis throughout the day, so never have more than say 75-100 to scan through at a time. It gives me a good overview of the news being covered over that period, but not of all the news being covered that day. When in the UK though I tend to pick the feeds up once or twice a day, and as a result have literally thousands to scan through at a time. Not ideal, but interestingly it does provide a much broader landscape of the news stories being covered. More macro than micro for the economists amongst you!
I mention this because last week it was remarkably noticeable just how little news there is around Spain at the moment, or to be precise just how little new news.
Take away the ongoing debate over the Spanish economy: yield rates, austerity cuts, bank (in)stability and you were left with very little news at all, and what there was hardly qualifies as new!
Much was made of the fact that some Irish village has followed the ‘lead’ shown by a small town in Spain and allowed the use of old currency (Irish Pounds) rather than the Euro. Actually there was a significant aspect to this story, the fact that over a two month period one trader had netted 1.000 Irish Pounds (1.269€) i.e. less that 20€ a day. The fact that is reported as ‘success’ is a dramatic example of just how tough things have become for many traders.
Picking through the bones of the rest of the news that caught the eye I make no apologies for drawing attention to the fact that the nineteenth death as a result of domestic violence has been reported in Spain, an ‘old story’ and one that I very much hope goes away very soon.
Gibraltar was in the news a lot with the age old argument of ownership and the Queen of Spain subbing our Queen, so only one winner there! On that subject did anyone see the fly past as part of the celebrations over the weekend? The EIIR was very cool and impressive. Back to Gibraltar though the main story is that Gibraltar’s parliament is close to passing legislation that allows for benefits paid by pension funds transferred to Gibraltar and administered there to be taxed at 2.5 per cent. Upcoming laws also allow for a maximum tax-free lump sum withdrawal of 30 per cent and a minimum retirement age of 55, as Gibraltar looks to revive the QROPS business it put on hold three years ago.
High up in the ‘old news’ section was that Benidorm has reported a 3% increase in reservations for the summer season, (May to October) from British tourists. The numbers are in contrast to other parts of Spain where British reservations are 6% down on average. On the Baleares and Canaries the fall is 7%, on the Costa Brava 9%, Costa del Sol 8% and in Salou 15%.
Another ‘old news’ story, and another that Spain needs to address quickly is that a study by the Thao Foundation, which creates programmes to promotes healthy eating habits amongst schoolchildren across Spain, has revealed that one in four children between the ages of three and five are overweight.
And finally a new gambling law in Spain will make it harder for British expats to have a flutter. Expats will be barred from playing poker with fellow English-speakers internationally, while those who enjoy virtual bingo are likely to be frustrated in Spain. From June 1, only companies with a Spanish government-issued licence and an .es domain will be allowed to run online gambling sites in the country.
Competing for Tourists
Michael Holding, the former West Indian cricket fast bowler, and current pundit on Sky Sport’s excellent cricket coverage has a favourite phrase that he trots out every summer in the UK. Whenever the camera pans onto someone enjoying an ice cream he more often that not makes the observation “that isn’t a business I would want to be in here in the UK.”
If he were in Spain I wonder how soon he would be saying about this businesses that are looking to compete for the British tourist pound?
I don’t want to be alarmist or pessimistic but having spent the last couple of weeks driving along the coasts that comprise the Costa Blanca, Costa Almería and Costa del Sol I have to say that I feel increasingly concerned for those businesses along the Costa Almería.
Discussing this with a friend recently I used the phrase ‘chalk and cheese’ to describe the Costas Blanca and del Sol to Almería. Driving up through Estepona, Marbella, Fuengirola, and Torremilinos recently it is hard not to notice just how established it is. Effectively it is one seamless stretch of mature building, established businesses, vibrant beaches and people! I am not talking about a peak holiday period either, a Wednesday afternoon in May and the place was consistently busy, and as they say ‘success breads success’.
Further up the coast I have spent time over the last month driving through Xàbia and Bendidorm, and again the impression is that they are comfortable in their own skin, the finished article, complete and busy doing what they know they do, and do very well.
The same can be said for Malaga and Alicante airports. They may not be as busy as in previous years, but compared to Almería they are absolutely heaving with flights and people.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said about the Costa Almería, who have arrived late at the Tourism party, and arrived in a hurry as well with half finished properties dominating the skyline, and, in an increasingly depressing story, many leaving early as well with broken dreams, insolvent bars and properties sinking in negative equity a far too familiar story.
Reflecting on this I came to the conclusion that the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol are like established Premiership teams. Safe in the top 8 every year, they will continue to attract tourists in significant numbers because they are established brands, consistent performers and in an age when people need to know what they are going to get for their money they deliver ‘exactly what it says on the tin’.
The Costa Almería on the other hand are like the team that unexpectedly found themselves in the Premiership, survived a year or two, but then found themselves in the Championship, and are now headed in the wrong direction away from the play offs.
Unless the Costa Almería can reinvent itself and find a new form of tourism to concentrate on it is hard to see how anything will get better. In the Premiership the top teams are going from strength to strength, brand awareness is being exploited and newcomers to the market are picking the more romantic (or should I say successful) teams to support. Those teams that get promoted bring a loyal band of genuine supporters but rarely do they attract sufficient numbers to make a difference, and having flattered to deceive, and dare I say conned themselves that they belong, they often fall back into relative obscurity.
Which means that the Costa Almería is in danger of being twinned with Bradford …… now there’s a thing!
If it aint broke …… Fix it!
I am a reasonably intelligent guy, but there are some things that a degree, or even a Masters degree, just don’t equip you for.
We are fortunate, or at least I thought we were, in our part of Spain to have a tapas included with your drink: beer or wine as a rule, and the non alcoholic musto.
All very simple really. Whatever the size of beer you get the same sized tapas, as you do with a glass of wine. As a rule a restaurant will offer you a tapas of their choice. A different one with each drink, become more ‘expensive’ the more you drink e.g. Tortilla with your first drink with some olives, perhaps a small casserole with your third. Bars on the other hand tend to have a tapas menu to choose from, with a range of cold ones for when the kitchen is closed.
The Spanish approach is very simple. They look at the tapas as a fixed cost, built into the prices they charge. The price of the drink remains the same even if you don’t want the tapas: a ‘win’ you might say for the bar.
Has been this way since long before we first stumbled across Almerimar and it works brilliantly, with every Spanish bar doing exactly the same. Sure they may charge more for a better wine or beer, and some offer a more gourmet style tapas, but the model and approach remains the same: price includes tapas, up to you if you want one or not.
Simples!
And then we have the British bars approach. Simple it isn’t. Consistent it isn’t. Confusing it is!
For a start not all bars offer tapas. Don’t be fooled by the blackboard saying they do as frequently this should be taken as a statement of intent, if they are in the right mood, and if the kitchen is open and staffed by the right chef.
Nor is tapas included in the price as such, as some bars have a dual price policy for a drink with tapas and a drink without tapas, others base the inclusion of tapas on the size of beer glass you want.
No doubt it makes sense to those running the bars, and they are totally entitled to run their bars and make their decisions exactly how they like.
Me? I tend to go for a drink to unwind, clear the brain, talk utter rubbish. I do not go for a drink to test my Mensa capabilities or check that the calculator works on my iPhone.
The Spanish way works just fine, and that will do nicely for me.
Jubilee What Jubilee
Back in the UK last week it provided a good opportunity to take a quick snap shot of people’s approach to the Royal Jubilee celebrations in the UK compared to those that I saw in Spain.
There can be little doubt that the celebrations in London where well attended and by all accounts enjoyable. I saw none live but the general impression gained from friends and people that we met on our travels was that they were well organised, but a little disjointed. Back in Spain I did try to watch the Jubilee Concert but gave up as I thought it was utter rubbish. Quite possibly it is my age, but even the artists I knew failed to sing their old songs which I liked. As for Cliff Richard and Grace Jones …… proof positive of exactly what the fast forward button is for on Sky+.
What struck me most as we drove around was just how little seemed to be going on. On the Sunday we drove through Surrey, across to Wales via Hereford, and then to Durham via Stoke on Trent. A large share of this was done on A roads and through villages and throughout the day we saw two village fetes (washed out), and were diverted around just one village having a street party. Pub car parks were notably empty, and very few houses had any sign of a party.
On the Monday as we drove down to Folkestone the story was much the same, in fact the most patriotic place we saw on the whole trip was the Witherspoons in Durham, clad in commemorative bunting, and by 9am frequented by a dozen old boys well into their third beer, although I suspect that was a normal Bank Holiday Monday for them!
Reflecting on this on the drive through France and Spain I concluded that the problem was that there wasn’t one single event to focus on. Unlike the Royal Wedding, or indeed previous Jubilee celebrations, with their definitive start, middle and end there was no single focus this time around. If you were organising a party around which event would you choose? If you going to a celebration, on what day?
Back in the marina Tuesday evening we drove round on our way to the Jubilee party at one of the local bars and counted the flags and bars celebrating. If we were awarding points Englebert Humperdinck did better!
Summer Madness Returns
It’s already too hot for many an expat. The ice is melting far too quickly in the G&T, the fruit flies are consuming more of the wine than the expat, and the cheese with the tapas is all sweaty.
All very surprising (not) it’s the same every year, too cold during the winter, too hot in the summer: and to think that the majority of expats still list the poor weather as a reason for leaving the UK and the great weather for choosing to live in Spain.
To be honest I wasn’t planning on writing about the weather. I had a great story about watching paint dry that I was going to share with you, but the weather seems to have been all people have wanted to talk to me about this week.
Jumping out of the van in a car park in Germany last weekend delivering re-homed cats and dogs I landed in a puddle. Not too surprising as it was raining at the time, and had been for the last hour or so. “How’s the weather in Spain?” my German friend asked from beneath their waterproof. As I was dressed in polo shirt, shorts and sandals I thought it pretty obvious but I mustered a smile “oh you know,a bit too hot really”
The question of it being ‘too hot’ cropped up having a drink with a Spanish friend who was bemused that every expat that had been into their business recently had moaned about it being too hot, and how did they (the Spanish) cope.
Bemused because to them it was simple: get up early and get the chores done, off to work in an air conditioned environment, home for lunch and a siesta, work then beach or pool around 7pm, followed by diner or a few drinks with friends at 10pm
No sweaty cheese, no sharing wine with the fruit flies, and a satisfying tinkle of the ice against the glass in the G&T.
Simple when you know how!
Just English
Stuck in a traffic jam on the M25 I offered the following comment: “I can’t wait to get back to Europe”.
Said it without thinking, and obviously I do know that England is in Europe, although I am less than convinced that everyone in England is aware of the fact!
As I had time, a lot of time, on my hands I reflected on my spontaneous comment. The more I reflected the more it seemed that England just isn’t European at all.
Starting with the roads, there is the obvious difference over which side of the road England drives on. Then there is the fact that the English just can’t drive on motorways at all. Drivers that hog the middle lane should be banned from using motorways! And why is it that the drivers of England seem incapable of driving more than 75 miles without stopping for an excessively priced coffee and slab of mass produced cake?
In Europe they belt along at 130km per hour, returning to the inside lane after over taking, and stop every three hours or so for a reasonably priced coffee and freshly made sandwich, which they pay for in €’s, another obvious difference.
Other obvious differences that spring to mind: breakfast, the full Monty in England, a coffee and a pastry of some sort in ‘Europe’. Sticking with food eating times identify your Englishman from his European counterpart, and next time you are in a bar or cafe in Europe chances are only one nationality will be drinking pints!
Greenhouses and stones apart, it is easy to tell the English abroad by the way they dress. There is a distinctly European style, compared by what I think is best described as an English ‘way’.
I could go on, but I suspect that by now you have got the picture, and probably the impression that I am having a pop at England.
The fact is I am not. Personally I prefer the European way, but the more I return to England, the more I am appreciating the sheer Englishness of the country. You see for me Europe is losing its individuality and morphing into one big wannabe America: single currency, burgeoning franchises being the obvious examples.
England on the other hand is …… well England. Sore thumb of Europe it may be but what’s wrong with that?