Photo: Jarra and Terrace Awning
1.The Romanians
I was chatting today to two thirty-something Romanian guys who were cleaning a pool up here in the Sierra above Madrid. They told me something that interested me, that they would probably head back to Romania next year as the construction industry was going downhill so fast here that there was less and less work with the big contractors.
Plus the extra they did earn here compared to in Romania was hardly worth it these days, as prices in Spain continue to climb. “I’d rather earn 50 Euros less a week in Romania and live about the same”. I wonder if we’ll see a lot of Eastern European immigrants returning over the next few years.
2. The Ice Cream Seller
I was parking my scooter in Madrid the other day, next to one of those green plastic ice-cream and drinks kiosks you find on the streets of big cities. The owner appeared from the back and shook the remaining crumbs from an ice-cream cone bag onto the pavement. I was staring at him, so he looked up, smiled, and said, “It’s for the pigeons, they’ll probably all get diabetes. They need the extra sugar though, so they can, you know…”, and he slowly raised the index finger of his right hand and grinned, “…get it up and make lots more little pigeons!” Strangest conversation I’d had in a while. I must get out more.
[3. Conversation with myself]
[I had to delete a lot of unpleasant comments earlier this week, which made me think, “man, this place must be giving off some negative vibes, I can’t be doing with that!” Time to get back to the way things were, a return to the levels of Spain-loving positivity that actually drew complaints in the past, like the comment I found on another blog, “Notes from Spain is just too nice”. Hmmmm, feeling better already! Think I deserve a tinto de verano.]
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 