Category: Spanish Culture and News

Two of my photos from our recent trip to the Valencian Coast struck me as interesting:

“España es un pais desunido e incierto que no sabe a donde va.” Spain is a separated and uncertain country with no idea where it is heading. The graffiti on this ruined house, hidden behind a wild stretch of beach near Gandia, is not uncommon. It could have been there for years. The next photo, by contrast, hints very strongly as to where Spain is heading.

This sign, posted in the lobby of the block of flats where we stayed in Gandia, deals with the simple matter of the local refuse collection service. But look closely: in order to communicate with the population of Valencia as it stands today, the message is written in Valencian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian and Arabic. A sign like this would never have been seen 5 years ago, probably not even 18 months ago for that matter. After hundreds of years, is Spain becoming a truly plural society again?

From the BBC:

“Spain and Senegal have agreed to promote legal migration to Spain in an attempt to stem an illegal influx.”

Now this strikes me as one of the easier world records to beat. Aranda del Duero town council puts out an advert telling people that they get to taste some free wine, vote on it, and at the same time beat another world record. Now the Spanish love the whole Guinness Book of World Records concept (it was a popular TV show a couple of years ago, smashing great records like ‘fastest indoor soccer penalty’) and they love wine, so, how many people do you think they got to turn up?

The answer’s in the first comment below, and the winning wine was Abadia-Retuerta, in case you’re wondering!

An emotional radio piece on ageing Brigadistas that came over to fight against facists in the Spanish civil war.

I’ve said it many times before, but if you want to read a good book on the Spanish Civil War, then look no further than Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia.

Cheek to cheek – two kisses, gently placed on either side. Go left (right cheeks meet) – muac – go right (left cheeks meet) – muac! This is the standard greeting for the Spanish, at least when male greets female, or female greets female.

Or so I thought! In one branch of Marina’s family the men also go for the dos besos shuffle when you walk though the door, and up until recently I’d managed to escape by shoving my hand out in a most British fashion. At this weekend’s family gathering, however, having 2 kissed Marina’s cousin, I turned, palm outstretched, to her boyfriend. ‘Ah, come on,’ he said, ‘give me two kisses!’ Stubbly right cheeks meet – muac – stubbly left cheeks – muac!

Like it or not, I’m getting more Spanish – or less British – all the time!

In a recent podcast I was lamenting the state of Spanish underwear/lingerie stores, saying that the way the window dressers pinned out the wares was hardly, well, sexy (the French are much better at this sort of thing!) I was taking a look at my Rastro photos again today when I realised that this image presents a wonderful variation on the theme: tangas strung along a washing line with clothes pegs! See the full sized photo here – an ocean of colour if ever I saw one!

The UK’s Hay Literary Festival (usually held in Wales) is bringing authors from around the globe to Segovia next week. Both the festival and the town are described very nicely in this week’s Guardian…

There’s nothing that irks a Spaniard more than having to wait too long for their bill in a restaurant. Sooner or later, after asking the waiter for the third time, someone will suggest doing a ‘simpa’ (sin pagar = without paying/doing a runner). The annoyed party waits until the waiter disappears into the kitchen, then leaves quietly out of the front door, secretly willing to be challenged in order to lay into the guy in the white jacket and bow tie about the dreadful service.

Well, at a branch of VIPS (chain diner with ever-worsening cuisine) in Arganzuela, things reached historical proportions this week when a party of 200 Gypsies finished their meal and quietly got up and walked out of the front door without paying for a thing. The security guards did nothing, some of the younger members helped themselves to restaurant property as they left, and the police turned up and refused to arrest anyone. “They weren’t in a hurry, some even ordered a taxi,” reports 20 Minutos, “This may end up in the Guinness Book of Records”…

More in the forum.