What Time Is It?
When I was a little girl it was a treat to stay up till midnight on New Year's Eve. Normally I would be in bed by nine or nine thirty, to get up at seven. I remember that midnight felt different. Then I grew up and it wasn't so different. I would go to bed at ten thirty or sometimes past eleven on a weekend. The eleven o'clock news was the nudge that would put me in bed. Now, the night that I'm in bed at eleven o'clock is the night that I have a fever of a hundred and two.
If television prime time in Boston begins at eight o'clock, here it begins at ten thirty. The nightly news is at eight or nine, depending on the channel, and news programs can continue till ten or ten thirty. We're insane, you're asking? Probably. But it also feels funny to go to bed when there's light in the sky. In the month of June the sky to the west keeps a sunset afterglow till around eleven. And in December night falls around six. When Spaniards refer to seven or eight o'clock, they don't say in the evening. They say in the afternoon. The problem is in the morning. In June the sun rises around six thirty, but in winter it's dark until nine. (Ten here, but that's because a hill behind us blocks the first rays.) And I bet most readers are thinking, Wow, that leaves a long afternoon after work to do stuff! If only it did. Most people work a split day. They work about four or five hours in the morning until around one, and then another four or five hours in the afternoon from around three, four or five, until eight or nine. Dinner is anywhere from nine to close to midnight in some homes.
And of course, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so after dinner people tend to get together for a few hours. Bars are supposed to close, by law, at two thirty in the morning at the latest. Since there aren't that many police officers patrolling at those hours, they simply pull down the shades and keep serving. Sometimes until maybe four in the morning. Spaniards are the Europeans that sleep the least and party the most. That's one of the reasons why in the spring and summer young people from northern Europe buy all-included trips to parts of Cataluña and the Balearics. ID is almost never requested at bars and discos. Bars and discos sometimes don't close until the street sweepers try to do their job. So Mediterranean Spain is one unending party to youngsters looking to party till they drop. And they do drop, in doorways, on benches, on the beach, on corners, and anywhere they can sleep where they won't be stepped upon by the local residents who have to go to work in the morning.
To Spaniards who travel outside Spain, other countries seem overly serious and boring by contrast. Here you can go from bar to bar almost all night long, gather with different groups of friends and enjoy the night. In other countries the night is made for resting. So, while local residents do enjoy nightlife, they enjoy it earlier. Even in neighboring Portugal by one o'clock people head home. But Portugal is also an hour behind Spain. If it's twelve o'clock here, it's eleven o'clock just across the border. While Spain follows Central European time, Portugal follows Greenwich time. But Spain once did follow Greenwich time, just until the Second World War. In 1940, to communicate well with his allies Hitler and Mussolini, Franco decided to change Spanish time from Greenwich to Central European. And he wreaked havoc on Spanish timetables. Spain once followed normal hours, just like the rest of Europe, until that change. It was supposed to be temporary, but having more hours of sunlight in the afternoon meant that people could work two jobs. That's how the split work day appeared. After the Civil War, and with Franco's time change, people would work the priniciple job in the morning till around two. Then, after lunch, they would work the secondary job until eight or nine in the evening. And that eventually led to long nights, as people's social lives were relegated to the remaining hours, well into the night.
Many people argue, every time the clock changes backward and forward, that we should return to our natural rhythm of following the sun. But, after seventy years that would mean a tremendous upheaval in our lifestyle. Seventy years ago the upheaval had already ocurred, through the Civil War. If we were to change back now, to working eight hours straight and going to bed earlier like the rest of Europe, I can think of many who would protest unto the gods. The tourist industry, for one, would go bonkers if Spain were to stop being the nightclub of Europe. But I think our bodies would appreciate it.
If television prime time in Boston begins at eight o'clock, here it begins at ten thirty. The nightly news is at eight or nine, depending on the channel, and news programs can continue till ten or ten thirty. We're insane, you're asking? Probably. But it also feels funny to go to bed when there's light in the sky. In the month of June the sky to the west keeps a sunset afterglow till around eleven. And in December night falls around six. When Spaniards refer to seven or eight o'clock, they don't say in the evening. They say in the afternoon. The problem is in the morning. In June the sun rises around six thirty, but in winter it's dark until nine. (Ten here, but that's because a hill behind us blocks the first rays.) And I bet most readers are thinking, Wow, that leaves a long afternoon after work to do stuff! If only it did. Most people work a split day. They work about four or five hours in the morning until around one, and then another four or five hours in the afternoon from around three, four or five, until eight or nine. Dinner is anywhere from nine to close to midnight in some homes.
And of course, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so after dinner people tend to get together for a few hours. Bars are supposed to close, by law, at two thirty in the morning at the latest. Since there aren't that many police officers patrolling at those hours, they simply pull down the shades and keep serving. Sometimes until maybe four in the morning. Spaniards are the Europeans that sleep the least and party the most. That's one of the reasons why in the spring and summer young people from northern Europe buy all-included trips to parts of Cataluña and the Balearics. ID is almost never requested at bars and discos. Bars and discos sometimes don't close until the street sweepers try to do their job. So Mediterranean Spain is one unending party to youngsters looking to party till they drop. And they do drop, in doorways, on benches, on the beach, on corners, and anywhere they can sleep where they won't be stepped upon by the local residents who have to go to work in the morning.
Many people argue, every time the clock changes backward and forward, that we should return to our natural rhythm of following the sun. But, after seventy years that would mean a tremendous upheaval in our lifestyle. Seventy years ago the upheaval had already ocurred, through the Civil War. If we were to change back now, to working eight hours straight and going to bed earlier like the rest of Europe, I can think of many who would protest unto the gods. The tourist industry, for one, would go bonkers if Spain were to stop being the nightclub of Europe. But I think our bodies would appreciate it.
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