Spanish views from a small town

The other night I was taken back in time. I found myself watching a Spanish program of old murders in the area of Zaragoza, told by the (now) retired police officers who ran the investigations, and actors who did a reenactment. The actual program wasn't very interesting. What was interesting was the trip back in time to those years in which I was a teenager. Seeing how some of the actors were dressed reminded me of those halcyon days. 1987, the year I turned eighteen. The Cold War was still going strong, yet it seemed to be cracking open with Gorbachev's perestroika , or restructuring, which later turned into the openness of glasnost . It seemed at the time the Soviets had heard Sting's song, Russians , especially the stanza, "We share the same biology, regardless of ideology./Believe me when I say to you,/I hope the Russians love their children, too."  In Spain, the Socialists were finishing their construction of the Estado de Bienestar , or Welfare State, th...

This past week most of Europe has entered a deep freeze. Temperatures have gone down to -30ºC in much of eastern Europe, -20ºC in central Europe, and snow in such impossible places as the Greek islands and Sicily. Northern Spain has also taken a hit, and there are places in the foothills of the Pyrenees where more than a meter of snow has accumulated, as well as cities shivering with cold at -5ºC. This week a trough of air straight from Siberia is supposed to inundate most of Spain with temperatures that will dive to -15ºC in the more mountainous areas.  But it's expected to be a dry wind in most of Spain, which means if there is any precipitation it will be on the lee side of the Pyrenees. It will be a case of open skies and feeble sun that won't warm the skin of a lizard. Thirty years ago the forecast was the same, but the outcome on our western coast was different.  Historia de Rianxo That January, a tongue of frigid air descended from the nether regions above Siber...