Spanish views from a small town

This past weekend, many stores opened in different cities. And many cities turned on the Christmas lighting. And many people decided it was a good idea to create crowds in the streets to ooh and aah.  In Madrid and Málaga, at least, it looked like a pandemic had never passed through. Despite being just over the second wave of infection, with thousands dead, and thousands suffering health effects for months, the streets were absolutely filled with people. Sure, they were wearing masks, but social distancing was obviously lacking.  The worst might be this coming weekend. December in Spain is the month of holidays par excellence. We have the Constitution Day on the sixth, the Immaculate Conception on the eighth, Christmas Eve on the twenty-fourth, Christmas Day on the twenty-fifth, New Year's Eve on the thirty-first, and New Year's Day on the first of January. (Despite the Eves not being full holidays, many treat them as such, even though they might work only until midday.) ...

December is the month of doing nothing. Do not expect a letter to reach its destination until two weeks have passed. Unless you are drowning in your home, do not expect a plumber to come the same day you call him. If you need to get in contact with someone in their office, do not expect to find him there until January. It is a month of holidays, too many holidays.  In Spain the Constitution was ratified by the Congreso de los Diputados on December 6th, 1978. December 6th is therefore a holiday. And f or some strange reason in an aconfessional state, as atested to in said Constitution, the day of the Immaculate Conception is also a public holiday. That's the 8th of December. On the week those two holidays concur, many people take extra days off and make it a mini vacation or an extraordinarily long weekend. Then there's Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Most people go home early on Christmas Eve, others don't even go to work. A week later it's New Year's Eve and Ne...