Spanish views from a small town

Yesterday, we were making firewood, again. We had rented a slightly larger wood chopper, and my husband and two brothers-in-law were at the woodpile. Our daughter helped out, a bit. The final woodpile has grown some more. Just as they were about to begin after lunch, our daughter received a photo from a friend of hers, saying that a local cannery, Jealsa, in the parish of Abanqueiro, was on fire. It's right on the coast of the township of Boiro, on the shore across from Rianxo, and visible from just about anywhere on our estuary, the Ría de Arousa. In the photo, dark smoke was billowing out of a corner of a large sprawl of buildings. She went to a nearby lookout, and then I followed, admiring the cumulus clouds building behind the hills we can see from the front of our house. Today, rain was forecast, and some high clouds were beginning to appear. When I reached the lookout, the sight was apocalyptical. Those weren't cumulus clouds; they were the billows of smoke growing and pu...

I had planned to go cut my hair and turn it blue again this month, once it was safe to do so. I'll have to put it on hold again, at least until next month. It's the same old story of deciding which purchases are the more urgent, and which can take a back seat. Or deciding between this pleasure and that pleasure. The pleasure of having my hair at a decent length that doesn't get in my eyes, tends to go to the back of the line. The pleasure of a different color even further back. The lockdown has not helped our finances, nor those of many, many others. Thankfully, my husband has not had to apply for unemployment. During the two weeks everybody except strictly essential workers were at home, his pay was guaranteed. But my classes and my income stopped, resuming by phone at a fraction of what they had been earlier. Our daughter still had to pay the rent and eat. Now, she's taking up driving lessons in one final push to see if she gets coordinated enough to pass the driv...

A new year, a new start. But it's not really, except for certain things. Holdovers from last year are still beating hard, such as local news that has gone national, or Christmas vacation for schoolkids, which still has a week to go. The rain that has decided to wait for winter to roll in has also continued over from the past year. Weather doesn't care about calendars. For other things, it is a new start. My husband went back to work today, his broken rib healed, though the nerve endings still jangle and he sometimes needs a painkiller. It's also a new start for price hikes of all kinds. Except salaries. Those only go up a tiny percentage point, such as old-age pensions, which have only gone up .25 percent. A quarter of one percent, which means the lowest pensions might only go up little more than a euro a month. Then there are the salaries that haven't gone up in years, such as my husband's, which has been frozen for I forget how long. Like him, many, if they have...