Spanish views from a small town

It's been warm ever since the weekend began. Temperatures above 30ºC/86ºF, and a grueling sun, have made us realize that this is summer, astronomical calendar notwithstanding. After all, the ancient Celts were wiser, and realized that the summer really began on the 1st of May.  After a rather lazy weekend, came a busier week. Yesterday, I had errands to run, and classes to give. I finish my classes next Tuesday, the last day of school. After that, I have a free week before I begin summer classes, and my mornings disappear. I'll have late afternoons free, but by then the day is advanced, and has lost its freshness.  Today, I had another trip into town, to the town hall. Yesterday afternoon, I heard a car beeping its horn outside. I went out to see if it was a neighbor, and it turned out to be the mailman. She was bringing a certified letter from, where else, the regional tax office. No, the saga with the paid fine isn't over, yet.  Last month, when I went and everything wa...

The parking fine fiasco is not yet ended. In February, 2018, I was fined €80 for parking overlong in a space with limited time in my town, and without a special sign saying what time I had parked the car. I paid the fine, within the discount time, and long before the time limit to pay was up. Luckily, I kept the receipts. About a couple of years later, I get a letter from the provincial tax office, telling me I need to pay the fine because it's overdue. Great, someone is not doing their job. I call the office, and they tell me that I should take my receipts to the tax office of my town hall. I do, and they tell me I should take them to the main office, and fill out a reclamation form. I cross the square and do so. There, they tell me it's out of their hands, and that I should send everything to the provincial tax office. I call and get the email, and send scanned copies.  At the beginning of this year, I get another letter, telling me I still need to pay the fine. After yelling...

People are confused about the re-opening. A friend of my husband's chatted with him last night, talking about going fishing to a favorite spot where the fish would very likely be biting. But, where he wanted to go fishing was in a township that will still be off limits for us because it falls within the health area of Cee-A Coruña. He didn't understand, so I sent him a map I had seen, with all the townships in the colors of the level they will be on, on Friday. He still didn't understand, so I sent him an  article I had seen in La Voz de Galicia, explaining the different areas. Bummer. No fishing. To help people understand where they can and can't go as of Friday, maps are circulating with the townships in different colors according to level. One can only travel within townships of the same color, and those in red are still closed off. The problem is that most people can't read a map, or can't find their township on a map. They know exactly where they live, but...

About a week ago, a teenager was sitting on a bench in Santiago eating a handful of pistachios, pulling down his mask to put the morsels in his mouth. A policeman in the area, saw him, and fined him a hundred euros for not having his mask properly adjusted, and for not maintaining a social distance. For some reason, the kid was interviewed for the national news by a television station. His story was then carried wide and far. A group of friends decided to crowd fund to pay his fine. They easily raised the hundred euros. And today, a company that imports pistachios announced that they were supplying him with a pack of pistachios every month for a year, to make him feel better. The truth is that there are some policemen that are sticklers for the law in excess. A couple of years ago, a policeman in Poio fined a driver for turning his head to the side. The argument was that the driver had his attention diverted from the traffic in front of him, and could have caused an accident. I thi...

The traffic police in Spain, Tráfico , a division of the Guardia Civil , are not well loved. There are different groups on Facebook and Whatsapp where members call the attention of other members and tell them where a a patrol or speed trap might be set up. Sometimes humor is involved. The cops have been called smurfs, lettuces (because the uniform is green), and photographers.  Sometimes, though, even the cops are surprised by what they find on the roads. And, yes, most of it is fineable because the civilians involved are actually breaking a traffic law. Yet, situations can get very strange.  Some time ago, there was the news of a driver in the Basque country who had packed his car with bales of straw. The car was a moving bale on the road. He wasn't the only one who took advantage of a spacious car. In 2014 in Jonquera, in Catalunya, right on the border with France, the driver of a Renault Espace was stopped because the car was obviously overloaded. The reason was tha...