Spanish views from a small town

There are people who don't seem to understand anything without thinking of it in monetary terms. People who think that if something is worth having, it's because it's very expensive. People who, seeing what the neighbor has, wants something better and bigger, because if what they have is more expensive, they are better than the neighbor. That is what has ruined the world, not capitalism per se. Too many people think in terms of worth, making monetary worth the most important aspect of their lives. Perhaps it comes from Calvin's ideas that wealth was a sign of God's grace bestowed on a person, and evidence of the person's predestination to be saved. With the extension of ideas and commerce from northern Europe, the idea of wealth being a sign of grace became rooted in Catholic southern Europe, with the results we see now. There is a person we know, like many others, that is obsessed with making money. The more that comes into the household, the better. This perso...

Today, I was called to the bank, in Padrón. The person sent an email with the appointment, in case I was stopped, but I wasn't. The drive up was quiet. There were few cars out, fewer than normal. I relished the change in scenery, even though I've never particularly liked Padrón. That opinion was strengthened, as I passed down a street that was once teeming with shops. Now, every other storefront is closed, and For Sale, or For Rent signs abound. But it's been so since before the pandemic. The person at the bank had called me, and was calling crowds of people, because the conditions of all bank accounts are now changing. When my parents opened this account, the bank was the Banco Pastor. A few years ago, it was bought and absorbed by the Banco Popular. This, in turn, was eaten and swallowed whole by the mega-bank, Banco Santander. And now, they're out to become even richer.  Once upon a time there were caixas , or cajas , in Spain, which were like savings banks or coop b...

Things seem to be getting out of hand with the virus. Locally, there are two children at the primary school in town who are infected, with their respective classes in quarantine. Two people we know have tested positive. Overall, in our region infection rates seem to be starting to go down, but some of those infections are getting too close to home. In the region of Madrid, chaos has ensued. It turns out that it is the region in all of Europe with the fastest growing caseload. Specifically, in certain townships to the south of the city of Madrid, most of them working class. So, lockdown has been proclaimed for those townships. The only acceptable reasons for leaving the house and the township are: doctor's appointments, visiting the banks, pharmacies or the supermarkets, going to school, or going to work. Most of those who live there work elsewhere, including in many of the richer neighborhoods and townships that have lower infection rates and don't have to stay home. People are...

It was cold last night. We slept with the window open, and I had to pull the covers well up. Sitting in my study, eating my breakfast, I was shivering. Using the mouse on the computer, my hand went cold. A small foretaste of the months to come. I should try to fix my little laptop, so I can sit more comfortably in the winter-warm kitchen. But the money I had thought to save up to do it never appeared. I should also do something to my desktop, but the same problem applies. As it is, new, more pressing repairs have taken priority, and now they have to be paid. The usual running in circles, biting tails, when incoming money is less than outgoing. Our daughter will soon be paid the three weeks she worked this month. Working in a cannery can be easy or it can be an inferno depending on where you're placed, who is your supervisor, and what companions are your lot. My daughter has had peaceful days, and she has had days when she was crying because she had to go to work. But she's stuc...

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...

Summer seems to have arrived this week. Temperatures have gone up to close to 80º/27º. It's becoming a good idea to wear shorts and open windows. Already after my morning walk, I'm overheated, and thinking about going out earlier, to avoid the strengthening sun. Strawberries are already past their prime. A month ago, I could buy them and they would last two days. Now, they have to be eaten the same day they're bought. Watermelons have begun to arrive, as well as apricots. Plums are making an appearance, but they have no flavor, yet.  The greens of early spring have amalgamated into a uniform green with stray yellows from left-over broom blossoms. The woods begin to smell of pine needles and eucalyptus leaves in the warm afternoons. Nature continues down the year. Human nature continues, too. At the height of the lockdown, everyone was certain that this would change us. We were certain that solidarity and respect for others would become the new normal. The young people...

I went for another walk this morning, though the daybreak wasn't as promising as yesterday's. I woke up a bit late, and, while the hilltops were covered in cloud, it seemed brighter when I went out than it does now. Cloud cover from the sea seems to be moving in. While the rest of Spain will be sweltering in the first heat wave of the year, we'll get rained upon. Again. Yesterday's high temperature of 27º/80º was Nature laughing at us. I wouldn't mind temperatures like that the entire summer.  Every evening on the news, just about all they talk about, on every channel, is coronavirus, quarantine, deaths, vaccines, coronavirus. It gets so depressing, that my husband doesn't want to watch after ten minutes, and I also find my attention slipping, and not even wanting to wait for the weather report (One thing I would never miss on the news was the weather; I love meteorology, though not the physics to go with it.). But, a notification from a news app on my phone...

I am the first to admit that I haven't the money to spend on five star hotels and three or four fork restaurants. In fact, when we went to France three years ago, we went by car, searched for the cheapest diesel, stayed at wonderful B&B's, ate mostly food from supermarkets at picnic spots, and bought very few souvenirs, mostly magnets. I think the most money we spent daily was for our accommodations, and I deliberately chose those that were the least expensive without being cheap hostel-type places. We enjoyed ourselves without mortgaging the house. Many people on tight incomes who like to travel, have no option but to travel cheap. The tourism industry has adapted to them, even though the cities and towns they pass through wish they would leave more money. In fact, our regional government of Galicia has stated it would try to change our tourism to target more "moneyed" tourists. Good luck with that. They'll find that there aren't that many who have a fe...

Ah! Money! To have the clean, crisp feel of a banknote in your hand! Even if it's a small bill, it's still physically in your hand. You can turn it over, scrunch it up, smooth it out, fold it over, fold it into a boat, whatever. It can even go through a wash and rinse cycle and come out clean and new and ready to be hung to dry with the rest of the laundry. There is no doubt that you have it and can exchange it for whatever its denomination can buy. (If it's a five euro bill, that's not going to be much.) Ah! A card! A cold stiff plastic card to be kept safe. You can't fold it; if you do, you destroy it. You can only hold it out in your hand to stick into a machine. Or you can put it into a slot in your wallet, but far from any magnet or it's useless. You can't put it in your pocket because you might bend it, and it's quite uncomfortable to feel its unyielding shape in that small space, anyway. You can buy anything with it, depending on what the bank s...

Ah, the beginning of a new year. And new rates. After a month of people spending mostly what they don't have, January appears with higher rates in everything from electricity to bus rides. Except this year. Since general elections were last month, and there still looms the danger of a second election round if a government is not formed, rates have actually gone down this January 1st. Of course, most of that downward movement is so slight as to be almost negligible. But it does make for happy headlines. The electricity bill is going down 0.7% and the butane distributed in rural areas 0.6%. The turnpikes are also mostly going down around 0.6%. Buses, subways, and trains are not changing. They're expensive enough already. One trip on the subway in Madrid already costs €1.50 for up to five stations, with a maximum of €2.00 for nine stations or more. Some more good news is for those who work in the public sector. Their salaries are going up 1%! Wow! And those who earn minimum wa...

I remember school lunches in Boston as being a celebration of mostly fried foods, so processed they no longer resembled the name given them. You were never sure if you were eating breaded chicken or breaded fish, for example. I rarely bought one because I usually brought a sandwich for lunch. But the little I recall of them, they weren't exactly healthy. Though that was Boston in the eighties, before child obesity became one of the foremost problems of childhood and adolescence. Lately, I've seen comparisons of school lunches in the U.S. with lunches in Europe. The U.S. still fares poorly. But it still fares better than Spain. Ever since school lunches have been mostly outsourced to catering businesses, lunch has become a Russian roulette of spoiled meals, or raw dishes, or too little food. The regional government's attempt to save money has meant children who eat at school might or might not end up eating healthily.  The catering businesses have to bid to get the contr...