This is holy week but I am not writing about it. To be honest, I’ve had it to here with holy week -- with drums, with costumes that remind me of the Ku Klux Klan, with processions. Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.
Today’s mid-day news told another of those inexplicable stories about thieves in Barcelona . This was a band of thieves who worked the metro, targeting people as they were getting on and off. Some of those arrested had been arrested hundreds of times in the past. And some that had been arrested were let go on their own recognizance. It wasn’t made clear whether those were the same ones who had been arrested hundreds of times. Maybe some day I will get used to news stories like these and no longer feel the need to write about them.
Another news story was from earlier in the week. In the nearby seaside resort town of Salou , several thousand young Brits are here for what private promoters call SalouFest. This week-long event includes sports during the day and partying at night. In the past there has been considerable street disturbance during the SalouFest. The young Brits put all their know-how into getting well soused and go up and down the streets of Salou naked, dancing and shouting, and destroying the street furniture. When one young thing was interviewed for the news she said “Noise? But they all knew we were coming, right?” never thinking that perhaps the citizens of Salou were not asked if they wanted to invite her and her friends and if they were, perhaps they thought these people would know how to be civil. Is this how young Brits behave at home?
Most days I watch reruns of Flog It on the BBC. It’s not a great program, but not a bad one either and it’s a reasonable way to pass some time late in the boring late afternoon. On Flog It, people bring in their antiques and collectibles to find out how much they are worth and put them up for auction. It is several steps down from the Antiques Roadshow, but the auctions are sometimes exciting to watch. What I’ve noticed is how many people bring in family heirlooms -- toys that were passed down from one or more generation and that they themselves might have played with or admired when they were little. Now they are selling them because they have children or grandchildren and they have to keep the toys stored away to prevent them from surely being broken. What happened that children nowadays can’t be trusted with the same toys their parents and grandparents played with?
So, you have painted in this post a good portrait of this country: A macabre festival of the dead, a negligent Justice, low quality tourism to gain peanuts....
ReplyDeleteYes, that is. :-)
חג פסח שמח
I'm sorry Jaume. There are many things I like about this country (are we speaking of Catalunya or Spain?) but I am in a bad mood right now and these are the things that were making news the last few days.
ReplyDeleteI always speak of Catalonia but some of our chronic woes are shared with our western neigbours (some for their fault, some for our own fault). I am not angry at all that you speak about it. In fact, I am a firm believer in talk and report all this kind of problems. It is a sign of healthy society.
ReplyDeleteIn the other hand, I hope that you can change your mood soon.
Jaume, I thought about it after I wrote the comment above. When I talked about the Brits who come here and act badly, I wasn't really commenting on Salou that accepts that kind of tourism, but on the Brits who act in such an uncivilized way.
ReplyDeleteMy mood will change the day I sell my villa! Maybe even the day that I get a real offer. Thanks for your good wishes and your comments.
Dvora, I've been crabby too lately. So I avoid the news. Sometimes I've just got to act like an ostrich in order to maintain my peace of mind. Good luck with the villa sale. Sending encouraging thoughts across the border!
ReplyDelete