Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, May 07, 2006

The BBC finding that Britons are much richer but less happy than they were in the 1950s has been well reported in Spain. I suspect this is because it accords with the Spanish view that there’s more to life than money. Though there can't be much doubt Spaniards would regard themselves as both much richer and much happier than 50 years ago. Except, of course, for the Falangist dinosaurs, who pine for the return of Francoist times.

One Spaniard who is very unhappy despite being extremely rich is Baroness Thyssen. She is the widow of the German industrialist who brought his spectacular art collection to Madrid, where it now forms part of the Golden Triangle of galleries in the city centre. The good Baroness is decidedly upset by the plans of the municipality to cut down 700 trees as part of a plan to improve the traffic flow near her eponymous gallery. She hasn’t yet carried out her threat to chain herself to one of the trees but did play a star role in yesterday’s demonstration against the impending aboricides. My bet is on a compromise.

My friend Elena is Spanish but raised in France. Like many of us foreigners, she occasionally finds the Spanish attitude to noise hard to bear. Never more so than when she is asleep and her neighbours decide to start a raucous game of darts on their terrace at 3am and then continue until 4. Even harder to accept is a response to a plea for quiet that suggests it’s you who’s odd for even thinking of sleeping on a Saturday night.

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