Today is, of course, a
'Holy Day of Obligation'. The Epiphany, in fact. Or Los Reyes, (The
Kings) as it's known in Spain. The 3 Wise Men. It's a key date for
kids, as most to them get their gifts on this day, rather than on 25
December. A lucky minority get them on both days. Not surprisingly, a large majority of Spanish kids favour the January date over the December
date. The good news for me is that today is the third and final feast day of
the 2-week gorge-fest which is the Spanish Xmas and New Year. As of
tomorrow, the noise levels next door will return to their normal high
level.
Yesterday evening saw
the traditional cabalgata throughout Spain, featuring the the 3 Kings
on horseback, chucking sweets to kids at the side of the road. I
haven't been to one since I first moved here, when there was a fight
for goodies which resulted in a serious injury. When I caught someone
in the eye with my flailing umbrella.
Talking about strange
Spanish customs . . . The great majority of companies here still
operate the split working day which sends people home at 'midday'
(2pm) and brings them back 3 hours later to work until well into the
evening/night. In search of greater productivity, one major company -
Iberdrola - has dared to challenge this deep-rooted practice and both
employer and employees are happy with the result. More on this here.
It's anyone's guess when the rest of corporate Spain will follow
suit.
Gibraltar: The previous
PSOE government strove to lance this age-old boil, with the
cooperation of both Britain and Gibraltar. And the flame of hope
burned briefly in both London and Madrid. But the current
(right-of-centre) PP government urinated on the flame on day one and
has ever since adopted a petty and aggressive attitude which - like
Franco's - has been utterly counter-productive. Except in the
domestic posturing stakes, of course. This week has seen the latest example of this,
with Spain vetoing Gibraltar's inclusion in a pan-European air-safety
concordat. Simultaneously, Spain is failing to introduce the border
improvements demanded by the EU 6 months ago. So the British
government now has to decide whether to take legal action against
Spain. And I'd thought things just couldn't get any worse - speaking as
someone who thinks Gibraltar should eventually move back to Spain.
Under a tripartite agreement.
But . . . Good News:
There was a significant fall in unemployment here in 2014. There are
now only(?) 4.5m folk registered as unemployed, many of whom will not
actually be working. This is a rate of 24%, second only to that of
Greece. Among young people (18-35), the rate is still double this,
accounting for the the tragic flood of talent to Germany, the UK and
elsewhere.
The new left-of-centre
political party - Podemos - has recorded great success in recent
municipal elections. This, though, has created something of a
problem for it. For most of the new incumbents are men, and the party's
constitution demands that a minimum of 40% should be women. The next
chapter will be interesting.
Penultimately . . . .
"The belt experience hasn't changed in centuries". Says a
company promoting - guess what - a belt. Which tells you you've gained
weight. And why not?
Finally . . . For those
who wanted to see the other side of the coin, here it is:-
British Army Bureau of
Current Affairs
Bulletin, No. 22, July
1942. "Meet the Americans."
UNITY UNDER THE SKIN
THERE WILL be no lack
of discussion among your men when you tackle the theme of this
bulletin, for all of us are only too ready to air our views about
"foreigners". And the less we know about them the readier
we are to pronounce judgement. It isn't a particularly British
characteristic, either, for all nations (whether they live on an
island or not) are inclined to an insular outlook. The think of
themselves as "the tops" and they rather look down on all
other nationalities.
This disparagement of
the "foreigner" begins much nearer home than that. The
Yorkshire lad says rude things about the Cockney; the Midlander makes
fun of the Welshman. There's a lot to be said for this robust and
defiant local pride, for it keeps alive a healthy sense of rivalry.
Yet after many centuries of experience we've learned to keep that
rivalry in its place. We take it out for an airing to Wembley, or Old
Trafford; we make it the peg for good knock-about arguments in the
four-ale bar. But when it comes to serious business, we forget all
these differences of local merit and custom and accent. And because
we have unity under the skin, we men of all the shires march
together, endure together, and win together.
It is in exactly the
same spirit that we shall learn to march with the Americans. The
local differences between us and them are stronger because they are,
so far, less familiar, but we shall discover exactly what they count
for in good time. The Americans and the British will find plenty to
make fun of in each other, plenty to feel superior about. That
doesn't matter so long as we also find how much there is to respect
in other.
At the moment the
soldiers of the two nations are in the position of two people who
have just been introduced. Neither of them, thank heaven, is the
emotional sort which falls on each other's neck. They like the look
of the other fellow, but they don't intend to commit themselves yet.
They're on the defensive, they're sizing each other up. Besides that,
they've heard vague rumours about each other, and they've seen
photographs which weren't too flattering. They want to see how the
other fellow shapes, what he's like at work and play, before they let
the friendship ripen. That is exactly the situation between the
American and the British soldiers today – and that's good enough
for a beginning. There's a bit of prejudice on both sides, a colossal
ignorance of each other's attitudes and characteristics – but
there's also a willingness to get together.
Where do we go from
there?
We need to exercise
three qualities if Anglo-American friendship is to develop under the
exacting conditions of war. They are Good Will, Respect, and
Patience.
Good Will: We must be
willing to like each other – willing , because the common cause
demands it. Goebbels and his gang will do all they can to produce ill
will between us. Our answer to that game is persistent, determined
good will: the resolution to believe the best about people we don't
yet know. It should a matter of personal mental discipline to adopt
this attitude.
Respect: Towards
nations as towards individuals we must show respect for positive
achievement. We may dislike a man's face or the cut of his clothes or
his fashion in food – yet acknowledge him as a fine engineer or
architect or musician. Respect for American achievement is one of the
ways by which we shall discover the Americans. Look, for example,
what they've done to refrigerators and combustion engines and
acknowledge them as the world's inventive wizards.
Patience: If you want
someone's friendship, don't snatch it, wait for it. Peoples as
foreign to each other as the Americans and ourselves have a lot to
learn before we reach understanding. The first necessity is to be
informed about each other, to replace the film version and the story
book version by the real facts. We shall get the real facts one way
and one way only – by seeking them in a spirit of genuine interest.
Not even the most
intensely nationalistic man or woman can resist that spirit. Ask a
"foreigner" about his home town, what he likes to eat,
where he works, what he does on Sunday, where he goes for his
holidays, how his home is furnished, and so on – and you'll
invariably achieve two things. You'll discover a lot about the land
he comes from, and you'll make him feel you have a genuine interest
in him. There and there only, without blah or baloney, is the plain
man's way to Anglo-American understanding.
The signal is "Get
Acquainted." Never mind the vows and the flags and the
keepsakes, for no alliance, whether national or matrimonial, ever
survives on sentiment alone. We've got to understand and respect each
other for two reasons. First, because we want to be real comrades in
arms, not phoney ones of the Axis variety. Second and even more
important, we don't want a mere wartime friendship. We want the real
thing – the alliance which survives the peace and becomes a
permanent force in the shaping of the new world.
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