Mizmoe

I find apartment life quite easy, especially when there is a lift available, as having mobility problems does make life difficult. Unfortunately, there is a downside and that is the “community” who make the rules, only representing the Spaniards living in the block and totally ignoring all other nationalities. This, of course, only applies to the block in which I am staying at the moment, I cannot speak for others.

We have a small dog, clean and a good boy. This morning when we went into the lift there was a notice up stating that animals were not allowed in the lift which means I have to walk down 6 flights of stairs (and back up to return to the flat) to take the little tyke for a “winkle”. So to whoever put up this notice, in the full knowledge that I have mobility problems, “up yours”.

I was approached by some UK bible bashers yesterday asking me (in Spanish) if I had found Jesus yet. Indicated in my best Spanish (still not good) that I didn´t understand, so they promptly switched to English. My reply, typical me, “didn´t know he was lost”. Did it go down very well - No!

I don´t mind what people believe as long as they don´t try and convert me thinking I need saving. I have my own ideals and firmly believe that we should be good and kind to others because it is the right thing to do, not because of fear of devine retribution.

As I have said many times when on my “bandbox”, I don´t believe in the after life, when you´re dead you´re dead, end of story. Some people cannot cope with this, I can. Do I try and convert people to my way of thinking, and the answer would be no. These are my own beliefs.

And now we learn that the Italian who murdered the head teacher trying to protect his pupil can’t speak Italian and has lived in this country since he was a child, tough - he can learn.

If this man is a danger to the public and was at the time of the murder a member of a gang who styled themsleves on the Triads, why can’t he be deported? Why do some reports state he is unlikely to offend, yet the news today indicates otherwise. Is he a danger, or isn’t he?

A 15 year old Italian male is found guilty of murdering the head teacher of a school. Should this man be deported to what is a safe European country, or is deportation a breach of his human rights?

It is about time that countries who are members of the EU be given the right to deport criminals who have committed such a serious offence back to their country of birth. IMHO he gave up any human rights the moment he killed another human being. At 15 years of age you know that to kill is wrong, you are aware of the consequences of your actions, and you should be held responsible for them.

Another serious question is “what about the human rights of the man’s widow and family”? Shouldn’t the family be allowed a say in the fate of the man who murdered their loved one?

In answer to one question, his solicitor stated that it was highly unlikely that this man, when released, would come into contact with the dead man’s widow and that reports from prison confirmed he was “unlikely” to reoffend. How many times have we heard this same comment and yet the person, on release, has resumed their old lifestyle. It appears this man has lived in the UK for many years and has no family in Italy. Being allowed to live in the UK should come with responsibility, to uphold the laws of the land and to live in harmony with other citizens.

If he truly repents, then he should willingly leave the country and give the man’s family the peace they deserve.

I was listening to “celebrity chefs” whittering on about buying local produce and supporting local “corner” shops. When I was young … more years ago than I care to remember … we had no alternative than to buy at local shops and use locally produced food as supermarkets did not exist in our area. Our diet changed with the seasons.

Whilst I understand the need to cut down on air and road transport plus the use of fossil fuels, I also remember when we purchased our groceries at local stores and markets.

My auntie owned a local store and her mark up on food was unbelievably high - she often boasted about the profit she made each week. Other shops in the area were run in the same way - subsequently many of the poorer families could not afford to eat properly - my friend ate chips and bread each evening, all they could afford.

The market traders were okay but the food sold was not always good quality and often they would drop a few pieces of “damaged” or “bad” fruit into the bag.

When a supermarket opened in the local town my parents decided to try it out - eventually we did our weekly shopping there - but still buying meat, fish, cheese, fruit and vegetables from the local week-end market.

Our bills dropped dramatically, the brands were the same as in our local store but cheaper and there was more choice. Compared to today’s supermarkets they were small and did not stock such an extensive range.

Shortly before moving to Spain, we compared the major branded products sold in small stores and supermarkets - prices at local stores were much higher. We looked at “perishables” - those on offer at local stores were more expensive and lower quality - without exception!

Perhaps this is why the majority of us shop in supermarkets - because we cannot afford not to!

It would be great to shop at the local deli, to buy meat from the local butcher, fish from a fishmonger (to purchase wild as opposed to farmed salmon), to buy bread from a local baker. These celebrity chefs live in a different world. I remember one saying that perhaps if people gave up “boozing” and “smoking” they could afford to eat healthily - well I do neither! Nuff said!

Ex pats on life in the UK and why they left.

I watched another TV programme - the subject being discussed this time was getting back old family values and yet again the subject of one parent families was raised. The number of times I have heard the same tired old arguments “the decline of UK family life is down to these people” - “they have no morals” - “their children terrorise and run riot in the streets”.

I met many decent responsible lone parents who were hard working people, devoting their life to providing for and bringing up their child. Interesting to note that “lone parent families” includes widows/widowers, divorcees, plus those who didn’t marry their partner and subsequently split up.

Admittedly there are those who do live off the state, but the same can be said for some married couples.

Get to the point … it’s this … not all societies ills are caused by those people who are not members of traditional two parent families, ie one man and one woman. A lone parent’s reasons for being “single” should be private, ie nothing to do with patronising bigots whose sole aim in life is to criticise and put down others to boost their own ego..

Many of the people interviewed on these programmes do tend to generalise and at times the arguments they put forward do not stand up to close scrutiny.

I have watched a couple of programmes over the past few days where discussions were held among fellow “ex pats” on the joys of living in Spain with other “ex pats”.

There appears to be those people who keep themselves to themselves and live in Brits only areas, buy from British owned shops and then the people who pride themselves on their language skills and integrating with the Spanish.

My problem with the latter is their superior attitude to living in Spain - I speak a little Spanish, just enough to get by on a day to day basis and I am trying to improve my skills by taking a course and listening to Spanish television, but I’m not really sure which group I “belong” to. I am on “hello” terms with my spanish neighbours - but they don’t seem like the absolutely perfect Spaniards these people live amongst - in fact they are just like me - normal … sometimes friendly, sometimes not, occasionally happy - get the gist?

What’s the problem with these people - just get along with all your neighbours whatever their nationality and language skills, ok some of them you may not agree with, but what the hell just try. Oops - sorry I’m on my bandwagon again - it’s just that they annoy me with their superior attitude to those they seem to consider less than themselves. And then … there was the comment about the older “ex pats” and those that live in one particular area - now that really annoyed me. Snobs, oh yes?