Archive for the 'Spain' Category
Sleepless in Torrevieja
We live only a few hundred yards away from a disco and finally after a couple of weeks living here I was able to sleep through the 11 pm to 6/7 am closing time. Then last night a second disco opened. The original turned up the volume and the second followed their example. Result … sleepless night. So if you are coming to live in Torre, find a place without a disco in the vicinity unless you are one of their regular customers.
My daughter suggested that perhaps my dizzyness on standing up from sitting or lying down could be partly attributable to dehydration, so I took a bottle of water from the fridge, put it down beside me while I did my Sudoku … and forgot to drink it. So daughter said … it does you absolutely no good while still in the bottle, you need to drink it. All this in her most sarcastic tone to date. Patience is not one of her virtues!
Monogamy or not?
I watched a programme on Spanish TV recently about monogamy, this programme indicated that monogamy is unnatural. Although I did not understand the finer points, they showed several diagrams on marriage customs throughout the world giving statistics on the number of countries where men are allowed to have more than one wife.
It is argued that polygamy and polyandry are often decided by statistics on gender in the population, i.e. where males are in the minority (for instance in a state of war), polygamy is the more sensible option i.e. to allow men to take more than one wife, whilst other cultures where females are in the minority, it is more sensible to have polyandry.
Perhaps when discussing this subject, the questions of the more dangerous STD´s should also be taken into account.
I would not like to say which is ideal and surely this should be a personal matter in line with legislation in your home country. But how many countries do you think would allow polyandry – how many coutries are ruled by women? I cannot see many men being happy with not having exclusivity in their mate whereas many women are just prepared to put up with anything and some females feel this is ideal!
The main question therefore is, should polygamy or polyandry be allowed in civilised nations?
I would not comtemplate marriage to an already married man (even if I were young) as I have been raised to believe in the one man/one woman ideal. If polygamy or polyandry were to be brought in and made legal in those countries who presently do not allow it, perhaps they should consider a man taking more than one wife or woman taking more than one husband should be allowed only where both partners are in full agreement. I still feel that we have not moved on from our monkey ancesters if this is being considered, and for me talking about something means it is under consideration when there are more women than men and visaversa.
You know you have been in Spain too long when:
• You sleep through the loud music from the local disco which goes on from 11 pm to 6 am
• You enjoy Spanish TV, like South American Soaps and get used to soft porn on late night channels
• You are not shocked to find the nice young women living next door are prostitutes receiving male visitors 24 hours a day 7 day per week
• You are not shocked when the Civil Guard raid the apartment next door and take away the nice young man who carries your bags for you, then find out he has been jailed for drug dealing
• You become used to living in an apartment block where most of the apartments are empty and used only during July and August
• You breathe a sigh of relief when the holiday season of July/August finally ends and the Brits go home
• You enjoy the out of tune music played by the brass band at Fiesta time
• You “tut” like a Spaniard when the Brits visiting Spanish stores make comments like “isn´t Spain a backward country, they don´t even sell Yorkshire tea/crumpets/and lovely soft sliced white bread (that keeps for weeks without going green)” and refer to the locals as “peasants”
• You laugh with the locals when Brits (who live in a home classed as holiday accommodation) complain about being unable to get a telephone line
• You look at visitors as if they are mad when they wear T shifts and shorts when it is only 23 degrees Celsius. You are wearing a woolly jumper, scarf and gloves
Telefonica
My daughter applied for a landline yesterday, the engineer phoned last night, the line was up and working this morning by 11 am.
Beat that BT.
Spain
Well we have moved again to another quite lovely flat in Torrevieja. It has two double bedrooms, one bathroom, one living area containing dining, sitting and kitchen. Disabled access to the building, a locked community and security access for visitors through to each flat, a nice size television and is very comfy. The area isn´t as nice as I would have liked but we have wonderful access to various good supermarkets, bars and restaurants and only a few minutes taxi ride to the cinema and a short walk to the sea. We have a pool with excellent disabed access and I have to say that other than the bath which I found it very difficult to exit from, everthing is good. We will most likely be staying here until our move back to the UK, if we do actually move permanently back there, we shall see how things transpire. Having decided to return, my daughter now has a Spanish client who wants her to work with them as a consultant and take on any designs in her area of expertise. Three years in Spain, decide to go home due to problems getting work, and now it happens!
Did they or didn´t they?
Yes, they did. Well … several of them “made love” in front of the camera, even though they were under a duvet or in the bathroom where cameras are not available to film, but all made sure that the audience knew full well what they had been up to.
So the question for today is … “would you go into Big Brother and have sexual intercourse with a relative stranger in front of the camera” and more importantly “would you forget about safe sex”. One male had a couple … or more … whilst in the house. Have to say he was the most interesting housemate in the Spanish Big Brother House this year and one of the best looking guys, not much competition though. He certainly was not shy! Even had the presenter blushing.
Did they or didn´t they?
A little light relief!
While watching a programme following Spain´s Big Brother, the panel laughingly presented a scene in the “pool” where two of the celebrities were having a little fun, at the end of which the man pushed off from the side and revealed that he was aroused!
A second scene was shown later on and from the movement the panel laughingly assumed that the two people actually had sexual intercourse in front of the cameras. It was thumbs up from the two contestants along with big smiles, which really admits that they were quite happy with the outcome … or just acting to keep them in the show.
So … did they or didn´t they? You decide!
Spain
Life here has returned to normal for the residents now that all the holiday makers have gone home, except for those who like Spain in winter. Many of the people who travel here to Torrevieja (this town was apparently named after an old watchtower), have returned. Their motorised caravans come into the car park opposite daily and we recognise many of the people from last year.
This is the time when I love Spain, the weather is mild, the residents more relaxed and food prices return to normal after the increases for tourists. Taxis are also charging their pre holiday season prices.
Although this town has faced criticism, it is a beautiful with lots to offer tourists. They try hard to make everyone welcome, and more often than not succeed. Torreveija has lovely municipal pool, I understand that it is open in the winter months, boat trips to the beautiful island of Tabarca (please forgive me if my spelling is incorrect), many gorgeous beeches which are very clean, one even has a safe bathing area where people like myself who have mobility problems can enter the sea safely without being knocked over by the waves. Lots of lovely bars, restaurants, take-aways (there is a Chinese restaurant/take-away behind the urbanisation facing the main entrance of Carrefour, the food is wonderful and the staff so pleasant and welcoming). I will post the name and address in a later.
It isn´t “Little Britain”, though even I have been guilty of describing it so in the past. The British account for only a small number of the residents of Torreveija. There are still areas where you can purchase a realistically priced home where your neighbours are mainly Spanish, if that is what you chose. Or opt for a truly international community.
Many one bedroom apartments are currently being offered in the region of fifty thousand euros, you just have to shop around. Spanish estate agents are – on the whole – efficient, polite and welcoming. Sometimes Brits still try to charge over the top and who can blame them if they purchased their home when prices were high. If you do intend buying here in Spain, visit the area during the day, at night and also at the weekend, it is well worth the time as some areas do have prostitute and drug problems. But that is the world we live in, just take care and like us you´ll be okay.
I would still advise renting for a while, and you can get a winter rental one bedroom apartment from as little as 230 euros. Basic usually, but generally clean and in a decent area. Just take care and come over here and stay in a hotel so that you can then chose an apartment, there are lots to rent at the moment. Just … make sure you have a contract!
A raving agnostic in spain.
Here in Spain there are many Fiestas, particularly at Easter, where effigies are carried around the villages and towns by the locals.
At these Fiestas people, mainly women, cry and reach out to touch the religious statue. They lift up their babies, seemingly oblivious of the dangers. When they achieve their objective, they walk away with what can only be described as a “divine smile” on their faces. I simply do not understand what people, particularly women, hope to achieve by touching an inanimate object. Worse still, to put ones child at risk of falling from a significant height in a crowd of what can only be described as “rampant”, where injury or even death could occur if trampled.
Perhaps Spain is the wrong place for someone who does not believe there is a God.
I acknowledge their right to choose their beliefs, I just do not understand. For me, religion does not have a place in modern society. It seems to me that society is no further on than the religious fanatics typical of the middle ages.
I am sure that man cannot possibly know that there is a God or some Supreme Deity watching over the lives of the humans on this planet, a planet he made with inhabitants made in his own image. And woman being made out of the spare rib of Adam is just another “rant” waiting to happen. That really puts us in our place ladies.
TV in Spain
I don´t understand how the Spanish TV companies come to the conclusion that it is okay to screen a vampire series at 3 pm, then put one of the Harry Potter movies on very late at night. Obviously they do not have the Spanish equivalent of the “watershed”.
If young children watch Spanish TV and you like to make sure the programmes are appropriate for their age group, ie watch Harry Potter rather than a violent FBI TV series or a movie with rape scenes and dead bodies, then be careful.
The new digital network allows programmes from abroad to be screened in the original language, mostly it works, as this is Spain, sometimes it doesn´t.
I had insomnia and switched on the TV early one morning, as usual surfing between channels and came across a movie that looked interesting, didn´t understand the story line but decided to watch it anyone. Scene – a young couple having an argument, quite normal, then they move into his office, she strips all his clothes off and the next scene, as decribed to my daughter, was very realistic oral sex. Didn´t realise until she questionned which channel I had been on that it was a porn movie.
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