Siesta Hours
Dear Sir: Regarding your article on the Spanish siesta. Just for the record, business open from nine to five? Where? Not in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, or any of the big bustling business cities. Eight to three is in the summer when the heat makes it advisable. With a few exceptions I cannot remember when work was nine till two and four till seven. Those were the Franco days, and he's been dead over 30 years. Nothing to do with the European Union, the change came slowly and it was initially known as the "semana inglesa", which actually meant no work on Saturdays. It was common sense when Spain started trading with other nations to be available when they were. Of course trade hours can be different but that depends on the trade, the area and the shoppers. In Madrid they tend to open from ten in the morning to nine pm or longer depending on the size of the business.
Maria,
Madrid
Dear Sir: It’s not just the siesta that keeps Spain 'different' (Franco's phrase). There are winter hours día partida (10-2 and 5-9), summer hours jornada intensiva (8-3), national, regional and local fiestas, etc. All of this helps to keep you on your toes. The Internet does stop some fruitless errands, but not all. At least it's an excuse for a coffee and a chat in the local bar.
C.I.
Manilva, Málaga
Danger
Dear Sir, Recently my granddaughter and children were visiting me, and called in Thomas’ supermarket on Mojácar Playa.
As my daughter was paying at the cash-point, the person behind her took the dummy out of the mouth of the little one, put it in her own mouth, sucked on it a few times and went to give it back to the child. Fortunately my daughter grabbed it first and was shocked that anyone would be so stupid as to do such a thing.
We do not know who this person was but just hope that she has not got an infectious condition, particularly Aids, which could be passed on.
If she reads this I hope she realises what a senseless and disgusting thing she did.
A Concerned Nan
NNEB qual. Nursery Nurse.
Club Taurino de Mojácar
Hi Lenox, The meeting held on 28th August was attended by over 20 people and featured an illustrated talk by Ric Polansky about the various passes made by a torero during the course of a faena (bullfight). Also discussed were the various signals given by the president during a faena to control the conduct of the participants.
Some of the club members are new to the fiesta nacional and one of the objectives of the Club Taurino is to explain the history and origens of the procedures followed in the plaza de toros and therefore help in the understanding and enjoyment of this most Spanish event which seems to be growing in popularity each year with more plaza de toros being built each year throughout Spain.
This was followed by some videos of unusual incidents in some recent corridas including an outstanding video of a rejones (fighting on horseback) by the young Portugese rejoneador, Diego Ventura using many unorthadox and exciting moves. The horsemanship and ability of horse and rider in these events is truly astonishing.
The meeting concluded with lunch whereby every member contributed a dish to share compartir, washed down with some very good vino espanol.
On the 11th September the club visited the Plaza de Toros in Vera and enjoyed a conducted tour of the plaza showing the chapel, the infirmary, the butchers shop and of course the toril (the pre-fight bull pen). Most members were amazed at the complexity and attention to detail of what goes on "behind the scenes."
The fiesta of St Cleophas in Vera was the reason for a series of three corridas held at the Plaza de Toros in Vera featuring some of the most famous and talented matadores and rejoneadores in Spain today. The club was well represented at each of the events, terminating as usual at a local restaurant frequented by leading participants past and present in the fiesta nactional.
The next meeting of the Club Taurino de Mojácar will be on 27th September, starting at 12.30, which again will follow the pattern of bring a plate of food to share. All are welcome and membership is free, for further details please contact Mike Hathaway by email; myromakeha@telefonica.net
Mike Hathaway,
Mojácar Buying with Confidence
Dear Sir, We have followed articles over the months regarding Spanish property and would like to submit for your attention a service which we think may be of considerable value to both the buyer and the seller in reestablishing confidence in negociations. Our service helps eliminate the dangers of dishonest practise by empowering the buyer with more information about a property once they have seen it. The seller may also benefit by presenting this information about a property to prospective buyers at the outset.
Although the Official Cadastral service is nothing new, having been developed in 2003, it is not an easy webservice to use. Nonetheless it provides an invaluable service; providing security to the real estate sale procedure.
The Official Catastro Service itself claims the following:
·It enables to issue cadastral information, avoids inconveniences of citizens going to the Catastro offices to obtain the needed data. In addition, this information is obtained at no cost.
·It enables to fulfill legal obligations of the citizens, eliminating unnecessary proceedings and streamlining procedures.
·It eliminates most routine and tedious work in the departments of public attention of the catastro offices.
·It reinforces the exchange of information with administrations and institutions collaborating with Cadastre.
Our web version at www.maps.data-spain.com/cadastral is easy to use, having been developed specifically to lookup official Spanish property registry (catastro) deeds and to find other Spanish property information: exact map location, altitude, land area, and distances. Buyers can double check the official records against the details presented by the seller. Sellers can present the official records to the interested buyer.
Rupert Windle
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