Archive for January, 2011
Monday, January 31st, 2011
One thing which no expat living in Andalucia, or Spain, can fail to notice, is the difference in the roles of the sexes here, as compared to most northern European countries. Women are (generally) the ones who cook and take care of the children.
I nearly fell off the ...
Posted in family, Social affairs | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
There is a new scandal which is slowly coming to light here in Spain. Last year, there were a few stories in the press on the subject; now, there is a flood, with newspaper and TV reports appearing daily. Today, it reached the Fiscal General (Attorney General)'s office, so it ...
Posted in Current affairs, family, Social affairs | 6 Comments »
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Last week it was FITUR, the tourism fair, in Madrid. You may have seen reports in the press, and numerous mentions on Twitter, about the (temporary) hotel made of rubbish, designed to coincide with FITUR. The hotel was constructed using 12 tons of basura collected from beaches around Europe (including ...
Posted in Sport, Tourism | No Comments »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
As I've mentioned on this blog before, I am total sucker for made-for-TV mini-series about royals - Letizia and Felipe, The Duquesa de Alba (up to her second marriage), and Alfonso de Borbon (Franco's granddaughter's late husband - come on, keep up).
It doesn't really matter to me if they're not ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, Entertainment, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, January 17th, 2011
I don't know if is the case throughout Andalucia - perhaps you can let me know? - but there have been loads of roadblocks around here recently to breathalyse people.
We were driving back from going out to lunch on Sunday a week ago, and at a roundabout between two towns, ...
Posted in Current affairs, Driving, Economy, Social affairs | No Comments »
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Something that became clear to me not long after arriving in Spain, over seven years ago, was that this country has very clearly-defined roles in terms of family. This has changed over the years, but you'll still find elderly mothers being looked after the (younger/est) daughter. When I started going ...
Posted in Social affairs | No Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
It's now over a week since the new Ley Antitabaco came into effect. Up until last Tuesday - the latest figures available, this being Spain - FACUA (the consumers' association) had received 1014 denuncias nationally, of which 246 were in Andalucia, with 142 of those in Malaga. In the ...
Posted in Current affairs | No Comments »
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Last night, the Reyes Magos (Three Kings) came to visit every city, town and village throughout Spain, on varying scales - on camel, horse, donkey and elephant; helicopter, boat, skis; while the smartest arrived on the AVE, the Spanish high-speed train which beats the rest of Europe's rail services. My ...
Posted in Culture and Customs | No Comments »
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Hello. This is my first blog post of 2011. Happy New Year, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, whether in Andalucia, the UK or elsewhere. I was fortunate enough to avoid the snow and ice travel chaos when I flew to England before Christmas by ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, family | No Comments »
