Live News From Spain As It Happens

NOT ALL 'life-hacks' you find on social media turn out to be useful, or even harmless – but when they're recommended by one of Spain's largest consumer organisations, you can probably safely give them a go.

The OCU advises householders to clean their microwaves after every single use, both for hygiene reasons, and to prolong the useful life of the appliance.

For most of us, the mere idea fills us with horror: Who's got time to do that? After all, microwaves were invented to make heating and cooking quicker, and to save us precious minutes or hours, not to create jobs that take up most of the time saved.

However, the OCU has listed some tricks that make it a simple 'wiping-up' task which is even easier than using the foamy microwave-and-oven-cleaning spray-on products you find in the supermarket.

One of the most effective and frequently-used is with water and vinegar – the latter being a star product for descaling kettles, cleaning encrusted taps, and removing cat and dog urine by literally 'eating' the bacteria in it.

Fill a microwaveable tupperware container with water and vinegar and place it, uncovered, in the microwave, then heat on the maximum temperature for two minutes.

Remove the tupperware, and the dirt should just wipe off with a cloth or kitchen roll – for any that does not, dip the cloth in the water-vinegar mixture and try wiping it again.

For really tough stains, fill a mug with hot water and add a dash of washing-up liquid – a very small dash, because you don't want to be spending ages rinsing soap-suds out of the microwave to stop all your food tasting of Fairy Liquid afterwards.

The OCU also recommends 'exfoliating' with bicarbonate of soda for the most resistant stains – dip a damp sponge in a saucerful of it, and rub in figure-eight shapes.

Bicarbonate of soda also counters bad smells, so is used in Spanish households in the washing machine, fridge and dishwasher, and can also be used to clean up pet piddle.

Another method the OCU mentions is cutting a lemon into several pieces, dropping it into a microwaveable dish or tupperware full of water, then heat the container, uncovered, for about five minutes.

Like with the vinegar, the steam from the lemon and water softens the dirt stuck to the inside of the microwave and makes it easier to wipe away.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEW line of credit totalling €40 billion has been agreed by Spain's government to help boost cashflow, capital and investment for businesses.

An initial credit facility of €100bn created earlier this year has already been used up, so a further cash injection to help traders finance their activities was approved by the Council of Ministers this week.

Loans are available for financing circulating capital and for helping businesses expand and modernise through investment in two key areas that offer greater added value to their products and services, attracting and keeping customers, making life easier for these and for the business, and helping the owners to avoid being 'left behind' in a competitive market.

These two key areas are digitalisation and environmental sustainability.

Investment is now more crucial than ever for traders and companies of all sizes, given that the State of Alarm and lockdown restricted activity and mobility, and the initial €100bn was largely aimed at increasing cashflow at a difficult time and in a format that is cheaper, more flexible and more accessible than bank-based business loans.

The additional €40bn has been set up to try to reactivate the economy which, in Spain, like in most countries this year, has suffered as a result of the pandemic.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ENVIRONMENTAL association founder has warned against the global trend towards banning plastic – saying doing so is harmful to the planet.

Alejandra Ramos Jaime of La Solución Soy Yo ('It's Me Who's The Solution', roughly translated) and ambassador for the Economic Education Foundation says government attempts to ban or reduce use of plastic is 'ecocide'.

“In a hypothetical scenario where plastic did not exist or had never existed, and supposing a similar pattern of consumerism as we have today, millions of tonnes of other waste would be generated: Single-use paper bags, aluminium foil containers, disposable cardboard packaging, and so on.

“The press would highlight alarm about the sheer quantity of trees chopped down, the massive amount of water used in the textile, paper and cardboard industries, the high level of mining for increasingly-rare minerals, among other problems.

“But then, imagine if someone discovered a material which was able to reduce water use fivefold, reduce non-renewable energy consumption by 200%, cutting greenhouse gas emissions. A pliable, hygienic, resistant material that, as a bonus, doesn't require a single tree to be cut down! Waves of consumers worried about the environment and conservation of natural resources would rush out to use it, and use of paper bags, for example, which cost valuable resources and forests, would be frowned upon.”

“This invention does, fortunately, already exist: Plastic.

“The campaign against plastic has led to our forgetting its multiple benefits, even environmental benefits: Based upon the resources used, a paper bag would need to be reused at least seven times to compensate for the environmental impact of its manufacturing, and a cloth bag needs to be used at least 327 times.

“Plastic is not only more comfortable for consumers, but actually extends the useful life of products and aids their distribution: Vacuum-packed meat, for example, lasts for 30 days instead of four; peppers in perforated plastic last for 20 days rather than four; a plastic water bottle weighs 10 times less than a glass bottle.

“Here, the advantages are that they are easier to transport in greater amounts, meaning less fuel consumption; they're longer-lasting and easier to store, meaning fewer costs and energy use in refrigeration and storage, and less food waste.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OWN-BRANDED goods in supermarkets have soared in popularity since the Covid-19 pandemic hit Spain, with their purchases accounting for 40% of the total and expected to continue to rise in the next few years.

According to researchers at Adecco recruitment agencies and Bain Company, lockdown and the threat of a second wave of the virus sparked a concerted effort among Spanish households to save money on groceries and non-edible everyday products, partly because of an actual loss in income through temporary business closures and lay-offs, or a fear of this becoming the case.

In many cases, along with a reluctance to leave home unless absolutely unavoidable, this thriftiness has led to residents building up more in savings.

As at 2018, own-branded goods made up 36.2% of the average shopping trolley, and are now up to 40% - an apparently small rise, but in financial terms, a sizeable extra income for their manufacturers.

So-called 'premium', or higher-end branded goods, have suffered as a result, although this does not necessarily impact on manufacturers' profits: Many of the top brand producers also make 'unnamed' cheaper goods and, in some cases, there is very little difference other than name and packaging.

In Spain, there has never been any 'stigma' around stores' own brands; in fact, they tend to have a much larger presence on the shelves and are generally of very high quality, meaning independent brands are typically only chosen for personal preference where a consumer 'gets on better with' a particular type or simply likes the taste of specific foods by Danone, Heinz or Valor, for example.

A shopper in a Spanish supermarket would not normally choose an independent brand over the store's own label based upon a perception of its being of better quality, if they had not had experience of both.

EAE Business School has said Mercadona's own brands – Hacendado for food, Deliplus for cosmetics and toiletries and Bosque Verde for household products – and Lidl's are the two supermarket labels that have most increased in purchase volume this year.

Co-author of the Bain & Company report, Ignacio Otero, says an upward trend in own-branded goods choices was seen during the financial crisis years, from around 2008 onwards.

Over these difficult years, discount shops and cheap, but quality brands were able to expand their market share – between 2008 and 2013 inclusive, these grew by nearly 10 percentage points.

Whether or not old habits are back and set to remain is still open to conjecture, since the pandemic and its full effects are a totally new situation; it could all fizzle out and be a distant memory within a year or so, or may drag on for many years and be the start of more and more viral pandemics; lessons learnt from coping with the Covid-19 spread may mean if the latter happens, the economy may not need to suffer or may move in peaks and troughs, shrinking during times of restrictions on movement or trade and then rocketing when the public is able to 'let its hair down' again.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NATIONAL hotel chains in Spain have offered to pay for foreign tourists to be PCR-tested before they return home to avoid their having to quarantine after their trip.

The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Apartments (CEHAT), responding to the UK's decision to order two weeks' quarantine for all incomers from Spain – including Brits coming back from their holidays – said its members were willing to pay for every single visitor from abroad to be tested for Covid-19 just prior to their return journey, so they could show proof upon arrival in Britain that they were not infected.

PCR tests detect the virus even before symptoms begin to appear – in fact, around half of the new cases in Spain since lockdown finished are asymptomatic – and some of the reason for the sharp rise in diagnoses is due to faster and more widespread testing and contact-tracing.

CEHAT's chairman Jorge Marichal said: “Covid-19 tests are essential; and not just testing prior to departure, but also in destination.

“We hoteliers are willing to bear the cost of these, and are willing to cooperate to enable reciprocal arrangements so that our customers are not just tested in their countries of origin, but can also be sent back home after being tested at their holiday destination so they can avoid having to quarantine on their return.”

“CEHAT is calling for the European Union to take urgent health measures to guarantee maximum tourist safety both at origin and in destination.”

Hotels' funding of PCR tests for foreign visitors would not be limited to holidaymakers from Britain, but would cover all tourists coming from other countries.

Boris Johnson's government announced at the weekend that anyone travelling to the UK from Spain, of any nationality and including returning holidaymakers who habitually live in Britain, would have to self-isolate for 14 days, which effectively means that British tourists hoping to book a two-week break in Spain would need to take four weeks off work, unless they work from home, and would not be able to see anyone other than fellow household members they had travelled with, or leave the house, for a fortnight after coming back.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced identical steps.

CEHAT says this is a bitter blow at a time when Spain's tourism industry was just starting to recover well and the country was already welcoming British holidaymakers, among other nationalities.

“We're working very closely with the government to make British authorities see that the necessary steps need to be taken – but only the strictly necessary steps,” Marichal says.

“The incidence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Spanish tourism destinations is very low.”

Outbreaks, although reported in every region, are localised, and the main affected areas are the Catalunya provinces of Barcelona and Lleida, and the Aragón province of Huesca, bordering the Pyrénées.

Typical 'Brit' destinations such as the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Balearic and Canary Islands have seen few, or no, new cases of Covid-19 – in fact, some parts of these areas have only had one or two at the most after more than two virus-free months.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FOR THE first time in the history of credit and debit cards, plastic has overtaken cash as a method of payment in Spain, according to marketing consultancy Nielsen.

At the beginning of this year, the Central European Bank (BCE) reported that 87% of people in Spain still used cash rather than cards for their daily purchases, and that in the Eurozone as a whole, 79% of transactions and 54% of the total amount spent involved notes and coins.

Spaniards' actual total spending in cash – 68% - put it below the European average, even though the number of transactions in cash were above the European average.

Also across the Eurozone, the average cash transaction as at the beginning of 2020 was €12.38, whilst the average transaction using any payment method at all was €18.10, and around two-thirds of purchases came to less than €15.

The BCE said that in the common currency area, 88% of transactions for €15 or less were in cash, but only 8% for those of €50 or more and just 2% for purchases exceeding €100.

Those who avoided cash altogether if they could, and those who used cash for absolutely everything, both accounted for around a quarter of the total each, with the remaining 50% being somewhere in between along a scale ranging from 'mostly cash' to 'rarely cash'.

But this has changed in Spain since the country went into lockdown on March 15, a situation it only came out of at the end of June.

Now, only 45.5% of transactions of any amount are made in cash, compared with 54.1% by card.

Around the time lockdown was declared, those traders and other services considered 'essential' and permitted, or actually required, to stay open were strongly encouraged to accept mobile phone, SmartWatch, or card payments, particularly contactless, since it meant not having to touch items that had been handled by another person and which could, it was suspected, pass on the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANISH photographer has managed to capture clear footage of the Neowise comet – against a background of a sky 'peppered' with Starlink satellites.

Thursday night was our last chance to see the comet for another 6,500 years – a phenomenon that, in 2020, has knocked the usual late-summer Perseides meteorite shower off its throne – and social media has filled up with shots of it of varying degrees of clarity.

But astro-photographer Daniel López's footage has sparked more controversy than any: His close-up shows how space is 'polluted' with satellites.

A total of 17 pictures, each taken over a 30-second time-lapse, from the Canary Islands, the photo of the Neowise is marred by hundreds of Starlinks, launched into the ether as part of a SpaceX project to bring satellite-based internet to the whole of planet Earth.

Daniel's Facebook caption says: “Brilliant, but a shame to see all these light points – in total nearly 20 pictures of the comet are blocked by their traces.”

To date, SpaceX has launched 540 high-speed internet-generating satellites into orbit, but has permission for a total of 12,000, and has recently applied for a licence to send another 30,000 into space.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.comn

A MASK measuring air quality, the wearer's heartbeat and breathing, self-disinfecting and with a transparent screen so the face can still be seen has been created by a Spanish designer.

The 'Cliu' is safe, reusable and disinfects itself, says its creator, Álvaro González.

Born in Aragón but now living in Italy, Álvaro says: “The idea came up during lockdown. In my studio, we were thinking about how we could contribute to the cause and do our bit in the emergency situation, as product designers, until the day came when a group of friends – experts in technology, marketing and innovation – suggested we create a new-style 'smart mask'.”

Álvaro and the team put their heads down and all hands on deck – working closely together, but entirely online due to everyone in Italy being confined to their homes – and spent the best part of eight weeks focused on their new project before the finished result started to take shape.

“The team was split between Milan and Sicily, so we worked for two months non-stop via 'smart-working' [online meetings, messages and home-working] with the aim of launching a solid crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo,” Álvaro explains.

“What we wanted, above all, was to solve the different issues that crop up with conventional masks.

“The first and most basic advantage [to the Cliu] is transparency and communication; the second advantage is respect for the environment [being a non-disposable variety] and the third is its built-in technology.”

Álvaro says the Pro version is equipped with Bluetooth, microphone and sensors which, along with the complementary App, allows the wearer to 'prevent health problems' by monitoring breathing condition and frequency, heartbeat, and the quality of the surrounding air.

Also, via the App, the wearer can check the battery level, and the percentage that the filters are working at, as well as real-time information on air pollution on the spot and in neighbouring areas.

It even detects where the nearest Covid-19 cases are.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A FRENCH YouTuber climbed up a 32-floor Barcelona hotel with his bare hands in under 20 minutes – earning him applause from the ground and a fine from the regional police.

Leo Urban had spent three years practising after being inspired by his compatriot known as 'the Spiderman of France', Alain Robert, before tackling the Meliá Sky Hotel without any climbing equipment whatsoever.

His idol, Alain, very publicly scrambled up the Glòries Tower, also known as the Agbar Tower and the fourth-tallest building in Barcelona, in 2016, again in November 2019, and then in March this year – a 144-metre (472-foot) glass-and-chrome office block with 38 floors.

Barcelona's tallest building is the hitherto-unfinished Sagrada Família Cathedral (172 metres, or 564 feet), followed by, jointly, the Hotel Arts and the MAPFRE Tower – head office of MAPFRE Insurance – at 154 metres, or 505 feet.

In reality, compared with Alain Robert's 'monkey tricks' – which got him arrested on all three occasions – Leo's party piece was small fry: the Meliá Sky is 'only' 100 metres, or 328 feet, tall.

Leo wanted to try to match Alain's record, or get as close to it as possible – this is so far around 20 minutes for 144 metres, although Leo managed the 100 metres in the same time.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

GOLFER Jon Rahm is only the second Spaniard in history to have reached world number one after the late, great Severiano Ballesteros – and he has achieved this at the tender age of 25.

In what he described 'one of the best performances of his life', the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio (USA) is the Basque prodigy's first title of this year's PGA Tour and his fourth overall - he has won one every year since turning professional - and the 11^th win of his career.

It followed a hard-fought battle that, by the 15^th tee in round four, saw his eight-shot lead over partner Ryan Palmer drop to three.

Drawing inspiration from his idol, Seve – who netted the world number one slot for the first time in 1986 – Rahm managed to keep his lead until the end, but with all the odds apparently stacked against him.

Clutch pars on holes 15, 17 and 18 were marred by a two-shot penalty on hole 16 after what was first thought to be a birdie.

He had knocked the ball without realising, making it move and failing to replace it before taking the shot.

But in the end, it made no difference; the sweating, palpitating Rahm ended three shots up after Sunday's final round at Muirfield Village, which was enough to clinch his number one ranking.

He told PGA Tour reporters: “I finished today with some clutch up-and-downs and, as a Spaniard, I'm kind of glad it happened that way – every shot counts, and I tried every shot and got those two last up-and-downs as a true Spaniard would.”

Handing in a card with 73 shots for the fourth round and 279 in total – nine under par – Rahm gets 76 points for his Memorial victory for an overall 460.82, knocking Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (419) off the top slot where he has sat for the last 11 weeks.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN could be key in manufacturing a Covid-19 vaccine from the beginning of next year thanks to a ground-breaking agreement with a US laboratory which is near the head of the race to develop an inoculation against the disease.

One of the Mediterranean country's largest pharmaceutical groups, Rovi, has just reached a deal with Moderna laboratories in the United States to manufacture the vaccine, and one which could put Spain in an advantageous position in terms of future international negotiation.

Deputy chairman and finance manager of Rovi, Javier López-Belmonte – the third generation of the family which founded the pharma giant in 1945, says the company has 'decades of experience' in producing vaccines developed in global laboratories and has thanked Spain's ministry of health for assisting it in finding contacts among researchers working on the drug that could change the planet's life.

“We realised that if we were going to choose a candidate, it was better that it was one of the leaders in the race – and at the moment, without a doubt, this is Moderna,” says López-Belmonte.

The laboratory is one of around 20 or so now at the clinical trials stage and, once a vaccine has been found effective, safe, and then signed off by international authorities, the creators will be in charge of distribution.

Even though the vaccine will be mass-produced in Spain – if the Moderna project is successful – the Spanish government will still need to reach a deal of its own with the laboratory in order to gain access to it, but the fact that one of the country's largest medicines manufacturers is set to be, at least at present, the sole creator, means these negotiations are likely to be much quicker and simpler, López-Belmonte explains.

“That's clear, because the logistical side of it will be much easier in terms of distribution,” he says.

The main manufacturing centre is Rovi's 'injectables' plant in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Greater Madrid region), but the firm's other branches will be 'working on various different stages of analysis', says the deputy chairman.

As a result of the Moderna deal, Rovi has had to double its production capacity so it can set aside an area dedicated 100% to the Covid-19 vaccine.

López-Belmonte says Moderna starts 'stage III' of the development process – the first two 'stages' being the initial research, then creation – which involves clinical trials and assessment of results, on July 27.

After this, if it proves successful, the drug has to be approved by the regulator – the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) in the USA first, then the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Work on mass production can start even ahead of these sign-offs if Moderna is sufficiently confident that approval is imminent – although initially, before the FDA and EMA signatures are obtained, manufacturing will focus on the active ingredient rather than the complete product.

“We could already be starting to deliver the product within a month,” López-Belmonte explains.

“As yet, we don't have any more information than the market in general does, but we believe that by the second half of 2021 at the latest, we'll be in full production process.”

Concerning potential supply problems, López-Belmonte reveals: “I understand that, first of all, they'll go to cohorts of high-risk patients where, I don't think they'll be distributing enormous amounts to countries as a whole but, rather, splitting them out across various countries so they can start vaccinating, beginning with those most at risk. In any case, these are epidemiological criteria, which isn't our speciality; we just manufacture and if, in the end, they all have to go to Germany or Italy, then we'll have to do what our client – which is Moderna – tells us.”

It would seem unlikely, however, that any EU member State would want, or be allowed, to keep the entire haul of vaccines, given that the only way to beat the virus is if everyone highly-susceptible to catching it or passing it on, and everyone who could be among the worst-affected if they caught it, is immunised.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PRESIDENT Pedro Sánchez was met with resounding applause upon his return to the Moncloa Palace today (Tuesday) from Brussels after a hard-fought agreement with the European Union to provide emergency Covid-19 recovery funds to Spain.

The country will receive around €140 billion, of which €72.2bn will be in direct fund transfers and the rest in loans.

Whilst the right-wing opposition PP has abandoned its habitual criticising of the socialist-Podemos leftist coalition and congratulated its rivals' leader on his achievement, far-right Vox claims the funds are 'a bail-out in all but name'.

Unlike the bank bail-out of €100bn (reduced to €41.3bn after rebates) received by the then PP government in 2012 – which came with stifling conditions including income tax rising by over a third and value-added tax (IVA) to 21% - the funds are nothing to do with a national financial crisis at institutional level, and varying amounts are set to be received by several EU member States to help pin their economy back together after the pandemic forced nationwide shutdowns.

Some apprehension has been voiced as to whether Brussels would demand tough conditions in exchange, such as in 2012 when even the lowest-paid workers faced higher tax bills and numerous bank branches closed down at the EU's orders, putting finance employees out of a job.

But Sánchez's government remains determined to abolish at least part of the 2012 labour reform, which made it easier and cheaper for companies to fire workers and, whilst this eased conditions for smaller firms suffering losses who had to make redundancies to avoid total closure, it also paved the way for less-scrupulous bosses to shed staff with fewer protections and guarantees.

Sánchez has not yet revealed the full details of the EU deal, but says he will do so in a press conference before the month is out.

It has been widely reported that some of the more financially-conservative northern European countries, as well as incorrect stereotypes about southern Europe's supposed 'work-shy' and 'time-wasting' culture and 'overpaid' civil servants – despite Spain's having much longer standard working hours than Germany, the UK and the Scandinavian countries, and statistically the best health service on the continent – were posing challenging hurdles for Sánchez and which led to negotiations stretching out for several days.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DOWNPOURS, thunder and lightning are heading for Spain after a sweltering few days and set to ease the humidity and cool the country down for a short while, says the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

But bad news for anyone who hates cleaning their pool or car – the atmospheric depression will come with a cloud of Sahara sand, creating the fairly commonplace 'red rain' that makes a mess of both.

Clouds were due to start gathering today across the Gulf of Cádiz and the western and north-eastern mountains, and expected to reach the Mediterranean towards the end of this week.

Spain has not seen the last of the summer temperatures, though: The mercury will continue to hover at around 40ºC or 41ºC in the Guadalquivir valley and the Guadiana area – inland Andalucía, one of the hottest parts of the mainland in summer – only dipping briefly around today and tomorrow.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TOURISM in southern Europe needs more 'proactivity' to keep up its momentum, but Spain has a 'good structure and base', is the verdict that has come out of the World Tourism Organisation EURAGORA Forum in Portugal.

Its Europe regional commission head, Alessandra Priante, said countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, which had become mature and established destinations, had long had a 'certain tendency towards passivity' given that their influxes of tourists have always 'just turned up' without any effort having to be made.

The Covid-19 pandemic will 'seriously' change the way people enjoy their holidays in the future, Signora Priante says, as a result of a social, cultural and mental crossroads that the global outbreak has created.

“Masks and social distancing are the antithesis to what tourism traditionally means – a thirst for new experiences, getting to know and trust other people – and yet the rules now tell us to do exactly the opposite: Keep our distance, not to trust people you don't know, and so on,” she says.

“For southern Europe, especially mature tourism markets like Spain, Italy and Greece, hardly has to do anything to sell itself to holidaymakers, but now the time has come to plan better and be more proactive.”

This summer could be a lean one on the holiday front – by now, practically every flight seat, hotel or resort room and package tour space should have been sold – and, worldwide, tourism is expected to be 70% lower than in summer 2019 when, had the pandemic not occurred, the forecasts were for 4% growth.

Spain, for several consecutive years, has seen its tourist numbers rocket, and typically, visitors year-round total about double the resident population, with summer being peak season, especially for northern Europeans seeking sunshine and beaches.

Even then, Spain's decades-long reputation, its closer proximity in the age of low-cost, less-complicated flights and the internet, and its popularity with holiday-home owners, means it is less likely to suffer as much as other destinations which have been even harder hit by the pandemic and which are largely viewed as sight-seeing spots, which travellers may decide to shelve visiting until later in the year if the virus is suitably contained.

Internationally, the tourism industry is purely looking at 'survival' in 2020, but hopes to come back with a bang in 2021 – which will be much easier for those European countries which are now opening their borders, Spain included.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THREE in 10 people in Spain interviewed realised during lockdown that they would actually be happier living somewhere other than their current location.

Those living in a big city – 56% of the total - said they would now prefer to be in a small town, village or urbanisation (36%) or out in the countryside (26%).

Of those living in a suburb or wider metropolitan area, most of those asked who said they would like to be somewhere else said they would prefer to be in a small town or village (41%), although one in five would like to be in a completely rural environment (19%).

But those interviewed who already live in a rural or semi-rural environment – defined as an out-of-town urbanisation, a very small town or a village – had gone completely the other way: Lockdown made them realise just how much they did, in fact, enjoy living where they are currently based.

To this end, people not in a suburb or city largely said they would not want to move from their town or, if they did, would want to go somewhere even more rural.

The survey, conducted by leading consumer organisation OCU and interviewing a stratified sample of 1,024 residents aged 25 to 74 inclusive, concluded that 56% lived in a big city (urban), 20% lived in a suburb or the outer part of a major metropolitan area (semi-urban), 18% lived in a small town, village or out-of-town urbanisation (semi-rural) and 6% lived in the countryside, mountains, or some distance from their nearest built-up area (rural).

AIRLINES flying to and from Spain will now be offering masks for sale for passengers, and are required by law to have enough of a supply on board to cover the full length of the flight in the event of its being a long-haul connection or likely to be delayed so travellers are on board for more than four hours, according to a notice published yesterday (Friday) by the State Air Safety Agency (AESA).

Passengers must wear one when they board, and will be asked to ensure they have enough with them for the entire trip, and told they can buy extras in flight if they run out.

Cabin crew are required to remind all passengers to deposit used masks in special bags, not to drop them on the floor or leave them on their seats.

As part of the usual safety demonstrations – involving oxygen mask and life-jacket use, and how to put on and adjust a seatbelt – flight attendants will also now demonstrate and explain how to use masks on the journey, and what to do about them in the event of an emergency.

Also, passengers can be refused entry to the plane if they are not wearing a mask, and have to remain on the runway until they have put one on.

Depending upon the type of flight and 'as far as possible', passengers must be kept at a distance from each other, except where they are members of the same household, a family unit, or are companions of people with reduced mobility or otherwise disabled or elderly.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MASKS have now become compulsory in almost every region in Spain – with a few exceptions – and in areas where this has been the case for several days already, fines are being levied on those who fail to do so.

Police in the Canary Islands, Asturias and Andalucía – so far, only the provinces of Sevilla and Granada, but with the rest set to follow – have started dishing out fines of up to €100 for failure to wear a mask in a public place.

Even smoking is not an 'excuse' to take your mask off in regions where their use is mandatory in all public areas – chief of police in Avilés (Asturias), Mario Suárez, says people who want a cigarette should move themselves to a place where they are some distance from other people to smoke, and replace their mask between puffs.

Even if they are in a group where several members smoke, they should each, individually, move away from everyone else to do so, to prevent their being anywhere near another person without a mask on.

Although masks are compulsory in public places – effectively, anywhere outside the home – everywhere in Spain, until recently, this was only the case where a distance of at least two metres between other people was not possible, meaning merely carrying a mask to put on whenever needed was normally sufficient when walking along an empty street.

Now, a growing number of regions are making them obligatory at all times when outside the home, even where social distancing can be guaranteed.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CULT director Pedro Almodóvar and British-Australian actress Tilda Swinton have started filming the former's first-ever production in English – a 15-minute short based upon a 1928 novella by Les Enfants Terribles author Jean Cocteau.

As multiple Goya-winner Almodóvar revealed in February, he had always wanted to make a film in English, but as he does not speak the language, he wrote the script in Spanish and has had it translated.

The Human Voice sees Swinton, 59, the sole cast member, as a character living alone with her dog talking to her lover for the last time on the telephone.

Cambridge graduate, schoolmate of Lady Diana Spencer and great-great-granddaughter of Scottish botanist John Hutton Balfour, Tilda instantly attracted Almodóvar's attention for the part, and he said they clicked straight away.

“She's exactly as I imagined her; open, intelligent – we understood each other, and very closely,” he said in February after cleaning up at the Goyas, Spain's answer to the Oscars, for his semi-autobiographical film Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory'), starring legendary Málaga-born actor Antonio Banderas.

Almodóvar, 70, said it was Cocteau's La Voix Humaine which inspired his classic off-the-wall 1988 comedy, Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios ('Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown').

The Human Voice has already been transferred from page to screen, firstly in France in 1930 and later on stage and film on at least two other occasions, with the lead rôle fleshed out by international-calibre actresses such as Anna Magnani, Simone Signoret and Ingrid Bergman.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONE of Spain's leading consumer organisations has tested disposable masks on sale in key supermarkets nationwide and concluded which are the best – although they all offer exceptionally-high protection.

With a shortage of masks tested and approved according to European Union standards anywhere in the continent – given that this part of the world had very little time to prepare for the Coronavirus pandemic – health authorities have had to allow masks certified in China to enter the market, at least as a temporary measure.

This means their sales are not under such tight regulations, leading to lower prices and competition.

The vast majority are what are known as 'hygiene masks' – of the type used by people with, for example, a cold or 'flu when they are around the elderly, newborns or the immune-compromised, or in general by adults and children undergoing chemotherapy to prevent contagion or infection.

Hygiene masks are cheaper than surgical masks, which offer maximum protection and are more likely to be of the reusable type, typically FFP2 or above – as opposed to reusable masks sold in DIY shops, which are normally FFP1, a lower, but also very efficient level of, protection.

The OCU has examined the cheapest single-use masks on sale in Spanish supermarkets to check how effective they are at filtering out particles, and their general quality – eight types in total – plus three types of reusable masks.

With prices relatively similar across the board – averaging 60 cents per mask for single-use varieties, said to offer protection for up to four hours – practically all disposable ones tested offered a very high level of defence, filtering out over 95% of particles.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A LEADING car sales site has revealed a handy trick to help drivers tell whether a service station is alongside the motorway they are on, or whether it involves turning off into a town or village at a distance.

Long journeys can be tiring and stressful enough, but on routes where petrol stations are a long distance apart or, at night, when the nearest one may have shut at 22.00, this stress can turn to sheer panic if the needle is fast dropping towards the red and there is little sign of anywhere to refill.

One particular service station-free road which has caught out several drivers is the A-38, from Sollana just south of Valencia to Gandia in the far south of the province – after leaving Valencia airport and turning onto the A-7 motorway, there are no 24-hour petrol stations south of Torrent and none south of Picassent until the A-38 junction in Sollana, which shuts at 22.00.

After this, there are fill-up points in Sueca and Cullera, which close between 20.30 and 22.00.

Between Torrent on the A-7 and Xeraco on the N-332, there are no 24-hour petrol stations along this route at all – a stretch of 64 kilometres.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FLIGHT prices to Spanish airports have dropped almost across the board for the whole of the summer in a bid to encourage passengers at a time when many would-be travellers are reluctant to leave home.

On average, air travel is 6% cheaper at the moment, based upon price reductions for flights in June and the first half of July, and those on sale or already sold for the rest of July, August, and September.

But cost cuts vary by airport, and can be as much as 30% lower than usual.

The biggest price falls have been seen for planes travelling to and from Barcelona, a city which traditionally welcomes thousands of foreign tourists year-round, and to a lesser extent but still significantly – at least 20% - for flights out of and into Alicante airport and the Canarian island of Tenerife.

Online travel agency Rumbo says the reduced fees – compared with summer 2019 – differ between the various airlines and are not standard, but that many carriers are opting to slash their prices to boost the market.

As well as the fear of contagion and of further outbreaks of Covid-19, people who fly to and from Spain year-round – as opposed to summer tourists – tend to avoid these peak months due to rocketing prices and prefer to fly either before mid-May or leave it until the end of September.

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BEACHES may be abundant in Spain – and blue-flagged beaches more numerous than in any other country in the world – but, clearly, not every town has one. Yet one thing almost every town does seem to have, irrespective of its size, is a castle.

When thinking of castles, you'll probably picture a long list of other countries before Spain even enters your head – despite its having so many of them that a significant proportion have practically no information about them in circulation beyond the year, or decade, they were built, who built them, and who owned them.

For many residents in Spain, a view of a castle on a mountain from their window, or the image of one in the background on their walk to the local supermarket, is rather like wallpaper; they're so blasé about it that they probably fail to notice it 99% of the time.

Imagine having a castle-on-a-mountain view as you stroll around town on boring errands, and not even registering it. It's enough to make history-lovers, scenery-lovers and fairytale-lovers cry out in horror.

Fortresses were constructed all over the country during the Moorish era, when Spain's population was predominantly Arab, over around 700 years until about the time of the Catholic Reconquest in the late 15^th century; mostly, they were defence or look-out points, but sometimes the whole town was based inside it – houses built into the inner walls – or the castle started as a central point with the town sprouting up around it, spreading outwards in a sort of circle over the next few centuries.

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A DESIRE for private outside space when communal and public gardens and pools were off-limits during lockdown has led to a run on detached villas nationwide, and particularly in the province of Valencia where practically every one on the market has been snapped up in the last eight weeks, according to various estate agencies.

Those on sale for a 'reasonable' price – around €200,000, the agencies say – have nearly all gone, and in some towns, demand has multiplied in a way never seen before.

In Nàquera, in the Camp de Túria district to the west of Valencia city, requests to view villas have gone up fivefold since lockdown, and in other, nearby municipalities, townhouses with their own courtyards have also become popular, especially since these tend to be among the cheapest properties.

One estate agent in Nàquera says he has sold 'almost every single detached, semi-detached or terraced house or villa' on his books where their prices were below €210,000 – a total of 50, of which 35 were villas – and only has one villa left to sell, with an asking price of €475,000.

He says his clients have mainly been people living in the Valencia metropolitan area who were seeking a holiday home, having typically spent their summers in hotels but now 'have some money saved up' and decided to invest it in a place of their own to spend their breaks.

In Valencia city itself, the demand for flats or apartments with large terraces or balconies has also rocketed among 'people with savings', so that they have more outside space in case of another lockdown.

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ACTRESS Cameron Díaz has launched her own line of environmentally-friendly wine made entirely with organic grapes – from Catalunya.

The In Her Shoes and Charlie's Angels star, who will be 48 next month, has created the brand 'Aveline' jointly with her friend Katherine Power, and it so far includes one white and one rosé variety.

“If you're not drinking organic wine, what you're doing is drinking pesticides and who knows what else,” says the Hollywood legend.

“I've always believed that the key to wellbeing is in balance. Creating a 'clean' wine which is full of good things and free of dozens of unknown extra ingredients has helped me find this balance for when I'm enjoying a glass of wine.”

She describes the creation of Aveline as 'a birth' of what she considers to be her 'second child'.

The organic grapes, harvested in Catalunya, are 'fermented and processed without any unnecessary ingredients', Cameron says on her promotional video.

As a concept, it came up between her and Katherine Power during a conversation at her home in California, when Cameron realised that her efforts to lead a healthy lifestyle were 'all coming to nothing' with the wine she was drinking, so she started buying organic versions.

She described the change she felt after consuming the latter types to be 'radical', so she decided to market her own, mass-distributed and at an affordable price.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SPANISH doctoral student has discovered new markers for the four most common tumours diagnosed – prostate, bowel, breast and lung cancer.

Belén Pastor, who works for the nationwide cancer care and research charity AECC and is based at the Valencia Oncology Institute (IVO) whilst studying for a PhD, says the markers can be picked up via a blood test at a much earlier stage in the life of the tumour, increasing the chances of successful treatment.

She and her team have been working with 201 blood samples – 156 taken from cancer patients and 45 from healthy people – and have analysed 18 tumour markers, known as micro-RNA.

Belén and her team have uncovered various combinations of micro-RNA which not only detect the presence of a tumour in a specific organ, but also the type of cancer, at a much earlier stage and with greater and more specific detail.

The research forms part of a wider European study known as SAPHELY, which seeks to develop low-cost diagnostic tools to detect cancer through nanotechnology, and has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE FIRST-EVER debit card with no number or three-digit CVC security code on it has been launched in Spain, and means that if it falls into the wrong hands, nobody except the owner can use it to make online purchases or payments.

Launched by Orange Bank, it is the first 100% mobile debit card, and all the crucial information is stored on the holder's mobile phone App.

According to Mastercard, a total of 67% of purchases have been made by card in Spain in the last few months – and this trend is set to continue, even for a couple of coffees in a bar, given that they are now much more widely accepted.

Card use soared during lockdown, as consumers, retailers and service providers sought to avoid physical cash as it involves touching more surfaces and potentially infecting them with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The Orange Bank 'digital' card is operated by Mastercard and is already available via the App, although users can request a physical card to make contactless payments with – and which will only show the bank's name and the holder's name, not any of the numbers, or the expiry date.

Although not the first of these 'blank' cards Mastercard has produced, the Orange Bank version in Spain is the first to hit the Eurozone.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN AFRICAN migrant saved the life of a lady with Alzheimer's when she was on the point of falling out of her third-floor window on Sunday after scrambling up the façade with his bare hands.

Samba Coulibaly, 44, who has lived in Spain for 11 years and works packing fruit and veg in a warehouse, says he has 'never climbed anything before in his life', but that he scaled the 10 metres (32'6”) to the pensioner's balcony 'by instinct' and without even thinking about it.

He had seen the woman, who is in her late 70s, trying to get out of the house via her window after discovering her front door was locked – she was dangling over the edge of the balcony.

Her distressed husband was trying hard to hold onto her and stop her falling, or jumping, but was gradually losing his grip on her as his strength sapped.

“There were lots of people down below shouting for help,” said Samba, who witnessed the terrifying scene in his home neighbourhood of Santiago El Mayor, in Murcia city.

“I just knew the fire brigade wouldn't get there in time and that she was going to fall, so I climbed up to help her.

“But if you asked me to climb up there again, I couldn't do it to order – I still have no idea how I did it.”

Samba has become a local hero in Santiago – but like most local heroes, he dismisses his brave action as something he felt he 'couldn't not' do.

And he has since been dubbed 'The Spiderman of Santiago'.

His story has points in common with Gorgui, 20, from Dénia (northern Alicante province), who rescued a wheelchair-bound man from a burning apartment block.

Samba is in a much more fortunate position than Gorgui – he is a long-term legal resident in Spain with a full-time job – although his initial struggles, when he travelled to the country from his native Mali, would have been similar. He spent months in a migrant interment centre after he got into Spain 'illegally' in 2009 by climbing the border fence from Morocco into Ceuta, a common 'back door' route into the country for migrants fleeing poverty, violence, persecution and political unrest.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

UTILITY boards will not be allowed to cut off supplies due to non-payment and homeowners can request a deferment of their mortgages until September, the government has announced.

An extension on the stay of grace announced at the beginning of lockdown, back in March, has been granted, to give laid-off employees and recently-reopened companies a chance to get back on their feet, as well as some breathing space for those affected by localised second outbreaks of Covid-19.

Water, electricity and gas providers are banned from stopping supplies where bills are unpaid – already, they are not permitted to do this without considerable warning and several reminders, or without contacting social services to see whether the consumer is a registered user – at any time up to and including September 30.

This only applies to utility bills unpaid for a main residence, not for a holiday home or second or subsequent property which is left empty or between tenants.

Also, anyone who needs to request a mortgage 'payment holiday' due to reduced earnings as a result of the pandemic now has until September 29, and can do so for a maximum of three months.

These three months can then be extended by up to another nine if the bank agrees, although the interest amount on the mortgage will still be payable – just not the capital.

In the next few days, the period where a tenant is allowed to request an 'extraordinary renewal or extension' to a rental agreement, subject to the same conditions as those enjoyed prior to this extension, of up to six months, will also be stretched out until September 30.

This applies only to rented properties where neither the occupant nor the landlord has given notice of termination of the tenancy agreement within four months of its expiry date.

Where the landlord is a large corporation, a public-sector company, or where the property is one of multiple residences let out by a professional landlord, tenants can request, up to September 30, a deferment or exemption from rental payments.

Tenants do not have the automatic right to request a reduction, exemption, or payment holiday where the landlord is an individual with only one or two properties let out, and Spain's government is not willing to enforce a moratorium on rent collection, since a rented property may be the owner's main home which he or she is absent from for a period of time, or a family holiday home, and in these cases, there may be a mortgage that the tenant's payments covers, or the owner may need this money as part of his or her monthly income.

This said, a number of private landlords who do not have a mortgage on their let properties and would not be left strapped if they lost their rental income have been agreeing for tenants to defer payment, or not to pay at all, during the pandemic – although this has been a voluntary arrangement.

Consumer credits, such as personal loans or finance directly offered by providers of goods or services – like hire purchase – can also be shelved for up to three months if requested by the payer before September 30, where he or she has been financially affected by the pandemic.

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BARCELONA city council is offering up to €1,200 a month to owners of tourist apartments which remain empty so they can house vulnerable families in them.

Mayoress Ada Colau says: “We cannot allow poor families to live in hostels or guest houses or barely-habitable flats with their children, when there are thousands of empty tourist apartments in the city.”

She had written to the Barcelona Tourist Apartments' Association (APARTUR), initially offering €900 a month in rent paid by the council on behalf of the low-income families who would be settled there – but of the 9,000 or so holiday flats in the metropolitan area, only the owners of two of them signed up.

As a result, Sra Colau has increased the offer to €1,200.

She says the price proposed is 'advantageous' and 'more than reasonable', especially bearing in mind that they come with 'stable rental contracts at a time of crisis and uncertainty', where visitor numbers may well be much lower than usual due to the pandemic – and many of the apartments may end up being uninhabited all summer, losing their owners money.

“The agreement is beneficial for property owners, taking the Covid-19 situation into account, and also for hard-pressed residents who need decent, dignified alternative housing and which they have trouble gaining access to – and who also need somewhere to self-isolate if there's another outbreak,” Colau says.

“This is an opportunity for the property rental sector to earn good money whilst serving the community.”

Even if they were able to afford a very modest flat to rent, Barcelona's poorest families would be priced out of the market in summer, when owners can earn more in a week through renting to holidaymakers than they would in a month the rest of the year.

“Now is a time when it's more crucial than ever to reinforce cooperation between authorities and the private sector,” Colau argues.

Councillor for housing, Lucía Martín, stresses that the city hall's intention is 'evidently not to cover the profits' which tourist apartment owners may lose if visitor numbers fall this summer.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ARE today's teens in a panic about climate change and happy to hang out with their parents, whilst pensioners think plastic recycling and global warming are just silly modern hysteria?

Worldwide research on our perspectives depending upon when we were born has been carried out in 40 countries, with a stratified sample – that is, specifically designed to reflect a microcosm of current society - of nearly 30,000 people, and the results for Spain have sufficed to blow some commonly-held notions out of the water.

Here's how.

Who and how

WIN International, a leading global association in the field of market research and opinion studies, commissioned the report Perspectives on Life Between Generations over last year, and it has just been published – with some surprising conclusions.

For Spain, the survey was conducted by the DYM Institute, based in Barcelona and with a branch in Madrid – if you're keen to have your views included in their findings in the future, you can fill in a questionnaire with your details on their website so they can contact you next time they're sounding out society – via 1,017 online interviews back in November 2019.

Respondents were divided into the internationally-recognised generational categories, rather than those specific to a given country – as an example, 'Baby Boomers' are widely held to be those born in the 18 years after World War II, or from 1946 to 1964, even though in many countries no such explosion of childbirth occurred at that time; in fact, Spain's 'Baby Boom' generation is mainly those born in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The DYM Institute then worked out the main character traits for each generation as an overall introduction, some of which appear fitting, and others of which may shock those of a similar age group, but which do seem to include traits that would have been in keeping with the socio-cultural and economic climate during their childhood.

Tell me when you were born and we'll tell you what you're like

Although, in theory, encompassing a couple of generations, the oldest segment studied was those born in or before 1945 – which, in Spain, would include people born in the 1910s, given that the country has a high population of residents aged well past 100.

Research methodology here may have led to a reduced participant group, however, which may make the findings a little generalised: Being an online survey, those aged 74 and over at the time (at the very youngest, 73 and 10 months) may be less likely to use the internet than much younger participants, meaning fewer responses.

Known as the Pre-1946 Generation for the purposes of the study, although often referred to as the Great Generation, these people were found to be slow to adapt to the modern world.

Whether they were born during a major war or just as the last one was finishing, they are likely to have grown up with shortages, rationing and stockpiling; particularly in Spain where the Civil War from 1936-9 was followed by 35 years of dictatorship, with widespread poverty and hunger at least in the first couple of decades.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

'HERD immunity' may not be a reliable method of reducing the spread of Covid-19, according to a study by Spanish scientists – it seems only a fraction of those exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus are immune at all.

In the case of most of the common diseases caused by airborne virii, including by other types of Coronavirus itself – one strain of Coronavirus is responsible for the common cold – vaccinating the most vulnerable members of the population largely prevents mass contagion and, in the case of some contagious or infectious diseases for which vaccinations have been invented, their prevalence has been wiped out altogether in the western world.

Diphtheria, smallpox, and even more recent conditions such as whooping cough are almost extinct now because of those likely to catch them or who would suffer worse if they did being inoculated, and unvaccinated patients who contract them being healthy enough to recover quickly with few or no side-effects, their bodies developing an immunity to them as a result.

With no vaccination as yet available for Covid-19, 'herd immunity' can only be achieved through those catching it developing antibodies that stop them getting infected again, meaning they cannot pass it onto anyone else.

But Spanish scientists have been carrying out an extensive nationwide study into seroprevalencia – the prevalence of antibodies within the population – and have concluded that around 95% of those tested have not acquired an immunity to the virus.

They tested over 60,000 volunteers who had been exposed to the Coronavirus, according to the results of the experiment published in science journal The Lancet, and discovered antibodies in only around 3,000 of them.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THIS year's World Travel Awards – widely considered to be the 'Oscars of Tourism' - has extended its online voting until August 17, and several hotels, holiday complexes, attractions and entire cities have been nominated for the 'Europe's leading' categories.

Each list contains an average of five to 15 entries and, although Barcelona and Madrid dominate, other candidates can be found in the north, the islands, Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz province) and Calpe (Alicante province).

The Transcantábrico is up against the Royal Scotsman, British Pullman, Golden Eagle Danube and Trans-Siberian Express, and Venice-Simplon Orient Express for the Europe's Leading Luxury Train 2020 Award.

For hotels and resorts, Barcelona's trade-fair centre, Fira Barcelona, has been nominated for Europe's Leading Meetings & Conference Centre; Hacienda Zorita in Valverdón, Salamanca province (second photograph), for Leading Wine Region Hotel; La Manga Club on the Murcia coast, Las Colinas Golf & Country Club on the Orihuela Costa, southern Alicante province (fourth picture), and PGA Catalunya on the Costa Brava for Leading Villa Resort; PortAventura Mansión Lucy near Vilaseca, Tarragona province for Leading Theme Park Hotel – and PortAventura itself for Leading Theme Park Resort; and La Manga is also nominated for Leading Sports Resort and Las Colinas for Leading Resort Villas.

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SPANISH coastal towns have been upheld as an international example by a British broadsheet and contrasted very favourably with the situation on UK beaches.

This comes just days after Madrid-based Guardian writer Giles Tremlett spoke highly of residents' and Spaniards' exemplary self-discipline and community spirit during lockdown.

The Telegraph reporter Tobias Ellwood said 'Bournemouth beach should have been closed to new visitors in the morning and the council should have done more', and shows video footage of huge crowds practically on top of each other on the sands in the popular British coastal city alongside two young men lying about a metre and a half (five feet) apart in a roped-off plot on a beach in Spain.

Ellwood's geographically-challenged headline, “Bournemouth vs Benidorm: What British beaches should learn from the Costa del Sol,” is likely to have attracted a string of corrections in the comments section – Benidorm is in the Mediterranean province of Alicante in the east, whose coast is known in tourism terms as the Costa Blanca, whilst the Costa del Sol is the shoreline of the province of Málaga in the south, around 700 kilometres away – although the Spanish beaches flagged as paragons of Covid-19 safety are based in the latter.

British nationals based in Spain, and a huge number of UK residents, reacted in stunned horror at footage of the Dorset coast and fury at hearing of drunken fights, three stabbings involving eight arrests, and over 40 tonnes of mostly-plastic rubbish left behind on what has historically been a family beach and retirement hotspot.

And it was not just Bournemouth – tens of thousands of people are known to have gathered in close proximity on the beaches in nearby Poole, and in Southend-on-Sea (Essex), nobody wearing masks as these are very difficult to get hold of in the UK, according to several sources from the country.

Many Brits living in Spain have expressed concerns at their compatriots being allowed into the country for their holidays, given the still-rising number of Covid-19 cases in the UK and the widely-publicised behaviour of its citizens living there at the first sign of sun – although the outpouring of rage from UK residents at the scenes shows that, hopefully, these are very much in the minority.

Also, British travellers who are more sensible have pointed out that contact between UK-based holidaymakers and Spain's resident population is likely to be minimal – package trips tend to involve enclosed resorts where guests are of the same nationality, whilst holiday homeowners have more contact with Spain generally and will be very aware of how their resident friends and neighbours observed lockdown – and continue to take extreme precautions – with few or no complaints against the actual régime or its imposition; only, perhaps, frustration about how inconvenient it all was, whilst recognising that there was no other alternative.

Also, Spain takes the temperatures of all airport arrivals and has them fill in a questionnaire including their contact details, meaning anyone who may be harbouring Covid-19 could be filtered out at the border, and if they are asymptomatic and pass it on, anyone who has been in close proximity to them will be notified immediately and ordered into self-isolation.

Tobias Ellwood, in his Telegraph column, writes that in Spain, some beaches have created a 'traffic-light' access system – when the lights are red, nobody is allowed entry, and if they are green, it means there is space – with limits on numbers allowed on the sands.

Some town halls, he writes, have banned items like balls and lilos, which take up space and could come into contact with people who are not their owners.

In his mentions of the Costa del Sol – rather than Benidorm - Ellwood explains how monitors, or 'informers', paid by town councils, are on site to tell visitors what the rules are, direct and order bathers, and to call the police if anyone flouts the regulations.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EXTRA personnel have been taken on for Spain's airports this summer to ensure every single traveller is checked upon arrival – especially now the EU has opened its borders to a specific number of third countries, which do not include Russia, the USA and Brazil at present.

Temperatures will be taken either manually via contactless thermometers, or via 'thermographic cameras' which show up different colours, and anyone showing a body temperature of more than 37.5ºC could be stopped, as this is normally the threshold for a fever.

No personal data, nor camera images, will be stored, meaning all travellers' privacy will be guaranteed.

Carriers – airlines and ships – can take passengers' temperatures before they arrive on Spanish soil, under supervision by the government's international health department, if they wish.

All passengers of any nationality travelling from any airport or port outside Spanish territory will be required to fill in a public health form online, which they must complete before travelling.

Once the form is filled in, the traveller will be given a QR code which they are required to present upon arrival.

Travel agencies, tour operators, airlines and shipping companies, or any other 'middleman' involved in selling tickets or package trips is required to inform passengers before any money changes hands about the form to be completed.

Anyone whose temperature is above 37.5ºC or whose details on the form lead authorities to suspect they may be infected with Covid-19 or any other contagious or infectious condition will undergo an additional full health check.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SURGE in retail sales last month shows that the public had been waiting with bated breath to get back to the shops, and more so than before lockdown, taking advantage of their new-found freedom.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), although April saw almost every shop except those selling everyday essentials shut – meaning the increase in takings of 19.3% in May is probably logical – many were still offering online sales and, until much later in the month, not all of them were able to reopen for trade as before.

Sales have fallen by 20.2% based upon May the previous year, but this is also to be expected, given that full 'business as usual' was not in place until well into June.

Small retailers have been highlighted for their adaptability during the health crisis – offering online and telephone sales, home deliveries, 'pay now buy later' deals, offers, discounts and free gifts, complementary masks and hand-sanitisers – and their takings in May were up 31.4% based upon April where they had more than one branch, or 23.3% where they had only one premises.

The greatest rise in retail sales between April and May was, naturally, non-food products, given that these were largely closed in April, but once shops finally restarted progressively in May, their takings for personal equipment shot up by 125.3% and for home equipment by 89.5%.

Once people in Spain were allowed to travel outside their towns again, this, obviously, increased sales in service stations, which saw a 37.4% rise between April and May.

Reopening is not the only factor, though: Despite late May permitting residents to visit shops again in person, online sales still grew – albeit at 17.6%, this figure was lower than the growth seen for April when it was the only way anyone could buy non-essentials.

Food sales fell year-on-year by 0.3%, and the reasons for this could be many and varied, including not wanting to leave home to go to the supermarket unless it was absolutely necessary, or fears of eating too much in lockdown and putting on weight.

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PRINCESS Leonor has stunned the public by giving a speech – without notes or autocues – in fluent catalán, the language of a region she has never lived in or been to school in.

The 14-year-old heiress to the throne joined her parents and sister, the Infanta Sofía, 13, in a video-conference to explain that this year's Princess of Girona Awards ceremony has had to be postponed due to the pandemic.

Although her 'main' title is Princess of Asturias – and Spain's national version of the Nobel Prizes take the same name – Leonor in fact holds a long list of aristocratic titles which are secondary to this, including that of Princess of Girona.

These awards, also named after her, are a smaller version of the Princess of Asturias prizes, and each year follow a different theme.

For 2020, they have focused on the main challenges faced by Spanish society, in particular children, teenagers and young adults, especially in light of the global Coronavirus outbreak.

Prizewinners this year are film director Guillermo García López, businesswoman Pepita Marín Rey-Stolle, chemist Rubén Darío Costa Riquelme, and IT pioneer Guillermo Martínez Gauna-Vivas.

Princess Leonor and the Infanta Sofía took part in last year's Princess of Girona Awards which, to celebrate their 10^th anniversary, were held in Barcelona, the region's capital and Spain's second-largest city.

Although unable to do so in person before a physical audience, because of the Covid-19 crisis, this is the first time Leonor has spoken publicly in catalán.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com