Spanish Eyes, English Words

When I first came to Spain on holiday back in the 1960s when the planes still had outside toilets, we holidayed on the Costa Brava. When I met my husband Tony, I returned there, after a gap of more than 30 years, and fell in love with the area all over again. 14 year old me was more interested in getting Brahms and Liszt on Bacardi and Coke, chatting up the waiters and getting a suntan, but by the age of forty-something, I was interested in what made the area and the people so vibrant and unique.

On a trip to Tossa de Mar, we met Luis, the owner of Bar Esclop near the ruins of the Roman villa. He was clearly Catalan, but spoke English in a broad Lancashire accent, as the result of a misspent youth in Manchester. He told jokes, acted silly for Tony's grandchildren - and opened my eyes to the Catalonia Question. Fast forward another 15 years, and I 'met' Simon Harris, through my Writers On Spain Facebook group. Simon was just writing his book Catalonia is Not Spain: A Historical Perspective, and he was 'blogging the book' by publishing a chapter at a time, and using the followers on his blog and the group as a sounding board for ideas and critiques. When he set up a crowd funding project to publish the book, a lot of us chipped in too, so my involvement in Catalan culture and politics has grown over the last couple of years or so.

Simon isn't one to rest on his laurels, and he's now working on a biography of Catalan President Artur Mas, as well as setting up a YouTube video channel - Catalonia Calling! - which is basically a weekly digest on Catalan and Spanish news. Basically, it's bite-sized Catalonia, delivered with Simon's trademark wit and insight. If you object to phrases like 'arse lickers' and the like, you might have a bit of a problem, because Simon tells it as he sees it, and he funked the tact and diplomacy workshop. However, if you want to get a grasp on life and politics in Catalonia, learn a bit about the culture and have a few laughs at the same time, you will love this channel.

The latest episode - Number 11 - is Simon's assessment of the Catalan candidates in the forthcoming Spanish General Election. Here's a word for the wise - don't try to watch this and have a drink at the same time, because your keyboard will suffer! Episode 10 is longer than usual at around 30 minutes running time, but it's a really interesting overview of Independence and Social Change in Catalonia. Here's what Simon has to say about it:

I'm in London this week to give a talk to the Basque and Catalan societies entitled "Independence and Social Change" so I've decided to make that the subject of this week's Catalonia Calling #10.

As the remit of Independence and Social Change is so broad, I've decided to focus on some of the reasons why I think independence is necessary for Catalonia and then I'll look at some of the elements included in the road map for independence and also the key clauses in the recent Declaration of the Beginning of the Independence Process.

The list isn't exhaustive and the idea is to give key information for those of you who don't follow what's happening in Catalonia very closely and stimulate discussion from those who do.

Don't just take my word for it though - head over to Simon's channel and check it all out for yourself.

There's plenty more to read at Sandra in Spain.com

I'm in the UK, doing the Santa Run, catching up with my lovely kids and grandchildren, and being led astray by my girlfriends. Wine o'clock has been getting earlier every day, my liver is waving the white flag already, and there are still five days to go. Fear not though - I shall just grin and bear it, for the sake of my reputation.

I am proud to be English, British or whatever we're supposed to call it these days, and I love coming back to see everyone and hit British Home Stores, Edinburgh Woolen Mill and Poundland. I've been very restrained so far this trip - just two boleros, a dressing gown and a jumper so far. Still, I haven't been to Telford yet.

As I said, I love to visit, but Spain is now my home, and one particular conversation this week has left me wondering how people who aren't earning at least £50,000 a year manage to exist - particularly if they're renting a property. A friend from my days as a mature student has now returned to Plymouth, after sojourns in Dorset and Norwich. She's renting a very nice 2 bedroom maisonette,  but it's not in a very salubrious area of Plymouth, and it's costing her £635 a month.

The landlord wanted £650, and she managed to knock him down, but that £15 extra isn't going to go very far. It won't even buy her a bottle of wine in a restaurant here, but for just €15 - less than £11 at today's exchange rate - we can have a 3 course meal with a bottle of wine at our favourite Chinese restaurant. And €18 - that's around £13 - will buy a four course lunch with wine at Alquibla, the best Spanish restaurant in Algorfa, or possibly in Spain!

My friend doesn't manage many meals out, mainly due to the costs. She headed out to a so-so Italian chain restaurant with two friends a few weeks ago, and a two course meal with two bottles of wine set them back over £100. That's about the same amount that 9 of us paid for an evening meal at Alquibla just before we came over here. And more than two bottles of wine were consumed!

Contrast that situation with another friend who has just moved over to Spain from England - mainly because she couldn't see how she could stretch her pension to cover a reasonable standard of living in England. she's not a 'Champagne lifestyle on lemonade money' kind of girl - she just wants to enjoy her retirement rather than just existing through it. Her garden apartment is roughly the same size as the maisonette, and it's in a gated community on a prestigious golf urbanisation.

She's paying around €300 a month - £217 - for the privilege. For the mathematically challenged, that's around one third of my university friend's rent. And her heating and utility bills are nowhere near the scale of bills in England. Although electricity is one of the few things that's more expensive in Spain, with temperatures of between 25 and 40 degrees for at least 9 months of the year, we use a lot less of it.

Council Tax is another thing. My friend in Plymouth is paying £100 a month, while the equivalent in Spain - IBI - is around €230 a year. I'll do the sums again to save you having to bother, shall I? Or rather, I'll let the currency converter do it for me. That's £166, or around two months' Council Tax in England, bearing in mind that the bill is divided into 10 instalments, not 12. And in Spain, IBI is usually paid by the landlord, not the tenant.

So, a tale of two ladies of similar ages and similar circumstances, living in similar properties. And now my friend in Plymouth knows what it really costs to live in the UK, compared to the cost of living in Spain, she can't wait to get over here to join us. It's the only sensible thing to do, really.

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