La Vida Alcalaína

It is well known that the poor give proportionally more of their income to charity than the rich do , probably because they are more attuned to the needs of others.  This was demonstrated beautifully in Alcalá yesterday when, despite the economic crisis, alcalainos of all ages thronged the Paseo de la Playa  for the town's third Día Solidaria. Our "Typical British fare" went like hot cakes Although solidaridad translates literally as "solidarity" it has a wider meaning in Spanish, embracing sharing, community, empathy, compassion and equality.  The English equivalent would be "charity", but in Spain  caridad is more usually associated with aid offered by religious institutions. The Playa was lined with stalls offering goodies for sale, the proceeds going to various fundraising activities.  The Fair Trade (Comercio Justo) stall had bottles of 40% proof Cuban rum nestling amongst the organic chocolate bars, and the nuns from the Beaterio ha...

It can't have escaped your notice that the Spanish economy is in a right mess .  Unemployment is 21% and rising, and under-25s have barely a 50-50 chance of getting a job.  The interest rate on government bonds is approaching Italy's, making us the S in PIIGS.  Some cities are so deep in debt they can't pay their staff. Government spending cuts are biting deeply into health and education services, and public employees have had their salaries cut.  Families who took out mortgages during the boom years and have now lost their jobs are being evicted at the rate of 15,000 a month, while up to two million dwellings stand empty.  Small businesses are going to the wall on a daily basis, especially those dependent on public contracts. In last Sunday's general election, the voters demonstrated unequivocally who they blame for this sorry state of affairs. The PSOE (Partido Socialista de Obreros Españoles), which has been power since 2004 under the leadership of Jose Lui...

I've just finished writing a short biography of a woman who first captured my imagination after I read an article about her in La Luz Magazine a few years ago.   She lived in a palace in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and although I am not normally a fan of duchesses I have become rather fond of this one, as she swam against the tide all her life. Luisa Isabel María del Carmen Cristina Rosalía Joaquina Álvarez de Toledo y Maura, Isabel to her friends, was the 21st Duchess of Medina-Sidonia, one of the oldest aristocratic families in Spain. She left her husband  after having three babies in quick succession and then deposited the children with her grandparents while they were still small.  She became known as the Red Duchess ( la Duquesa Roja ) because of her political convictions.  She organised strikes amongst fishermen and vineyard workers, campaigned for compensation for locals affected by a nuclear accident, was imprisoned under the Franco regime, gave away property ...

The clocks go back this weekend, in that strange process called "daylight saving" where they take an hour of light from one end of the day and stick it on the other (I've never been able to work out where the "saving" bit comes in).  It was originally intended to save fuel, by moving the working day into daylight hours. Germany introduced it in 1916, to save on coal during WW1, and other countries swiftly followed suit.   In 1996 the European Union harmonised the date so all member countries now change the clocks on the same day, namely the last Sunday in October.  Iceland doesn't bother. Blue = GMT, Red = GMT+1 Additional benefits of daylight-saving were to allow outdoor leisure activities to take place after work - Churchill argued that "it enlarges the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country" - and reduce the amount of daylight hours that people "wasted" by sleep...

This week Alcalá hosted the first Feria de Muestras de Productos y Artesania del P.N. de Los Alcornocales, organised by the Junta de Andalucia Department of the Environment . The aims of the event, which will take place in a different location each year, are: to raise awareness of the enormous environmental value of the Alcornocales Natural Park, to inform the public about the traditional activities which take place there; to acknowledge the role of the people who live and work in the Park; to encourage sustainable development and tourism, which will benefit the 17 municipalities located within the Park, especially at a time when other forms of economic activity are failing. Twenty stalls were set up in the Paseo de la Playa and the adjacent Parque Municipal.  Some were selling their locally produced goods including cheese, honey, chorizos, bread and cakes, wine, salt, pottery and glassware, wooden bowls and baskets.  Others provided demonstrations and talks by vi...

When I first moved here I though that just walking around this preciptitous town of ours would provide enough exercise to keep me in shape, not to mention living in a three-storey house. It did at first;  I lost half a stone and could sprint up the hill like a whippet without even thinking about it.   But lately I've found myself rationalising my trips into town so I don´t have to do it more than once every couple of days - less if possible, especially in summer.  My muscles are getting flabby and I'm starting to get puffed out climbing two flights of stairs. So, now that the temperature has come down to a pleasant 25 degrees or so, it's time for some remedial action.  I'm not worried about dieting; we already eat very healthily, I'm not overweight and there are too many tasty treats around to start exercising self-denial at my age.  Exercise, "gentle and regular" as they say, is the thing for us nearly-60s.  My gentle and regular regime involves a rowin...