Teatro Chapí

We went to see a Tango show at the Chapí theatre in Villena on Saturday. Tangos, of course, are Argentinian but, because they are sung in Spanish, they seem to have a sort of Honorary Spanish status. Maybe its a bit like the way we Brits don't consider Hollywood films to be foreign.

The theatre is named for a mid 19th century composer called Ruperto Chapí who was born in Villena. He became famous as a writer of Zarzuelas which are a sort of play and light opera mix with a bit of dancing thrown in for good measure.

I thought the theatre looked "Edwardian", though it was finished in 1924 which would make it George the Fifthian if it had been built in the UK. The Spanish King of the time was Alfonso XIIIth.

The Tango show was pretty good and it was a charity do for the local version of Gamblers Anonymous.

Romans and Carthiginians

Cartagena, a seaport on the Murcian coast has recently rediscovered its Roman past. Over the last few years the tourist people have invented, and promoted, a new festival which features the Romans and their adversaries the Carthiginians - Hanibal was from Carthage.

We went down to have a look at the battle for Sagunto but we missed it. By the time we got there the Romans (or the Carthiginians) had put on their sunspecs and were getting the tourist train home!

More on "England v Spain"

The people I work for run a car Boot Sale every alternate Sunday.

The first few sales were very poorly supported but nowadays business is brisk and lots of people turn up. We were there today and it was noticeable that more of the buyers and sellers were Spanish.

I wasn't too keen on the idea of the sale when it first started - it struck me as trying to import something alien, another attempt to hang on to "home". I wondered today if the alternative view might not be that the Brits were adding something to their new home.

Why walk?

The steps are in Alcalá del Jucar. The car is being driven down the steps. 

More on almonds

Our next door neighbour, Vicente, was shelling and bagging his almonds this weekend. In the photo Maggie asks him a technical question about husbanding his nuts.

It's almond harvest time in Pinoso

It doesn't matter whether you grow hectares of trees comercially or whether you just have a couple at the back of your holiday home. Harvest the nuts, dry them and take them to a processor, like Mañan, and they'll buy them from you at the prevailing market price.

How many 100g bags there are in a pile like this?

What are your learning aims?

Once upon a time I used to help organize adult learning - that's evening classes to you and me. We used to write prospectuses, put together rule books and operating procedures to cover every eventuality, appoint tuors, write course descriptions, decide dates, set fees, advertise the lot, hope some people would turn up and then pester the hell out of them once the classes had started to find out why they had joined a German class or a computer course and what they hoped to gain from it. Most of it didn't have much to do with what adults wanted to learn or what tutors wanted to teach. The process seemed designed to keep a horde of quality assurers and inspectors happy.

Anyway I went to sign up for my Spanish class tonight at the local "Culture House". There was nobody much around but I found the tutor reading a magazine in the office. There were no queues of people waiting to sign up, there were no phones ringing. It was a very quiet process. I asked how much the course would cost "I'm not quite sure - it's a bit more than last year, might be 18€ for the year but I'm not sure". I asked what evening it was going to be on "That depends a bit on who turns up, probably Wednesday or Thursday." There were no questions about my ability (last year I was asked to speak a bit of Spanish for the tutor to judge which class I should join but this year the tutor thought she knew me well enough to judge - I wonder what one of the Inspection Services in the UK would have to say about that for assessment of prior learning?) Cruz told me to turn up on the 27th or 28th (after 8.30 because we have a student who helps us to take the money and he comes in when he finishes work) to check the day and pay my fees.

On the way out I picked up the prospectus and I noiced that my Spanish (Castilian) course wasn't included in it. There was ballroom dancing and Sevillanas, regional dance, Valenciano (the local Spanish language), yoga, pottery, English, computer courses, "typing", classical and Flamenco guitar, lace making, painting and craft and some music classes playing local instruments like the Dulzaina. The most expensive course is 15€ for the year, the cheapest is 6€ though there is a one time only signing on fee of 6€.

The prospectus generally has the course title, the times, the cost and the name of the tutor. The exception is the yoga which has a warning note to say that the participants shouldn't swap their place with someone else without telling the tutor and checking with the office. Those yoga people must be trouble makers!

I don't suppose you know

That Spain won the Basketball World Cup on Sunday by beating Greece (who triumphed over the USA in the semi finals).

The score was 70-47 and that's without their star player, Gasol, who was injured in the semis against Argentina.

The reason I suspect that you might not know about the basketball is that the team came back from Japan (where the competition was held) via Heathrow. The Spanish press were amazed that they had completely free access to the team as the British press were nowhere to be seen. Apparently none of the British teams qualified so there was no local interest.

The picture is from the Argentina game.

SEAT 600D

The SEAT 600 was a direct copy of the Fiat 600 built under licence in Spain from 1957 to 1973. There were a few model changes along the way, the engine grew a bit and the car became more refined but basically it remained much the same.

The SEAT 600 is an icon in Spain. It is the car that gave mobility to the Spaniards. It's the car that anyone of a certain age remembers as the car that took them, and their Gran and their Aunty and everything they needed for a month's holiday to the seaside. They remember having to stop at the side of the road to let it cool down and they remember thinking that 80kph was fast.

I know someone who has a 1969 example for sale for at 3,500€. I went and drove it yesterday. It was surprisingly nippy, a bit heavy on the steering for such a small car, the gearchange was maybe a bit notchy and it didn't stop so quickly with its drum brakes but it was comfy and it made me grin. It was a bit like my first time in an MGB. No comparison with a modern, efficient car but bags of fun. If I had 3,500€ I'd buy it tomorrow.

English Colonies

We went to the coast in Murcia the other day and we ended up in an "urbanización" or estate called El Pinar de Campoverde. We had a drink in Nancy McGuire's bar, the England - Andorra European Cup qualifier was on the telly (courtesy of Sky Digital), a couple of blokes sang along to God Save the Queen (well the bits they knew). We spoke to the waitress in English; it was difficult to believe we were in Spain.