Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

One of the great joys of Spain is that one very rarely, if ever, comes face-to-face with the sort of surly – even feral – gangs of teenagers which roam the British landscape. Given how outrageously pampered kids are here, this lack of aggrieved self-centredness is something of a surprise. Indeed, I am at one with Giles Tremlett when he says [in ‘Ghosts of Spain’] “There is a central enigma to the way Spaniards bring up their children, which I have never been able to solve. How is it that the spoilt, rude under-10s later turn into such polite, agreeable self-confident teenagers? The surly adolescent is a relatively rare sight in Spain. Teenagers may grumble about their parents but they do not go for full-out generational hatred. Teenage rebellion, in fact, seems non-existent. Spanish teenagers, when polled, have no trouble pointing out that family is the most important thing in their lives.”

A procession in New York this week to honour the country’s Hispanic community was led by the traditional ‘Moors and Christians’ who parade annually through Spanish towns to mark the Re-conquest of Spain from her Islamic invaders. Except the Moors stayed at home, making it a very one-sided [but inoffensive] affair. And here in Valencia they’ve decided to show some sensitivity too. Even if this only amounts to going without the annual event which centres on blowing the head of the Prophet to smithereens.

Galicia Facts

A friend who has monitored the local weather for many decades tells me that La Coruña has both much less rain and much less sun than Pontevedra. The explanation, I guess, is that they have a lot more cloudy [and windy] days. And/or a lot more drizzle, compared with the mini-tropical storms we occasionally get. If you’re interested in knowing more about the Galician weather, you should go to my web page, www.colindavies.net

Up near Gondomar they’re excavating what they think is the site of the oldest settlement yet found here, dating from 5,000 years ago.

According to BeautifulPeople.net Galicia is the Spanish region with the highest percentage of people who think physical beauty compensates for the lack of intelligence. And 65% of Galicians have sex on their first date. Most of them in the forest behind my house, I suspect.

Beautiful People, by the way, is a ‘meeting point for beautiful people who share the same lifestyle’. Am I being unfair to see this as quintessentially Spanish? Possibly, as it originated in Denmark.

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