Dawn

Dawn

Friday, March 28, 2014

Santander and Santander


I'm typing this in the the piano bar on Brittany Ferries. Not sure why, as the ample-gutted pianist appears to be learning his profession at the expense of my ears. I may remove myself to the talk on whales and dolphins that's just been announced.

This post has a Santander flavour, reflecting the fact I drove there yesterday from Pontevedra to catch the 9.30 evening ferry.

I turned off the A8 autovía halfway to get petrol and a bite to eat, ending up in a little restaurant on the side of a road which turned out to the the Camino del Norte (Way of the North) to Santiago. Perhaps I should have been warned by the sign of 2 forks outside, by the owner greeting me in his chef's gear, by the (rare) non availability of a Menu of the Day, and by the high prices on the menu. Plus I was the only person there. The owner-cum-chef did offer 3 courses for 20 euros but somehow this didn't eventuate and the bill was 24 euros for a main course of Asturian fabada (bean casserole), a dessert of banana ice-cream ('home made') and a bottle of water. I retaliated by not leaving a tip. Hard to imagine many pilgrims refreshing themselves there. But perhaps it's a famous watering hole for the gourmets of the locality and comes alive in the evenings. Or perhaps it's going bust.

Several people have just applauded the last song of the pianist. He looks stunned. As well he might.

The ferry-boarding arrangements in Santander have changed in the last year or so. Where we used to park up is now a huge building site. A placard says this will be the Centro Botín. As some readers will know, Sr Botín is the founder, owner and president of Banco Santander, one of europe's largest banks and a serial acquirer of troubled entities in the UK. So much so that you can rarely turn a corner in the country's shopping centres without seeing yet another Santander branch. But not all is plain sailing. It didn't take long after the initial acquisitions for Santander to become infamous as the bank causing the largest number of complaints to the ombudsman. And now it's been hit with the biggest ever retail banking penalty(€14.9m) - for "widespread investments advice failings." According to the Financial Conduct Agency: "Santander let its customers down badly. They trusted Santander to help them manage their money wisely but it failed to live up to that responsibility." Now, there are bad banks everywhere but one does wonder whether some Spanish practices haven't been imported into the UK. In fact, I think I forecast they would be.

The piano-playing just improved. It's now a pianola. Of the modern sort, where the keys depress themselves. I have to stop myself applauding the machine. It's that much better.

Finally . . . I've been known to criticise some aspects of Spanish driving but I'm still surprised by a report on Europe-wide standards which says Spanish drivers are "more likely to honk their horns and to insult other drivers or pass them on the wrong side than other European drivers." I wouldn't have thought this was true. Even though I provoked a fair amount of honking last night when I reversed down the outside lane of a busy road in Santander to get to a parking place. Which I never would have done 10 years ago.

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