Things that used to drive me crazy but I now do as well

[Lavanda]

As Christmas is fast approaching my thoughts turn to nostalgia and I thought I would pass on a few things that used to drive me crazy when I first got here but now, 18 years later, I find I am doing them myself.

Greeting people in the street with 'Adios' rather than 'Hola'. 'Adios' means 'Go with God' and is a greeting rather than a farewell. It took me a while but now I never use 'Hola' at all.

Talking in shops to shop-keepers and cashiers regardless of whether there is a queue of people waiting for something or not.

Stopping the car and talking to people in the street or to another driver in their car. I don't move until there is at least three cars behind me or the conversation has come to an end — whichever comes first.

Parking ridiculously but always allowing traffic to pass — just.

Talking really loudly in cafés and bars but not in restaurants.

Stopping young Mums and asking to see the baby in the pushchair and spending ages talking about the baby's progress.

Having breakfast with various toddlers on my lap while the Mums have a bit of a break. Small children get passed around like a game of pass the parcel and I have my fair share of them — which I love.

Keeping time fluid. 'Mañana' after all does not mean tomorrow. It's some time in the vague future.

There are two things I do NOT do, however. One is to call women 'Hombre' and the other is to use the alarming swear words bandied about so casually in everyday speech.

What about others on the forum?

[Free at Last]

I'm very reluctant to go out when it's raining (even if not very hard). I remember about a year after arriving here (we've been here permanently for 18 years as well) I was doing an intercambio twice a week with a young Spanish man who was learning English. I arrived one evening when it was wet and he said "I thought you might not come tonight because it's raining". I replied "Jorge, I am from Manchester. If I didn't go out when it was raining I would never have left my house". It used to amuse me how deserted the streets were in wet weather. And now I'm just as bad.

I don't do any of the things you mentioned, though.

[Lavanda]

It's true that people do not go out in the rain. They also use their cars to drive the smallest of distances but I don't think that is just a Spanish thing. Some men prop up the bar in the local and then, after quite a few tubos get in their cars and drive home — about 500 metres.

[Wicksey]

Here the 'adios' greeting gets shorterned to just 'io' and a chin up motion. We tend to do the same now. Although when we used to say hola they said adios, but now we say adios they sometimes say hola.

We never go out in the rain either .... I thought it was just us!

I do stop the car to speak to a neighbour, but in the campo there is rarely anyone else around. I have got used to the fact that cars are just abandoned, often in the most stupid places, sometimes empty but with the engine still running as someone has popped into a shop or into their house.

I never expect anything to ever get done within any reasonable time frame.

I don't speak Spanish well enough to have learnt any swear words. I only know tonto, but could do with something a bit ruder for those cars and bicycles that drive through red pedestrian traffic lights at speed, which is increasingly common now. You really have to be careful not to get knocked down despite the green man saying it's safe. It's not a habit I have got into thankfully and I still signal properly and try to stick to the rules (strange as they are). I do drive around the roundabouts like a Spaniard. It is odd to those of us from the UK but you have to get used to the fact that cars on the outside may go all the way around the roundabout in the gutter as it seems to be how they are taught.

[IreneD]

I don't live in Spain any more but I was very amused by your list, Lavanda and that you now have adopted the Spanish habits yourself. Obviously, my mere 11 years wasn't long enough to have taken them on but I thought I'd add one more thing that used to irritate me slightly. When walking in the village, (or anywhere, really) if there were a group of Spaniards chatting, or even 2 or 3 walking towards me, taking up the path, I knew I'd have to step into the road to get past. I used to wonder what would happen if I just kept walking but was never brave enough to try it.