The Crisis..Some Positive Points.

[BENIDORM]

Everywhere I go I hear the word 'Crisis' mentioned in nearly every sentence, and it seems that the 'Crisis' is blamed for just about every problem that arises, I think that maybe everyone is suffering from The Crisis Malaise'.
But are there any positive / plus points to Spain going through this dire financial state ?

Well I've noticed a few..

For instance, the main roads are quieter..I like and appreciate that !

All the shops, including all of our local shops have good offers available on just about all products.

Local work people are arriving very quicker and tendering much better prices for work carried out.

Our local Town Hall appears to be employing more local people ( to help keep them in the Social Security system ) and our streets are cleaner and lots of small outstanding repair and painting / cleaning jobs around the town, seem to have been attended to.

There have always been lots of small allotments near us tended by mainly retired folks, but all of a sudden all small plots of land seem to have some crops growing on them, and it is young people looking after them, great to see that all of the old agricultural skills are being used by young people !

And a good point we've found , is the way that all of a sudden we seem to get better service in the bars, shops and restaurants, of course there will always be the odd grumpy impatient response, but in general it has improved.
I wonder , has anyone else found some things improving or is it just me looking for the nice things in life ?..

Have a Nice Day...

Regards,
Gordon.

[country boy]

One of the things we have noticed is that this year there is a much larger percentage of men working in the fields harvesting the melons near us, and they arrive by car, whereas in previous times it's been mainly foreign women and they were bused in. ( And there was a Port a Loo in every field...not this year ).

[BENIDORM]

Country boy,
The lack of foreign labour here in inland Granada Province is very noticeable , it doesn't seem to work in the UK though, still plenty of foreign labour working in the fields doing jobs that locals won't do, even though they are unemployed.

Regards,
Gordon.

[katy]

We moved to Spain during a recession and I liked it better than the crazy boom years.

You must have a rich Town Hall Gordon if they are employing workers, most of them are broke

[curatokid]

I notice that now shop assistants and staff always greet you with a smile and are very polite, check outs only have a few people waiting , I guess they now realise that it is important to keep the customer happy, after all we do pay their wages.

[Julie]

I have noticed there are a lot of people losing their homes and others resorting to suicide

But we al look at things from different angles !

[BENIDORM]

Well, Julie,
I see where you are coming from however the subject title is 'Some Positive Points', which was intended as a lighthearted look at the situation , everyone is so down because of the constant news about the 'Crisis', so I thought it time to try and make people smile.
Now I know that some people have been evicted from their homes and a few people have ended their lives, but this is always happening , even when there isn't a 'Crisis', so really living through a financial downturn can't be blamed for everything nasty that happens.
I've lived through several dire economical periods, but came out the other end and got on with life , as the majority of people do.
What I have noticed here in Spain is how many people actually seem to care about the welfare of others and try to help in whatever way that they can, but then I can also remember in the UK when everyone rallied around to help each other.
Regards,
Gordon.

[Chunky Monky]

[Campo Steve]

Different businesses are approaching the crisis in diffrent ways. For exemple, bars in a nearby pueblo certainly have different ways of looking at it.

One bar has dropped its prices to a euro for a tubo of cerveza and often throws in a free tapa . Meanwhile, another bar has seen a drop in income so increased the price of a tubo of cerveza to 1.50 euros and the closest they get to a tapa is a very rare little bowl of olives. Obviously the first bar has seen an increase in customer numbers whilst the second is now very quiet having once been the busiest bar in the pueblo. Hmmmmmm!

[Nimrod]

I think Steve has hit the nail on the head here.
Once Spain realised it was in a "crisis" the Spanish mentality was ...."fewer customers...raise prices".
It's taken a time to sink in,maybe some of them have studied economics,but hopefully the trend now might be ..."lower prices.....more customers".

[Chunky Monky]

...."fewer customers...raise prices".

Plenty of British bars did that four or five years ago and are now defunct.

[Nimrod]

...."fewer customers...raise prices".

Plenty of British bars did that four or five years ago and are now defunct.

And look at the ones that are expanding on low prices and good value,Wetherspoons for instance.
I stayed a night in a family pub, 8 room hotel,in East Sussex countryside last week.
Spotless modern rooms,large bar and restaurant,so good that on Friday night it had to turn away 20 diners who hadn't booked.
Excellent food at reasonable prices,don't take the mick on drinks,fast friendly service and the punters flock in.
I'm in Spain in September so hopefully some of the places I used to frequent who did start taking the mick may have learnt their lesson

[IreneD]

I was naughty and talked about the U.K..........gone now

[Lavanda]

Double post.

[Lavanda]

Increased awareness of what really matters (different things to different people) but family, friends, health - and growing vegetables - seem more important now. There's also increased interest in sustainable tourism and responsible travel. New ventures and ideas are springing up and taking hold and people are optimistic about the future.

[katy]

Sounds good value Irene

I do hope you realise Frank got deleted for mentioning something cheap in the UK

[Devils Advocate]

There's also increased interest in sustainable tourism and responsible travel

Probably me being thick, but what does that mean please?

[IreneD]

I do hope you realise Frank got deleted for mentioning something cheap in the UK

Yes, I did hesitate, as its nothing to do with Andalucia - delete it if you like, Sid (butitisiagreatplacewithtastyfood lol)

[olive]

I thought I did a reply to this last night. Sadly it wasn't very positive so maybe got deleted.

This was the gist anyway.

Tried to buy an electrical appliance in Gordons home town. It is urgent. Shop one. Will find the price and availability and ring you back. Good, when? In the morning. In the evening, we visit to find out face to face what they had done. Nothing. We will ring now. Don't bother we will try at the next shop.

Same brief. Next evening still no call. Rang at 8p.m. Yes it will be here(mas or menos) 15th July! (Like a fool I forgot to ask which year.) Crisis what crisis?

Next I am expecting a package coming via UPS. Tracking showed it delivered, signed for last night at 8.20p.m. The update was filed at.... 17.57. Chased that and I have to get the seller to chase it up! 24 hours later I am still without and none the wiser....

Another target achieved by UPS Spain.

Katy our local town hall hasn't any money for road repairs. They are in a terrible state. In fact the road down from us got washed away earlier in the year. There is a temp diversion for tractors and 4x4's. Repair might be in the autumn.

[katy]

There's also increased interest in sustainable tourism and responsible travel

Probably me being thick, but what does that mean please?

It's the latest thing In Africa it means not over intruding on wildlife, harming the coral reefs etc. In some hotels it means don't expect to get your bed linen changed every day cos we are protecting the environment. In Spain it can mean staying in a frugal place or a yurt with Indy or Guardian readers for company, eating organic stuff (so they say ) her is a bit from one in Andalucía

ABOUT OUR WAY OF LIVING: Life should be easier than it is; we try to achieve that by living as simple and natural as possible. We use the basic that we need and try to be as "eco" as possible. We use “washing nuts” for the laundry. We do produce our own soap which is made of our own olive oil and use this for cleaning the rooms. We only provide clean sheets at the beginning of the guests stay.
In our kitchen there are always 4 containers: organic, paper, plastic and can, and glass. All of them will go to a recycle point that we have to deliver ourselves. When guests arrive we explain how our farm runs. Among other things we explain them how to separate their waste in our system. We also do all our administration work from home via computer and internet, so we do not need neither paper nor transportation for it.
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