The Good, the Bad and the Downright Silly! 1- The Good!

Back in the UK, lots of friends have asked me what I think about living in Spain, so far. Well, here we go with the positive side.

The Good!

• Asociaciones de Vecinos, or neighbourhood associations, like the Fonte do Galo where I discovered a free gallego conversation workshop and where I go to yoga classes. To attend classes and activities you must be a member of the association, but not necessarily a resident of the immediate area. You pay a yearly membership fee of around 15 euros and then a monthly fee to the person organising the activity. So for two sessions of yoga per week I pay 20 euros a month, which seems like good value to me. Next door to us for one of the sessions is an extremely noisy English class. In the entrance hall at the same time, because there is no other room for them, is an arts and crafts class. The centre also offers dressmaking, dance, pilates, tai chi and occasional rambles to local beauty spots.
• A healthy attitude towards children. When children are running around on the terraces of cafes, they seem to belong to almost everyone and almost everyone looks out for them. They are accepted without fuss in most restaurants but their parents usually insist that they sit properly and eat. During carnaval no-one appeared to think it odd that complete strangers patted little Zorro on the head or stroked the cheek of Snow White. In schools, teachers don't seem to be afraid of normal physical contact with their pupils. And, so far, no-one has challenged me for taking photos in playgrounds and parks just because their children will be in the picture. Political correctness has not yet gone mad here.
• The clubs de lectura at the local library. It costs nothing to join the library. It costs nothing to join one of the reading groups. There are groups for Castillian Spanish/gallego, English and French. The library provides copies of the books and the discussions are great fun, if sometimes a little surprising and generally dominated by women. The club de lectura de frances even boasts ONE male member - his arrival was greeted with great enthusiasm - and on the first Monday of the month transfers from the library to a cafe around the corner.
• Wonderful plazas mayores like this one in Orense, with the traditional arches all around the edge.

• And the total spontaneity with which a school group or young people's outing of some sort just organised an impromptu circle game in the emptiness of the square.

• The cafeteria round the corner where you can get a salad, good chicken and chips, a dessert, a glass of wine and a coffee for 8.50 euros.
• The range of restaurants that offer a good menu del dia.
  
• The perfectly decent wine that you can buy for only a couple of euros and the excellent wine that you can get for not much more.
• The public transport, despite what the locals say about it; it is reasonably priced and so far as we can tell fairly reliable.
• Being able to get a good cup of coffee at a reasonable price without having to state that you want standard or double and then get a small bucketful of inferior coffee.
• Being able to pop across the road to buy fresh bread for breakfast.
• I could go on and on.
  
• Oh, and of course, the weather. Three weeks of sunshine in February is not to be sneezed at!