As we have friends coming by car in the summer and as we have sublet our garage space, today I decided to get ahead of myself and ask at the Tourist Office if they could give me some indication of good places to park, overnight especially, without it costing an arm and a leg. All I really wanted was some kind of list of car parks, prices, availability and so on, all the information that I don't have as I left my car in the UK and go round here on foot or on public transport. What I got was an Eeyore-like gloomy commentary.
The gentleman at the Tourist Office keeps his car in the garage at home and only uses it for journeys out of Vigo. Parking, he reminded me, is a major problem at all times and at the moment with all the roadworks, well, what can you say: un lio! He knows that many ayuntamiento employees leave their cars all day at the Castro Park (well, that much is obvious to anyone who walks in the park on a weekday just from the ratio of cars to visitors!) but he would not recommend parking there overnight. You never know!
Perhaps Calle Venezuela, near the children's playground would be a better bet, if you can find a space. There was a rider to that, though: if you left your car there for more than one day, long enough for dust to settle on it, it would probably be noticed and could be vandalised! Maybe the railway station carpark would be good for overnight parking as it is well lit. It began to remind me of looking for a secure place to park in Salford. All in all, in this respect Vigo is just like any other big city!
His parting shot was that I should perhaps ask the Policia Municipal for help. However, there I would be taking pot luck because while some policias can be very helpful, others can be muy antipaticos. So I was none the wiser and will have to pursue my investigations among my companions in the various activities I am involved in.
What my enquiries did do, though, was make me reflect on security measures here in Spain. When we finally decided to purchase a television set we investigated electrical goods suppliers - Hyperplanet in both A Laxe and Gran Via shopping centres, El Corte Ingles, Carrefour et al - in search of a good deal. This was how we discovered that in Hyperplanet and the electrical goods section of Carrefour if you leave without purchases you have to leave one way only. Security guards direct you to the appropriate exit, presumably the one fitted with scanners to make sure that you have not slipped a huge flat-screen set under your coat!
In the end we opted for a set from Carrefour's on-line catalogue as the model we selected was not available in the store. Now, on-line shopping is such a regular feature of UK life that I know people who never shop any other way. Here, however, it is still somewhat in its infancy, most likely because computers in the home are only just becoming the norm. Well, the ordering went ahead as usual but when it came to paying using my Spanish debit card, I came across another security measure. I had to go into my bank's website and set up a password and memorable phrase before I could continue.
Although at the time I cursed and ranted and raved at the extra hassle, I suppose it is a good measure. It may go some way to prevent the kind of identity theft that leads to your bank account being emptied while purchases you never wanted are made on your card. (Mind you, it is not universally applied; I have since bought concert tickets on-line several times without any security measures whatsoever.)
Similarly I have had to explain to visiting friends that if you pay by credit or debit card in Spanish shops, you must produce proof of identity. Now the use of the PIN is supposed to serve that purpose but places still exist in the UK which will accept payment with no more than a signature which can, of course, be forged. If the Spanish system had operated in Italy when my purse was pick-pocketed in Rome, the plumply smiling rogue on the bus who I suspect did the deed would not have been able to go out and spend £400 before I even realised the purse was missing!
Be that as it may, we successfully ordered and paid for our TV set. According to the web page, it would be delivered within four working days. So a few days later we checked the website: Your order is being dealt with. Very good, we thought, but, even if Saturday did not count as a working day, it seemed to be taking rather longer than four days. Eventually an e-mail arrived: Your order has been dispatched and will reach you within four working days. Ah, so that was it: the notice on the website did not mean four working days from placing your order but four working days from whenever they got their act together!
And within four working days it was indeed delivered. A nice little set with built in DVD player, it works fine. The fact that there is little of real interest to watch and that films are, as a rule, badly dubbed into Spanish is neither here nor there. The news channel is good. There are occasional interesting documentaries. If we choose to do so, we can improve our understanding of gallego by watching the dedicated channels. It is MUCH better for watching the DVDs we borrow from the local library than watching them on the laptop computer. And, somewhat ironically, I am now watching La Chica de Ayer, the Spanish version of Life on Mars, a series which I missed first time around when it was on the BBC!
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