Cultural exchange?

Some time ago my husband subscribed to a system in our region of the UK through which the local police send him an email from time to time letting him know about things they are doing to reduce crime in the area, information about increase in types of crime locally and stuff like that. 

The latest newsletter talked about a disturbing trend for large groups of young people, some as young as 13 or 14 to gather in local parks to drink and make merry. They organise themselves through the social media: mobile phones, Facebook and so on. Last weekend apparently some 150 got together in a park, got very drunk and threw fireworks around: drunk and dangerous! 


The police gather up underage drinkers and escort them home. They send warning letters out to parents reminding them to make sure that they know where their teenage children are on weekend evenings. They point out that selling alcohol to under-18s is against the law. 

 Now there have always been groups of youngsters standing around outside the Spar shop asking likely-looking passersby to pop in and buy them bottles of alcohol, usually cider. But these were always small groups of local kids trying their luck and, assuming someone gave in to them, they would sneak off somewhere quiet for a drink and a smoke. This latest phenomenon, however, is something else again. Youngsters from all over the place are gathering, not outside their own local Spar but in a more central venue and in bigger numbers. 

The Spanish have a name for it: botellón. I believe it started as a university-student activity, even at one point having almost competitions to see who could organise the biggest botellón. It soon spread upwards and downwards, including young teenagers (causing much consternation as they were being introduced to alcohol much sooner than their parents liked and with the new-to-Spain idea that the object of drinking was to get drunk) and up to 30+ year olds. Some places have even tried to control it with organised venues called “botellonodromos”. And I have known parents (not many, I have to admit) who have gone along with their teenagers to a botellón for the fiesta de San Juan in June. 

 However, I always thought the British climate, especially in the North West and even more especially in Saddleworth, didn’t really favour such gatherings. Sitting on wet grass in the rain doesn’t strike me as a great way to spend a Saturday night. Except that I suspect they are not sitting around eating pizza with their drinks and listening to the music someone has brought along – which is what happens here in Spain – but standing around, pushing each other about, daring each other to do daft things in that particularly drunken-British way. 

There are other Spanish drink-related habits I would rather see exported: the social activities that still go on in bars here such as dominoes and cards which have often disappeared in English pubs; the mix of ages you see in the bars; free tapas with your drinks, thus discouraging the drink-to-get-drunk attitude so common in the UK. But no, it seems we are getting the botellón. 

So what is Spain getting in return? Well, yesterday in our local Eroski supermarket I saw advent calendars, Sponge Bob Square Pants advent calendars!! 

When I was a child all you found were advent calendars whose little doors opened to reveal pictures of Christmassy things such as robins, holly, snowy scenes, culminating in the final scene of the stable at Bethlehem. When our children were small you started to see a few with chocolate treats behind the doors. I resisted them as long as possible. But at least they usually had Christmas themes. Nowadays all you can get are the chocolate variety. And what has Sponge Bob got to do with it? No idea! 

 No doubt someone is going to tell me that these things have been around here for years but it’s the first time I have seen them and I am not impressed. I wonder if they do specially extended calendars to go as far as the arrival of the Kings with the presents for the children! 

It’s bad enough that Hallowe’en, an American invention, seems to have taken almost over from All Saints but at least the Spanish tradition remains alongside it to some extent and they still sell “Huesos de Santos”, marzipan “Saints’ Bones” in the cake shops at this time of year.