Some things don’t change!

On the television in the Cafetería-Panaderîa where I go each morning to buy bread there was a news report of wildfires in the Valencia region of Spain. There’s another bit of the country going up in smoke. It’s a regular problem for the summer time. Of course, this year we had the same problem in the Northwest of England. Now, that’s an aspect of European culture that even a Europhile like me can do without.

A few days ago I heard the tin whistle tune of the knife grinder out on the streets of Vigo. It was like a step back in time. We just needed somebody shouting put “rag bo-o-o-one” to take us back to my childhood. And then we could do with the fairy tale cry of “New lamps for old!”

The itinerant knife grinder is not the only throwback that continues to exist in Spain. There’s a shop on Travesía de Vigo where you can buy bags of ice. Then there are the numerous ferreterías, the individual, independent hardware shops where you can still go and buy two screws of the size you require, or even just one for that matter. Almost as common as bars. You don’t have to head to a huge complex like B&Q on the edge of town where you are forced to buy a pack of twenty-five screws, or fifty if you are really unlucky, the majority of which you then put away in a safe place and lose. That is, until after you have bought another multipack the next time you need a single screw!

The little hardware shops often also offer knife and scissor sharpening, in case you missed the itinerant chappie. Other things you still find here that have largely disappeared in England are haberdashers’ shops, frequently offering to do alterations, shorten trousers, replace zips and the like. Along with them are the shops selling fabric by the yard. And wool shops.

Of course, it’s all a question of supply and demand. If nobody sews or knits properly, then the shops close down.

I exaggerate a little about the state of things in the UK. There are stalls on Oldham market which will replace zips for you. Another repairs shoes. There is also a stall selling wool, and it doubles as a haberdashery, selling zips and braid and buttons and embroidery silks. Knitting has become trendy and I know people who order all their wool online but personally I still like to go to the wool stall and browse her books of patterns and choose the wool there and then.

As for fabric by the yard, you have to be in the know in our area. Oldham’s outdoor market has masses of stall selling fabric, but only on Saturdays. And the last time I shopped there I was the only non-Asian woman purchasing. One lady even expressed her amazement: “So it’s not just Asian women who know how to sew!” 

But these, like the shoe repair stall and the watch repair man seem to be a dying breed.

Changing times!

Much is spoken about plastic carrier bags and the problems they cause. Most places nowadays, both here and in the UK charge for them, trying to encourage people to take their own reusable bags when they go shopping. If you are really organised and ecologically-minded you take along a container and ask the but her or fishmonger to put your purchases into that instead of wrapping it in plastic. Anyway, Mercadona supermarkets are trying to be at the forefront of the anti-plastic struggle. In Valencia, Barcelona and Vizcaya provinces, their supermarkets paper bags or bags made from woven rafia instead of traditional plastic. If plastic bags are available, they are made from recycled materials. They plan to ban all plastic bags by the end of 2019.

I wonder if they will extend the policy to the bags currently available to put your purchases of fruit and veg in within the store. Not to mention the plastic gloves you are encouraged to wear, and then discard, while selecting fruit. We shall see.

Changing times again!

Fireworks continue though.

At midnight on Sunday we were treated to a fine display from Teis. During the day they had had processions for the feast of San Salvador and I think the fireworks were for the start of their Semana Grande.

Fiestas season is underway. No change there.