Winding down

Spain is winding down for the summer. Every day, more and more shops and offices in barcelona put up their notices about shutting down for August, or at least large parts of it. the buses run on special timetables (although they are trying to bribe more drivers into staying on this year) and even the supermarkets take a lunch break. we arrived here last year in mid august and found our neighbourhood almost devoid of open shops.

perhaps the most extraordinary manifestation of this is the weekly business magazine Actualidad Económica which wished readers a jolyy summer, gave them two gifts (an underwater disposable camera and a luggage strap) and said ta-ra for a month. 'Volvemos en septiembre' declares their website. You can't imagine Business Week or The Economist doing that ...

And if it's good bye from them, it's good bye from me. We are off on hols from Wednesday to San Sebastian, Cadaques and Studland Bay in Dorset. Normal service will resume in September.