Today was the last day of Dani’s second year of full time school. I expected it would be easier to wake him this morning; but it wasn’t. It took me nearly fifteen minutes. In the end it was the sound of Ben 10 on the iPad that did it. Bleary-eyed and still half asleep he managed to drag himself into the living room to watch one of his favourite TV shows. The long summer holidays begin today. Twelve weeks off school!

Long Hot Summer…

There is a very good reason that Spanish schools have such a long summer break. It is way too hot already. The temperatures soared to 38 degrees today. The poor kids are exhausted. Unlike in the UK – where schools have a week off in the middle of each term (trimester) – the schools here go right through. From September to the Christmas holidays and then January to the Easter holidays. In the final term they work through to whatever date in June the particular school chooses. Saving the weeks for summer.

Just as well. Picking him up in the afternoon heat is difficult enough. The kids in Dani’s class will be both excited and tired today. They had a birthday party yesterday straight after school that lasted to 8pm. Probably another reason he was so dog-tired this morning. And boy; he really was tired. When I picked him up from school he fell asleep before getting home and I had to carry him. Still, he has all that time to recover before his next school run.

A Problem for the Parents…

The problem for parents at this time of the year is what to do with the children. Of course, most people here take the majority of August off work to go on a long summer holiday with their families. But that still leaves July and the end of June. Many parents enrol their kids in some kind of summer camp or leave them with grandparents for part of the long vacation.

This year I hope to be able to spend most if not all of the summer with my boy. Tomorrow, Dani’s nanna and cousin are coming over and we will have a week’s holiday with them. Then the following week I will take him over to the UK for a week.

August Options…

After that however the plans are a little sketchy. He may spend a week in Marbella at the apartment of his Spanish grandmother. Another week or more in a small village in the mountains just south of Ronda where his abuelo (grandfather) grew up. A little place called Benadalid.

Despite being quite remote by modern day standards there is plenty to do in and around Benadalid in August. There are many other villages dotted around the mountain range to explore. There is even a river within a 15 minute drive, deep in the valley, that never runs dry even in the height of summer. You can even swim in the river which is very much needed in order to cool down. I might even introduce him to a spot of fishing in that river. As if that wasn’t enough, the coast is about an hour’s drive away so the odd day at the beach is also an option. Then there is the village Feria which takes place at the end of August. Celebrations and activities last for over a week.

Let the fun begin…

Not bad options for a little boy eh? His dad had to make do with a week in a Welsh seaside resort either in a caravan or camp chalet. Not that we didn’t enjoy those holidays. That is the best thing about being a kid. Any holiday is great. I still have fond memories of the holidays when I was very young.

So, all in all, I am sure we will find plenty to occupy an active and inquisitive boy before he starts his third school year. The fun begins tomorrow.

Questions:

How on earth did the banking system in Spain survive the supposed global financial crisis of 2008? How the hell does it manage to retain so many branches and staff?

I only wanted to pay the tax for my Spanish car. This is not like the paying of certain other bills as I have written about previously (see here…). This tax could be done any time and any day of the week. I had the paperwork printed off from the internet so what could go wrong?

Let’s see….

The first bank I went into (actually a “Caja” – see below) was my own bank. That is to say; I have an account with them. Sometimes that makes a difference – even in the UK. In this case the paperwork listed 12 banks and Cajas that, in theory, could be used to make the payment. Mine was one of them.

There were four people working in this branch. One dealt with me but seemed to be having problems.

“The bar code does not register.”
“Eh?”
“And manually entering the reference numbers also does not work.”

He tried again. A few times. Or so it seemed. Then he told me I should try another bank. Like the one next door. Ok, I thought. Here we go again.

I went next door. This time there was a queue of one. Me. And it seemed that the person being attended to would be there a long time. Before I knew it there were a few people behind me.

When I finally got the chance to pay in the car tax money the same thing happened. The lady “working” in this bank could hardly be bothered trying a second time before telling me the bad news.

Temperature rising, I left to try another bank.

Fortunately there are loads of these financial institutions along the same stretch of road. Seven within just over 100 metres and all on the same side of the main road. Great eh? The third bank I entered was one of the big two in Spain. This one would work I thought.

I thought wrong. The same result and even less courtesy. I couldn’t get out quick enough.

And another…

Onto the next. Santander no less. They have a large presence in the UK having bought out some old bank or other… They also have a fairly poor reputation in the UK I am told. They are equally as hopeless in Spain. I walked in and straight up to the counter. Then the lady the other side pointed me in the direction of a machine. It was one of those that prints out numbers to wait to be called. What do you call those things?

“Really?? You have got to be kidding!” I said. “There is nobody else here (for feck sake)!”

I looked at the machine then the lady. Then the door, which I moved towards and out. I was not even going to give her the pleasure of telling me the barcode and numbers do not work.

Onto number 5…

I was about to give up and get another paying-in paper or at least check the numbers etc. on line. But as I am now telling my son to keep trying and remembering that old English adage “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” I thought I would give it one more go. There were three other banks to choose from. I chose the one at the end of the line.

Success

Fifth time lucky. Just like all the other banks there was hardly any activity. Four people visible and only one working. That was the man seeing to my payment. Initially he said the same as all the other but he persisted. He deserves great credit for that. And it paid off. After a few attempts it seemed to all work and he took my money and gave me the official receipt.

The bank? It was none other than Caixa (pronounced Ky-sher – well, more or less). That well-known Catalan bank. Proving, at least in one way, why the Catalans think they can go it alone with independence. At least their banking system would work better than the rest of Spain’s. I have to agree. Fair play to Caixa bank. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

Footnote:
Spanish Cajas are similar to banks but different. I am not exactly sure how or why, but similar to the way Building Societies differ from banks in the UK. Following the ‘global financial crisis’ most Cajas either converted into banks (After which they miraculously carried on as if nothing had happened!?) and only two survived in their original format. Apparently many of the Cajas had been colluding with regional governments and had gotten up to all sorts of unscrupulous financial dealings. Well; T.I.S. (This is Spain!)

Political Merry-go-round.

Almost two years ago the then PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez failed to defeat the useless Rajoy and his Partido (Un)Popular in the Spanish general election. A few months later he resigned. Back in October 2016 I wrote: “The well-groomed Pedro Sanchez – he looks more like a film star than a politician – was forced to resign as more than half of the party’s executive committee had already resigned. So Sanchez, who once seemed destined for stardom, fell on his sword.”

Wow what has just happened? Returning from the political wilderness Sanchez has just become Prime Minister. Capitalising on the chaos surrounding Partido Popular officials. This happened after I wrote the piece below but before I had chance to post it. Here it is anyway…

Spanish politics has been rocked this past two weeks. And we are not talking AC/DC or Led Zeppelin. Not even the Casbah! This past week or two the main news story has been the sentencing of some of the ruling party’s top officials. The main protagonist is one Luis Barcenas who was the treasurer of the Popular Party (PP) from 1990 to 2009. He was accused of having received the usual pots full of money as kickbacks from companies seeking to receive large government contracts.

Qué Cara Tiene  (what cheek this man has)

Incredibly he denied any wrong doing even though he tried to implicate the present PM Rajoy by saying that he gave him numerous payments of cash – i.e. loads of money! So, let’s see. “Not guilty your honour. But I did give the Prime Minister loads of dodgy cash to play with. Of course, I have no idea where that cash came from.” It’s great stuff isn’t it?

Remarkably the prosecution rested on handwritten documents of payments – albeit slightly coded – which dated between 1990 and 2008. Didn’t any of these people ever see the movies about Al Capone and how his handwritten accounts got him jailed for tax evasion? You would think it is a very basic and naive mistake. Right? Wrong! These people get away with it for so long they think they are invincible. They start to believe their own lies.

National newspaper El Pais broke the story back in January and even printed the papers in question. I have been wanting to write about it ever since.

Repeat Offender?

As if all this is not crazy enough, and to prove yet again that life is indeed stranger than fiction, this Barcenas bloke seems to be a repeat offender. He used to be a senator and had to step down from that position in 2009/10 because he was implicated in a separate corruption case. That one involved some 48 million Euros being stashed in a Swiss bank. You really could not make this shit up. Some people never learn do they?

You would like to think that the party leaders who are actually in government (rather than just party officials) are not stupid enough to get wrapped up in such illegal actions. That they had nothing to do with it. Maybe. We may never know for sure. But meantime the other parties are trying to capitalise on the political scandal and oust the Prime Minister. Not that they are squeaky clean. They certainly are not. This kind of thing knows no party boundaries in most countries.

Endemic in Spain…

But this is Spain. Here, it is endemic and almost acceptable at some levels. This is a country where a surprisingly large number of local small-town mayors regularly go to jail for such crimes. Not only that: They come out of jail and get voted back into their cushy positions by the people. Then they probably continue fiddling the figures and taking brown envelopes stuffed with cash from some local property developers. Some have even been found with thousands of Euros stuffed into their mattresses.

Really! I have no fear of any libel action here because this is totally common knowledge in all of Spain. Everyone knows it goes on and for the most part the people don’t give a stuff. Well I suppose they do but they are so used to it and so used to those involved getting away with it (in many cases) that they just don’t care. Are things about to change?

Is the message getting through?

Great message to the children of Spain eh? Basically, it seems to be; do it but just don’t get caught. I guess not keeping records of all the transactions is a good place to start. Eh kids? Well maybe things are changing…. In all 29 officials and businessmen have been found guilty.

This time however the punishments do fit the crimes. Barcenas received a 33 year jail term while one of his main accomplices, businessman Francisco Correa, was sentenced to 51 years in prison. Yes, I know. Odd numbers aren’t they? Don’t ask me because I have no idea.

Is the UK any different? I seriously doubt it. We either do not get to hear about the corruption or – these days at least – they just blame it all on the Russians.

All in all yet another example of how our leaders are setting a great example for the kids. Not!

The main point of this post is to raise some serious questions. What do we tell our children to prepare them for the world of work? Is it even something parents should be solely responsible for? I doubt schools can prepare them for the kind of people they will meet in the big bad world. Therefore it has to be mainly down to the parents. While bullying is rightly frowned upon in schools this does not prepare young adults for the real thing.

Persona Non Grata?

I returned from Korea with the job up and running. At least from my side of things.

Oddly, my leaving the job site at this time did not go down well with the company I was working for. It seems getting the job done on time (or sooner as it was in this case) is not what some people want.

They preferred I stayed there – doing little or nothing – while the client was willing to pay for my time. Needless to say; the project “manager” was making more money than I was out of such a deal. Yet nothing more was offered to tempt me to stay longer. It was all assumed that I would just agree.

It’s funny how these people can quickly drop the nice guy act as soon as you do not conform to their way of thinking. What are we to teach our kids about such people? Because you can be sure they are everywhere. Permeating every walk of life and involved somehow wherever you may work. All I can suggest is to make my boy aware that these fools are out there. It is a sad fact of life and, as in this particular case, it can leave a bitter taste in the mouth when you are somehow made out to be the villain.

I have seen this kind of thing too many times, so in some ways it is like water off a duck’s back to an old dad like me. It is quite another matter for a recent school leaver or someone with far less experience than myself. Sadly, such people are targets for this kind of workplace bully.

Here’s an interesting fact…

Unfortunately (if that is even the correct word), I am old enough to remember when many projects were done on time and on budget. That no longer happens and I defy anyone to prove otherwise. The interesting thing is that those were the days before personal computers, emails and mobile phones. So much for the modern world of communication eh?

Long Haul…

I flew back via Hong Kong with a 5 hour wait for my next flight. I was in two minds whether or not to go not the city. Partly put off by the seething mass of humanity that awaited I decided to take the train into the centre of Hong Kong.  I was pleasantly surprised. It was far less crowded than I imagined and things were far worse when I returned to the airport. It was manic.

It’s odd how things turn out isn’t it? I twice had the chance of working on big projects in Hong Kong way back in the 1990s spanning the handover of the former British colony to China. One was on the then new (Chek Lap Kok) airport and the other on the expansion of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system. For various reasons I turned down both opportunities. I was now suddenly experiencing both.

Only having a short time, I maximised it by going up the tallest building in Hong Kong, the International Commerce Centre in Kowloon. The building offers the best views of the town. The city was big but not as big as I had thought. Still, nothing to get me too excited and no obvious reason for me to want to go back there for an extended stay. It was however far more interesting than stopping at the airport.

In summary…

So: A short visit to Hong Kong aside what can I tell my son about my work in Korea. Sure, I can explain the immense scale of the ship-building operations there. But what about work in general? And more specifically the typical people who “boss” the jobs? Would I work for these people again?

I have always maintained that the jobs are always very simple. Really! The problems are always the politics and the people running the projects. Then I recall that well known saying: “Never say never”. Time will tell…