Dick Dasterdly

It probably means they all like to stick with their own.

Apart from the Scottish of course, who no doubt got to hear that a local Alicante Supermarket had the cheapest Whisky in Spain.

A large and somewhat inebriated Glasgow family once came into my local Benidorm bar.
They had with them bags full of booze, in addition to a kids push-chair which was stacked as high as possible with as many cases of Whisky that it would hold.
After an hour or so a sudden state of panic ensued,with much shouting and screaming.
Apparently the toddler who should have been in the push-chair which was now stacked with Whisky had disappeared.
They looked everywhere throughout the bar, up and down the street and eventually called in the police who went out searching also.
Meanwhile they were getting more and more hysterical and panic stricken, and being well drunk as they were, didn't much help their cause either.

Eventually the toddler was located safe and well, having been taken in and looked after by a kindly Chinese lady in a local souvenir shop.

All's well that ends well.

HBG

A lovely story, Dick. I was waiting at Malaga airport some years ago, with my youngest daughter who was a teenager at the time. It was at an unearthly hour and very quiet, when a group of 30 to 40 bedraggled Liverpool supporters suddenly appeared.

They had been to a match at Valencia two days previously and had been refused to board a flight home and somehow got to Malaga and a middle-of-the-night flight to Gatwick.

It was a horrible flight and halfway there a few of the people from Liverpool marched up the aisle and demanded that the plane flew to their home town, rather than London. A male steward, far too brave for his own good, tried to stop them and got head-butted for his foolishness.

The plane immediately went into a steep dive and we landed in France, Bordeaux, I think, minutes later. We stayed on the ground for hours while the Gendarmes removed all of the Liverpool supporters, before resuming our journey to Gatwick.

My daughter saved me with her school French when she explained to a large and angry Gendarme that my red T-shirt did not mean that I was a Liverpool supporter.

cricketman

Not true I'm afraid, there was a good topic about this in El Pais a year or two ago. They quoted some scientists and anthropologists from the 19th century who said the Spanish and Dutch "races" were the tallest in Europe. And also the Indians in Americans were scared to death when they saw the tall Spaniards arrive on the horses.

The last generation of Spaniards are very tall. At 6ft tall I was the smallest when I went out with a group of my OHs friends a few years ago (out of the males). Still Spaniards average a bit smaller than the Brits, but only a little.

Oh and Spain are the world basketball champions

HBG

This post reminds me of the London football team that I support. I sing their songs and watch them play whenever I can.

However, if someone tells me that they've only got two decent players, I will agree with them because it's true. Similarly, if they tell me that a sizeable section of their supporters are hooligans, I will nod my head. The last time they won a cup was over 30 years ago.

But I will still sing their praises, though I'm not blind to the fact that there are far better teams around.

cricketman

I dont care what height Spaniards are, it doesnt make them any better! I'm just talking about some interesting articles I read.

And it is easy to see how Spaniards have grown over the past 50 years, you can see it everywhere.

Growth is one of those things that is genetic and down to your environment (like most things). A lot of Spaniards had serious nutrition problems 60 years ago after the civil war, meaning the kids who grew up them, who are now OAPs are very short.

Dick Dasterdly

It's an interesting subject and I'm inclined to think there is more than a grain of truth to both sides of the arguement.
I have come across quite a few articles regarding the detrimental effect of the Franco years on the physique of Spanish ppl.
On the other hand they need not have been exceptionally tall, to appear so large and frightening to C.American Indians all those years ago.
I wonder if any studies have been made comparing ppl in different areas of Spain, especially over the last fifty to a hundred years.
Travelling around Spain I've often thought I could see differences, mainly relating to size and height, in the various provinces.
Also in the Canaries where the various islands were settled at different times from different areas of Spain.
Is it true that today's Spanish city slickers are much taller on average than their outback redneck counterparts?
No doubt there are plenty of taller Spanish around today, but much the same applies to most of the more modern affluent Western societies.
On a wider aspect did the war years have a detrimental physical effect on the various countries badly affected or the Soviet era on the ppl of the countries under their thumbs?
Many questions on an intriguing subject and no clear cut answers I'm afraid.

whitelinen

So not only do you expect readers to believe that your relies are the richest and cleverist now they are all taller.

Did you compare the size of your private parts as well? I can guess who had the mini wiener.

whitelinen

Just look at the unavailability of large shoe sizes for both men and women in Spain compared to whats available in Holland/UK and US for instance.

cricketman

Not sure how you got that conclusion? No wonder you struggle with Dawkins

Re DD. You are right, it isnt clear cut and I am sure most nationalities have grown over the past 50 years, but I thought it was interesting when I read that Spaniards used to be perceived as tall and maybe they will be again.

The basketball reference is only half a joke, you can only have a world beating basketball team if you have plenty of players of 2 meters tall to choose from.

In fact, luckily enough wikipedia has come to my rescue, the link below shows that Spaniards average the same height as Brits and Americans!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_h...ound_the_world

This time, I DO expect apologies!

jackytoo

Wiki is not always correct, just a starting point. Can't you just like spain whilst accepting it's not always the best in everything Don't notice many tall spanish on the CDS, even the younger generation but I have seen lots of very tall Dutch.

Jiminez has won the Golf though, he deserves it he is a nice guy. Our friends were in a restaurant one night and he was at another table. Friend asked the waiter to ask if he would mind having his photo took with them. The waiter came back and said "yes for 75 euro"...then he ccame across he was joking.

cricketman

You are right, not everything on wikipedia is correct, you need to check the sources. Funnily enough the source was the same article/study I read in El Pais a while ago

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/salud...lpepisal_4/Tes

I am not saying Spaniards are cool because they are tall! That would be stupid. I just like it when people's perceptions are challenged i.e. Brits think Spaniards are small, when actually the latest generation are the same height as Brits

And as a scientist (or ex-scientist) I like to understand why this may be.

Jimenez certainly is a character with his cigar smoking, though I am not a big follower of golf to know much more

Lenox

The Spaniards have grown by 4.5%.
Or was that the tourists?

Dick Dasterdly

The tourists have expanded 4.5% in numbers, but more importantly the Spanish have increased 4.5% in height.
However that could all reverse again, as the effects of the continuing recession bite even harder.
So watch out for an early return to a nation of little people, plus the euro reverting back to the magic days of the peseta.
Happy Days

JLFS

Thats not very nice now, is it??

It made me laugh though, but then I am just a twisted person....with quite a few dumb, poor, short assed rellies.........

jollyjack

getting back to the original topic....

"Why?" I hear you say.

Well, getting back to the original topic....I was In Benidorm on Friday and it was dead as a duck - bars and beach.

Mind you its dead as a duck in La Font Den Carros just now too. But that may be because a few of the locals are in jail at the moment.