Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Or have you taken a more lax attitude to time keeping since you went to Spain?

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I'm still as punctual as ever


I just don't expect them to be!

some of my students have learned the hard way though that I won't keep the next student waiting just because they turned up half an hour late!!

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Yes and also expect it of other Brits, don't expect it of Spanish but still get irritated by unpunctuality.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Yes, totally.
In the UK I always took the view it was incredibly rude to be late, and I carry that over here. I dont judge Spaniards by the same standard though as I accept their culture in that respect.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

What Mitzyboy said.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I find most of the Spaniards I know to be frighteningly punctual.

So far (touch wood) I have found Spanish beaurocracy to be swift, efficient and almost completely queue free. :confused:

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I've found exactly the opposite, but it doesn't bother me. I've joined in the game. Manana? Por la manana? (I hope the tilde man doesn't read this).

It's far better than English punctuality, and it's far too hot for that anyway. The whole country (Spain) shuts down between two and four in the afternoon, which is most sensible when the temperature, in the shade, bounces around 40 degrees.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Time or planes wait for no man (or woman).

Not sure what you mean exactly:)

I am always on time for an appointment wherever I am but I am not a clock watcher if thats what you mean.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Thought this was a thing of the past, except for rural areas, and that big business in Spain had now fallen in line with the rest of the continent? Lets face it even Correos is now open all day.

Jim

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Indeed. One time, when my water supply had been cut off, the local Fontanero said he'd be round aty 11:00 th enext working day to fix it. He wasn't - he arrived at 10:55 (typical!). On another occasion, my local builders said they'd deliver a load of gravel "in the morning". I was woken up at 8:00 :eek: by this 'king huge lorry honking it's horn, to find out where I wanted it all tipped.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I think what he means may be what happened to me yestereday - had a 9.30 in Malaga ref. residencia, nightmare parking so I was going to be at least 5 minutes late. In the UK I would already have been texting/phoning the abogado's office just out of courtesy. Here I simply concentrated on getting parked, getting a taxi & getting there, having this feeling I might not need to worry unduly.
Guess what - I was there let's say 9.37ish. She turned up after me, and (not that I needed it, either in Spain or UK) no word of apology. It's just a different way of looking at timekeeping.


Correos isn't open all day here..... only open half day at the best of times!

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Even in the capital many shops and businesses will close from 2.30 to 4.30 or 5pm. The upside of this is most shops are still open at 9pm on a Tuesday night. Also many businesses in Madrid have a different timetable in the hot summer months - staff will start earlier but finish at around 2.30.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Errrrrrm..........

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I wish I could but I just can't used to the times that the Spanish do things. I find it really hard to get into eating at 22.00. And fireworks at 01.00 in the morning....

They say that the only 2 things the Spanish do on time are fireworks displays and bullfights. Well I know the former certainly aint true.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

You don't really live in Spain do you?!!:D

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

No, the siesta is well and truly firmly set here in Ayamonte as well. And half days for the Correos until September.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I have no problem with Siestas, I enjoy them.

However if someone makes an appointment I give them an extra 5 minutes and then unless it is going to be a great benefit to me, I'm off.

However I find that expats are worse time keepers than locals.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Good god! Really? I would struggle to name an event in our village that has started within half an hour of its appointed time - it can't be a coincidence that the poster for events over the recent San Juan weekend didn't even have times on! There'd be a lot of disappointed kids if we b****red off after five minutes waiting for the fancy dress last weekend. Finally got under way about an hour late.
Yes Brit workmen sometimes turn up late, but then so sometimes do Spanish workmen. That's workmen!

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Same here, only open in the mornings now until September.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Warning - if you go to the cinema, don't turn up late. In contrast to the UK where there's normally 20 minutes of commercials prior to the film actually starting, in Spain the film will start promptly (well that's been my experience in both Madrid and Valencia).

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

:rofl: I had a slightly leaky tap fitting in my kitchen ,called plumber ,he arrived 3 months later ,no apology nothin"here to replace tap" ,good job I were not in a hurry tbh we did not hassle him but I thought it was hilarious ,other times he has been there within minutes :D

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

then if it's a long film you'll get an intermission exactly half way through

sometimes even mid-sentence!

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Try Gibraltar, all Government offices ( except essential services ) and many businesses close at lunch time ( not for a siesta ) through the summer.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

we do all our shopping in our little village,the shops appreciate it and we meet the locals every day. one thing,the queueing is a shambles. only this morning in our local shop my missus was patiently queueing up and another queue started to the right of the till,being good-natured she allowed two people to push in then dug her heels in. the third woman(and the worst offenders are always older,spanish women) plonked her shopping ahead of my wifes. so the missus just moved her shopping to the front again. maria,the owner of the shop,looked a bit sheepish at what was happening but didn't want to offend the spanish customers at the expense of the english. wise woman. my missus got served but survived the glares of the spanish woman. damned english again, ruining the towns and villages. wish they would go home and take their money with them.(i don't mean the bit about the money). ole.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Benidorm, just about 10 mins from here, everything open all day, here in Albir, the majority of the places shut for siesta. Correos open 'all day' BUT that means one opening period till 3 pm.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I found the entire country (UK) broke down in the recent heatwave, including the "punctual" train service :lol:

What's a tilde, is it that little squiggle above the n, isnt it acceptable to use a y as well ?

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

How would that work, then? Ennyay? Is that what you mean? I always thought, and little'un's schooling reinforces it, that the n with the squiggle (which my keyboard flatly refuses to co-operate on) is itself called the enyay - a separate letter in the Abecedario Espanol..... Methinks Lynnxa will put us right in due course..... ;)

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Correct, and for bonus what is this ¿

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I think you should have started the question with it, hombre..... or not?

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Correct again. ;-))

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

Woo hoo.... go me, go me..... having spent an interesting half hour on the bus home from Malaga this evening, talking to a Spanish Spanish lecturer from uni in UK, plus this, I'm feeling less cr*p at lengua than I thought I was!! easily please, me....

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

It`s amazing what you do know when you try, the Spanish are the same, yes I know a little English and they speak it as good as us.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

I was going to go total pedant and say 'as well as we....' until I noticed my own typo in the last post. Easily corrected, me...!!!! Night night! I blame the sun!!

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

:) Good reply:thumbup:

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

the 'squiggle' might technically be a tilde (if you look up th definition of tilde)

but you are right Fi - the ñ is a completely separate letter in the abecedario


they put the ¿ at the beginning of the sentence and the ? at the end so you don't miss it!

don't forget that you can make a statement and ask a question using exactly the same words?

called signos de interrogation

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

In speaking, the difference between a question and statement using the same words is intonation, something that AFAIK, is the same in any western lqnguage.

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

In speech, maybe.

However if you are to read it, English has its own 'version' of the ¿.......

By switching the subject and auxiliary verb, you get to see how an interrogative is formed.

You can play football. (affirmative)
Can you play football? (interrogative)

Anyway, isn't this thread now hijacked?

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

exactly - which is why they put the ¿ at the beginning when writing - helps a reader get the intonation right if reading aloud

es tu hija - she's your daughter

¿es tu hija? - is she your daughter?

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

oops!

thing is, as you know, they don't switch anything around in spanish

Re: Do you keep to British punctuality in Spain?
 

All the words in Spanish have "entonación" but just some of them have "tilde". This tilde es el "acento" and it can change completely the meaning of a sentence. For instance:

el envío - you are talking about the delivery
él envió - you are saying that he sent something

So, these two sentences, even they are very similar have a different meaning.

About the "signos de interrogación" As you all know, you must put ¿ in the beginning? at the end, but, lately, people just write the last one (due to the mails and messages in mobile phones each time we write worst and dont write what we should do just for making it easy)