When I first moved here there was an old man going around the streets blowing a musical whistle and calling out that he sharpened knives. Good old tradition that I thought would end as he was quite elderly but I actually looked out when I heard the whistle today (instead of simply smiling at the sound) and saw that it was a man of about 30 pushing the bike. Great to see the old ways being continued.

Be interesting to compare this sort of tradition that occur in other areas. Not the festival type of thing but more the everyday things.

Rosemary

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It makes me smile every time I see a horse or two tied up outside a bar (and this is in the middle of a very large town and not during a fiesta) whilst their owners are enjoying a drink.

Pop in from Portugal.
Yes we still have the knife sharpeners withn a whistle but also very often a guy with a bucket selling clams. You can hear him from afar crying out " Coquilhass, Coquilhass" .
This time of year there is also always a chestnut seller somewhere on a street croner.

We have the chestnut (and roasted sweet potatoes too) sellers here, but I think that because of climate change the season for them feels wrong now. We're forecast to get 34C today, and not much less yesterday, so roasted chestnuts don't really appeal.

We sometimes hear the pan pipes denoting a knife sharpener, these days though usually played on tape from a loudspeaker in a van.
Two years ago I heard the pipes, went outside and saw an elderly man with his bike just up the street.
The bike was parked stationary, on a stand and had a belt attached to a spindle by the rear wheel, so that when he mounted the bike the belt drove the small bench grinder in front.
I asked him where he was from. Galicia it turned out! Slowly peddling his way across northern Spain.
I gave him some money, as I value my kitchen knives too much for a mere bench grinder!
We also get the "chatarerro" van now & again, but it has no music.
And of course around various blocks of flats you get the panadero, announcing he's there with the car's horn.

Most are the vans with a pre-recorded tape offering upholstery work but often wanting old furniture. Bit too machista for me to get nostalgic- all that "Señora" blab.