Culebronchris

I write a couple of blogs and in one of them I had a bit of a rant about somethings that annoy me and which, in my opinion, have made the Spanish response to the financial crisis weaker than in much of the rest of Europe.

Someone wrote a comment and said that we had to bear in mind that Spain is 25 years behind. I asked my "commenter" what he meant but he didn't reply. I asked my wife what she thought. She agreed with the comment but then couldn't give me any examples to back up her assertion that Spain is 25 years behind. Behind the UK I suppose.

Do you agree? Do you have any examples? If you give me any ideas I may well use them in an article.

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snikpoh

I don't know about 25 years specifically but here are a few examples;

• Telephone system - exchanges very antiquated, lack of investment in fibre optic, exchanges full etc.
• Electricity - many places in the campo don't have access to 'the grid'
• Water - many, many places still using septic tanks and not on mains water

Bri and Katee

Shopping?

I know it may be different on the coastal strip, but inland and the smaller towns still closing in the afternoons and sundays!
The whole 'governmental' structure stuck in the 1930's. Why in a modern age do you get passed from one dept to another for something as simple as a payment? For no apparent reason our bank stopped paying our water bill 2 years ago. Nobody can tell us why. What we now have to do is once the bill is delivered (if we are in Spain) drive 20k to the town and pay it in the post office. If its been delivered and we are not there and it runs out. We have to drive to the town, have it reprinted in the water office and then walk to the post office to pay it. The water office do not take payments for their own services!


Lots of silly little instances like this, it has no place in a modern world and yet Spain seems to thrive on more and more beaurocracy. What happened to Schengen? Free borders bu we have noticed that they have re-introduced passport control and even vehicle checks at ports and airports. I don't have a problem with this as they are re-creating jobs that went to the wall with Schengen. However they are either in or out, not both.

I wouldn't say its stuck 25 years behind, more like it is still a 3rd world country with modernism where it requires it.

missile

no ............. Good plug for your blogs

Culebronchris

Well I can't say I didn't hope that people would look at the blogs as a result of the question but the question is a real one. And the blogs aren't money making in any way. Just a hobby.

I'm not sure I agree either. But I'm not sure

Relampago

Spain is not certainly, a perfect country, but to say that it is 25 years behind, I ask, in what? We have political bad, problems with the salaries, and now with this crisis (of the one that is it is difficult to leave because among other things, we cannot devaluate currency) caused by the financial class. But when many foreigners came to Spain to take advantage of our gratuitous sanity, among other things, ooooh, then was Spain then the best country in the world...And now which is the problem?

I travel in car, train and I have operated me with sedation, free. For example...In the rest of Europe (or the world) what vehicles have, to be " 25 years ahead "? UFO? In interestellar machine? Police of the rest of the world (not spanish police, they are 25 years behind) they shoot laser gun?

Lynn R

Er, why not pay your bills by direct debit? I pay my IBI, electricity, water, internet, house insurance and private health insurance premiums that way, and have never had a single problem. And I live in the middle of a large town - there is no way I would travel 20km to pay a bill! I'm not queuing up in a bank to pay them either, even though there's a wide choice of banks within a 5 minute walk away where I could pay them.

Pocaloca

In many ways Spain is "behind" the UK, at least in rural areas, but personally I think that's a positive thing. The "old fashioned values" of family and community, that Brits often complain about losing, still exist here. We are not overrun with rampant consumerism, Christmas stuff in the shops in September, crazy health & safety regulations, and chain stores or fast food outlets taking over every small town high street.

In 25 years time Spain might well resemble the UK in these respects, so enjoy it while you can!

Relampago

I have all my bills domiciled. And I've been in very small towns (although I live in a city of 40,000 people) and I have not seen the 30s anywhere

This thread can not make a generalization, because in Spain the garbage is collected every day, if you do not think of any strike or something. However, I've heard more than once that in some places of UK, garbage collection can be every few days or weekly. This could also be considered as Third World, in comparation with Spain

This is the old story, as the disqualification that Germany did of Spain with the theme of cucumbers, a great lie, because Spain have the biggest and more demanding health controls of Europe , and Germany is a dirty who can not cook nor the vegetables, among other things. There had already been major health problems in its hospitals, but of course, the easiest way was to blame directly to Spain (with France would not have dared). At the end, happened what we thought, this was a problem of Germany

I could give many examples of that Europe, little or nothing to teach Spain. But I know the slab from the prejudices of northern Europe to southern Europe has so much time, in this case about Spain, and if it is in crisis, the ground is fertile for disqualification

lynnxa

The UK isn't a Schengen country...........

agoreira

It might indeed, it has some catching up to do, but it's getting there. Most cities and large towns look the same, same chain stores, same supermarkets etc. Spain has embraced US and UK habits with open arms, there are fast food outlets everywhere, (the great Mediterranean diet seems to be dying, Spain has some of the most obese kids in the EU) they watch US films, US and UK TV shows, listen to US music (I couldn't name you a single Spanish TV programme shown in UK, and most couldn't name a Spanish singer/group). So it's inevitable that they will go the way of the other countries, they are bound to be influenced by what they see, not saying that's a good thing, but they are still 5-10 years behind. And why can't Spain keep the electricity flowing, I've never been anywhere with so many power cuts. In another forum they are always talking of UPS systems to keep the computer online long enough to safely save and shut down.

Countryboy1

What bemused me was when, for example, paying for residencia at the official office and having to queue to be attended to then having to take a 'bill' to the local bank, pay in the money then having to return to the office with confirmation of payment for the procedure then to be completed.
Same with other 'official' procedures.
Haven't you heard of debit cards I wanted to scream!

scot47

Not 25 years behind. Just different. We should not expect "Abroad" to be like "Back Home" !!

Lynn R

Exactly. I do feel those people who move to another country and expect everything to be the same as it is "back home" except with better weather are the ones who are least likely to be happy there and end up moving back again.

Some things strike me as "worse" or at any rate more inconvenient in Spain (like Biffta's comment above, it is tiresome to have to pay charges for things like building licence applications or new residency certificates by having to go to a bank rather than being able to pay them on site). But there are other things that I find "better" and more convenient in Spain, such as having a public transport service on Sundays and public holidays (even Xmas day).

Just get used to the things that are different, and if you can't, then maybe it isn't the place for you.

Countryboy1

Hi Lynn, firstly Happy Christmas! I don't believe it's a question of expecting everything to be the same as back home. There are I believe some standards, for example courtesy and efficiency, which should be universal and accepted as the minimum to be expected. If I visit or travel to another country in Europe or the U.S. I think that country should be striving to achieve or maintain these standards in what is fast becoming a multi-competitive world.