the standoff

Big Jim and I were driving up the road from the coast after a very successful shopping excursion to Supersol, Big Jim particularly chuffed to have found (yet another) English bready thing with dried fruit he calls "malt loaf" (seriously, how many variations on this theme are there in English gastronomy). We pulled into town and began the ascent to our home in the El Monte section of the village, passing the Bodega, the museo del vino, and the ferreteria. We made a left onto the street in front of the hotel. After traveling 90% of the stretch made especially narrow because of a row of illegally parked cars on the right (the entire street is clearly marked "no parking" and emphasized by yellow-painted curbs), we encountered a man driving a small white van coming in the opposite direction. Both vehicles stop, and we wait patiently for him to back up the two or three car lengths, to where the street widens, allowing us to safely pass. Except he doesn't back up. He gestures for us to back up. I turn back to reevaluate the situation. We would have to back up about 15 car lengths to allow him to pass. Call me crazy but doesn't common sense say dude who only has to back up a few meters should be the gracious one here?! The Big Jim throws up his hands in a sort of "What gives?" manner. Dude shuts off the van and gets out and approaches---of course---my side of the car. The general line of discussion was "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" I explain to him it is far more logical for him to back up the few feet required for us to pass rather for us to back up almost the entire street to let him do so. He refuses and then feigns to enter the bar of the hotel for a drink. Conversation ends with the universal "F.U." Because we were on a tight schedule for an engagement that night, Big Jim eventually relented and backed up to let the a-hole pass. As we continued on the climb to our house, I looked over at Big Jim and said, "Do you understand why I can't live here anymore? What the hell is going on with this damn town?" Seriously, this kind of crap just didn't happen in the village a couple years ago. A couple days later, we were relating the story to some friends of ours who live near the hotel. They told us of the day when they became blocked in on the same street because the car in front and the one that pulled up behind them both refused to budge, and one of the other drivers truly did go into the hotel bar and have a drink. Apparently this is now a common occurrence on this stretch of road. Of course, the entire situation could be avoided if the police in the village actually enforced any of the traffic and parking regulations. Call me crazy.... Sadly, this is just one example of how life in the village is changing, and not in a good way. Overcrowding, too many cars, too many big cars and SUVs, not enough parking, soaring prices for housing and basic necessities---like food for example, increasing crime, not enough good-paying jobs for those who haven't gotten rich from the land sales, Spanish and English upset because Moroccans will work construction for lower wages, young Spanish resenting the presence of all foreigners---not recognizing that without the foreigners their parents would never have been able to afford their suped-up four-wheelers and expensive clothes and gold chains, expats drowning whatever sorrows they have brought with them in alcohol...all these bad vibes are now palpable as one walks the town streets. The village has become one big bowl of negativity, and anyone who stays here for awhile runs the risk of drowning in it. Perhaps my language borders on the dramatic; however, the changes are dramatic. Another example: as Big Jim and I returned from our trip to Madrid, we pass by Granada. Since we had been there in March, literally thousands of homes have been built on the city outskirts, all the way to the motorway and beyond. Housing for easily 30,000 to 40,000 people has gone up virtually overnight. The same is happening all along the coast as well. And unfortunately, the infrastructure, the service industries, the utility cpmpanies, the medical and governmental agencies have been unable to meet the increased demands put on them by the surging population. We have a friend who currently is battling bladder cancer. He has his chemo treatments at one medical center in the morning and then has to drive to another facility for his afternoon radiation because the first hospital was already booked with PM radiation patients. Another unfortunate result is that some of the original expats are moving, not just talking about it like we (Big Jim and I) are. Wednesday night I am going to a farewell bash for our friend N., who used to run an art gallery and clothing boutique in the village. She's off to Kiev to help run an English language school. Like us, she has become fed up with dealing with big city problems without the positive tradeoffs city life offers---the cultural events, museums, varied shopping options, the diversity of people and opinions and ways of life. And so she goes. And I go back to researching apartments and housing markets elsewhere. Hasta pronto, mylifeinspain Postscript: Immediately after finishing this post, I went out to buy my daily baguette, as one does. On my way to the panaderia, I was stopped by our friend U., who spent the next 15 minutes venting her spleen about her frustrations with the post office (see also my entry of 19 August 2005). This morning her credit card bill from the UK was delivered; however, the letter had been sent weeks earlier, and her payment was due August 17th! She now has to pay a 20-pound late fee. Some can say, well she should have tracked down the bill earlier (like I had to do with our phone bill), but come on, how many people have the time to do this all the time. Plus, the lines are already long enough with all the people from the campo who have to come to town to pick up their mail; can you imagine what they would be like if the townspeople, who are supposed to have "regular" home delivery, suddenly all queued up as well looking for their bills and other time-sensitive mail? Crazy! The obvious problem is that the post office is now understaffed because of the influx of expats, and clearly the solution is that more employees need to be hired. Simple. But will it happen....