The Spanish timetable, with its world famous (and semi-mythological) siesta, its long lunches and late dinners – is apparently big news in the US. Why? I have no idea!
I wrote about the proposed change of time zone last year, and since then I haven’t heard anything more about it on the Spanish end of things. Is the government still considering putting us on Greenwich Mean Time? Who knows?
They said they were going to make picking pockets a crime, too, and that hasn’t happened. They seem to be busy with other issues–God knows what.
Check out the (somewhat antagonistic) article I wrote here: Spanish Timetable Getting You Down? Blame Hitler!
Well, at least Spain is getting a bit of press in the States.
Recently, Prime Minister Rajoy’s visit to the White House got two sentences in the middle of an article about how Bankia is a symbol of just how well everything is going here. Anybody who actually lives in Spain knows how moronic that idea is.
Anyway, drinking wine with lunch (and dinner) as Slate mentions, is great. I’ve written about Spanish wine-growing regions also, and let me tell you: Spanish wine is better than whatever you’re drinking.
The Spanish seem to be able to walk the line between working hard and enjoying their lives pretty well–food, wine and long holidays are a part of that.
We’ll see if anything changes – I’d be happy to give Greenwich Mean a try.
More investigative journalism (and much more pork) soon. In the meantime, what do you think about the proposed time change? Is it a good idea or not? Leave me a comment!
Also, check out my article about Spanish Stereotypes for more. Or, if you prefer, revisiting the Great Recession. Have fun!
It depends on how important it is for you to have lunch at home with your family over having more time afterwards. Regardless, in order to do that you’d have to live within walking distance from work. Living 1 hour away by tube makes the Spanish way unfeasible. The typical anglosaxon town configuration, with compact, beehive-like, residential-only neighborhoods away from work, seems incompatible with it.
In a city like Madrid it’s also pretty difficult to go home for lunch most of the time. Maybe in a smaller city you can make it work.