Day 63 - "Christmas and The Magna Carta"

Spanish Practices

Day 63 and the reason we don't work Christmas Day anymore, how the Magna Carta protects us but not the Spanish. A daily diary in Lockdown from a British couple behind the police lines in lockdown in Spain.

Find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com

The Seaside Gazette https://www.theseasidegazette.com/

Day 63 Christmas and the Magna Carta

It is day 63 of our Spanish Lockdown, tomorrow brings some freedom, I think, but in true Spanish Practices style there is a lot of confusion and weird rules.

Martin Myall from our local paper “The Seaside Gazette” writes, I quote:

“You can jump in the car with your kids and spouse, but you can’t go out walking together. You can, however, sit with them altogether on a bar terrace.

You can drive out into the mountains, but you can’t park up and go for a walk whilst you’re there.

What time you go for your walk or take your kids out for fresh air is restricted, but you can go to a bar or restaurant any time you want, as long as they are open.”

Thanks Martin. In other words, a shambolic mess. But it is a step in the right direction, also the MOT centres will open, but there is an equally complicated system to book an appointment based on the date your car needed its MOT, that is so incredibly complicated and boring, you will feel your life ebbing away just reading it.

Back in the UK similar half arsed, thought out rules are causing equal confusion, 15 million people took to the roads and drove to beauty spots all over the country, this weekend - to then take their exercise, but with all the facilities closed including all public toilets it was a very British cock-up.

I find myself siding a bit with my friend Nick Ferrari who has been staying that you can’t successfully phase in the end of a pandemic crisis without all these anomalies coming to the surface.

The British Government is also thinking about phasing in different regions ahead of others. I can’t tell you how miserable and very second class, or rather zero class we felt last week knowing our neighbours in the next province were enjoying freedoms we were denied.

I suppose I should be thankful I do not work for the authorities, two members of staff posted on their Facebook feed, criticism of the measures one Spanish town were taking, they now face dismissal and are being investigated.

Nobody wants Spain to move backwards, instead of forwards. But it is a very new democracy and there are going to be mistakes made along the way. If you look back at British democracy it is littered with miss-judgements.

Fortunately, the Brits have article 61 of the Magna Carta, which allows you to be critical of the Government, I don’t think the Spanish have quite that kind of protection.

I love living here in Spain, I like the Spanish, they are, for the most part warm-hearted good people, our neighbours messaged us this morning to say they are coming back to the coast next week. It has been very quiet without them, their two children and of course Pinko the dog. So, we are both looking forward to that.

It seems a long time ago when we started talking about what we would do when we were closer to retirement. We both knew we couldn’t stay working in radio. Unless you are in senior management, radio is an industry that relies on a young, keen workforce, willing to work long silly anti-social hours. There are only so many Christmas Days you are willing to give up.

Back in the 1980s, there was a queue of people willing to work on Christmas Day, it did help that you received four times your salary, were driven in by cab, wherever you lived, and you got three meals cooked for you throughout your shift.

Fast forward to now and if you worked on Christmas Day it just means you will get a day in lieu of the Bank Holiday, so no more queues to work that day.

I think our most successful bonus payment was for working the millennium night, into the 1st of January 2000. We had already volunteered and been offered the shifts, as it was a show with our friend Steve Allen, and was always lots of fun to do, the worst bit was getting the tube back to Epping in the morning where we parked the car at our friend’s café.

Then the Management suddenly offered a bonus payment of £700 tax free, to work the night, as they were having trouble getting anyone from the TV side to put out the ITN news.

So, we enjoyed a bonus of £1,400 pounds for working six hours together. We spent it on a holiday to Spain, that time going to Menorca, a charming and much quieter Balearic Island to its neighbours Ibiza and Mallorca.

It was another reason we decided that Spain would be our destination country to move to. It was a journey that rather oddly involved Ernie Wise, one half of the great comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.

A story I will tell you tomorrow on the next Podcast, after a day, that we both hope will lift the spirits here, allow us to step forward, but only at the prescribed times, and enjoy, providing we stay in the car, unless we are at a bar, going out again.