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| Jason Webster says he's still enjoying life in Spain – so long as he doesn't switch on the news |
"The pain in Spain" is quickly becoming a new Spanish cliché, next to flamenco, bullfighting and tacky beach resorts. Switch on the television news here these days, and you are hit by a daily tsunami of woe and misery. The economy’s collapsing! The banks are collapsing! The Royal Navy is on its way to pick the Brits up and ship them back to safety in Blighty!
It’s not quite Greece, but we’re getting there. Every few days I wonder about
dashing off to the cash machine to withdraw as much as I can. Should I be
keeping a wodge of euros under the mattress? What if euros become worthless
overnight? Will I have enough to keep my family fed? Historically speaking,
Spain’s track record on social harmony isn’t great. Could the country
collapse into chaos? Is armageddon really on the cards?
And so it goes on, until, taking a break from the news media, I stick my head
up, have a look around, and realise that life isn’t so bad. At least not
yet.
Yes, a lot of expats have been suffering over the past few years, and many businesses have gone bust. I’ve heard more than once about Brits stopping at the bank on their way to the airport, dropping off the keys to their "home in the sun" before catching the first flight back, unable to keep up with mortgage payments.
But apart from these few horror stories, life seems to rumble on. A British estate agent I know here in Valencia even insists he’s having his best year yet. There’s a chance that everything will turn out fine after all. Famous last words, perhaps, and maybe this blog entry will be appearing next to reports about Spain breaking off the continent of Europe and sinking into the Atlantic.
But, well, they are quite a resourceful lot, the Spanish. Within living memory they have known relative poverty and how to deal with it. When I first came to live here, in the early 1990s, the unemployment levels were as eye-watering as they are today, and people survived. I often think that the British, for whom real austerity and impoverishment are a very distant, even historical memory, would find it much harder to cope with what the Spanish now have to face.
And it’s not just the financial crisis. Corruption here is endemic among a certain class of politician, it seems, and so stories of closing hospitals next to the dodgy millions that a local mayor or regional councillor has siphoned off don’t go down well. Are people angry? Absolutely. Will that anger turn into something nastier? That’s the question. A while ago I might have said there was a possibility of that, yet already the Indignados movement that started just over a year ago is losing some of its fizz: there's talk of splits, a lack of focus.
Yes, a lot of expats have been suffering over the past few years, and many businesses have gone bust. I’ve heard more than once about Brits stopping at the bank on their way to the airport, dropping off the keys to their "home in the sun" before catching the first flight back, unable to keep up with mortgage payments.
But apart from these few horror stories, life seems to rumble on. A British estate agent I know here in Valencia even insists he’s having his best year yet. There’s a chance that everything will turn out fine after all. Famous last words, perhaps, and maybe this blog entry will be appearing next to reports about Spain breaking off the continent of Europe and sinking into the Atlantic.
But, well, they are quite a resourceful lot, the Spanish. Within living memory they have known relative poverty and how to deal with it. When I first came to live here, in the early 1990s, the unemployment levels were as eye-watering as they are today, and people survived. I often think that the British, for whom real austerity and impoverishment are a very distant, even historical memory, would find it much harder to cope with what the Spanish now have to face.
And it’s not just the financial crisis. Corruption here is endemic among a certain class of politician, it seems, and so stories of closing hospitals next to the dodgy millions that a local mayor or regional councillor has siphoned off don’t go down well. Are people angry? Absolutely. Will that anger turn into something nastier? That’s the question. A while ago I might have said there was a possibility of that, yet already the Indignados movement that started just over a year ago is losing some of its fizz: there's talk of splits, a lack of focus.
Away from all this, walking the other day along the Valencia beachfront, people were sunbathing, having drinks in bars, chatting, strolling arm in arm – as they always do. Spanish friends talk of little else except La Crisis these days, but this is still, if you’ve got some kind of income, a great place to live.
Will it last? A tornado is blowing, and we watch it from a distance as it dances and skips over the landscape, hoping that it will pass us by, fearful lest it sucks us in. In the meantime, we get on with life. And for now, at least when I remember to switch off the news, I’m enjoying it.
Jason Webster - The Telegraph
