For some reason that escapes me, one of the things about Spain that we are particularly proud are wacky times we practice regularly; for governing the social life of this country. We told him to visitors as the ultimate expression of quality of life and personal enjoyment. We laughed them when they start to face lunch at noon. And, finally, we make fun of them when trying to organize a dinner for seven-thirty in the afternoon.
 |
| spiral Watch (Source: detapeoporgranada ) |
Contrary to popular belief, these schedules are not traditional in Spain, because they come from the postwar decade, the 40 twentieth century. They have much to do with a reality of poverty that forced to moonlight. And it was the lunch that separated the two working days, and dinner could not before, because the second job did not end until late.
We have progressed a lot since then, but certain consequences of that lifestyle does not only have not changed, but often we have for the most convenient and regard them as the best exponent of joy of living that characterizes the English.
However, from my point of view, the practice schedules have some very serious drawbacks. Stay for dinner with some friends, for example, at half past nine, knowing that dinner will not start before ten, means that even without extension of any kind, let's stay up all night with confidence. Hardly come home before one o'clock, or two if we agreed to have a drink after dinner.
I traveled extensively to France, both for work and for pleasure. Stay for dinner at half past seven or eight (as there is common) makes the time to enjoy dinner, and even a glass then, and go home (or hotel) before midnight, without having outdated properly.
When I perform a tourist traveler (not staying at a hotel on the beach, eye, that's another story) try to move with the light of day. If you want to visit sites or locations, daylight is the best companion. Even for travel by car, do you add more ingredients day very pleasant. Logically, the daylight is variable depending on the time of year, but I'm used to a schedule that allows me to maximize this limited resource. To do this, try to make a good breakfast at the hotel, and be ready to leave around eight o'clock. At around 0:30 or an afternoon, a stop for a light lunch, or even a simple snack. I try to book the destination (the same or different, depending on trip planning) not later than six or seven o'clock. For dinner at eight and a gentleman, and being able to sleep no later than half past ten or eleven at night. With this, getting up at six o'clock the next day there will be a huge sacrifice.
In this way, if you've planned route with the car, make the most of daylight hours (when you can enjoy the scenery whatever the weather permits). If you are visiting a city, enjoy the few quiet hours to open all the shops, museums or monuments you want to visit and see the city moving at its natural pace, not tourists. For example, the last time I was in Paris I visited the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre one working day from eight to nine in the morning peak. I saw him as never seen before, before the hordes of tourists invade it after half past nine.
And then in the evening, at seven you have exhausted the batteries. If you can not have dinner until ten, those three hours will be different snacks and beer, forced to wait for dinner time . Much more civilized dinner at eight, and after dinner each evening which extended as best you please.
course, a plan of this style is very complicated to carry out in Spain. Of course you can have breakfast in the hotel at seven o'clock, for example. But that can not stand up at three in the afternoon when you can have lunch. You have to give up any nice lunch and a snack in any way at one. And then, at night, it is impossible to dine at eight, for example. If dinner at nine and a half, you can hardly go to bed before midnight and get up the next day at six o'clock will be an unbearable grief.
By that I remove the myth that the English times are the epitome of joie de vivre and others. It is a lie. Normal hours in Spain, by contrast, are evil, and hinder the rational use of time.
 |
| The Persistence of Memory (Soft Watches) Salvador DalĂ (1931) (Source: Lizard_CR ) |
For the holidays, the Nordic countries and central Europe invented a great example of sophisticated civilization, which is called brunch. That is, a half breakfast meal and half lunch, you can take from 11 to 12 noon, until three or four in the afternoon. Assuming that we want to relax on a holiday, and we woke up late, this is a most convenient option. For a breakfast fit and lunch every Sunday when we get up after ten o'clock is a fine gold work, success impossible. Which brings us, of course, to lunch at four in the afternoon, to not be hungry for hours regular dinner (what further delayed) and, interestingly, because we do not feel like staying up late and go to bed and start the following week with a sleep deficit from the very Monday.
Finally, with the theme of the economic crisis that we're playing live, the issue is one times more than it was just laying on top of the table, when we want to elucidate aspects related to productivity and others. Schedules usually practice in Spain, naturally but not necessarily required, leads to artificially prolong working hours beyond what would be reasonable, but not to be more productive. And a simple dinner with friends forces us to stay up late, so that tomorrow we are in bad condition. If you eat late, we got hungry, and lunch ends up being too rich, so that half of the evening we go into torpor.
Therefore, I think we should stop looking askance at the proposed changes to the current schedule of this country. Some changes may contribute, for various reasons, to improve our quality truth of life. And we must not look for anything that case of an attack on the entrenched traditions of this country, because it is false.
In this, we are also a bit more European.
JMBA
0 comments:
Post a Comment