The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-11-07, Page 24Page 10—Crossroads—Nov. 7, 1984
Shirley Whittington
Theilame in Spain
fallspartly an the trains
Senor Ignacio Fuejo
Superintendent
Spanish National
Tourism Ministry
Dear Senor:
I understand you are in
charge of your country's
tourist department and that
you are anxious to get tour-
ists off the beaches and into
the real, inland Spain. Most
visitors to your beautiful
country of golden oranges
and corridas prefer to soak
up sun and sangria on the
beaches of "Torremolinos.
When one suggests striking
out for the real Spain which
lies beyond, they just kind of
doze off under their beach
umbrellas.
And yet, Spain needs the
tourist dollar, and inland
Spain is, in your words, the
growth area of the future.
We visited Spain last year
and we made a point of
avoiding the beaches be-
cause frankly, Ignacio, Ave
both look lumpy in bathing
suits. Anyway, we have
beaches at home.
We travelled across your
country from Portugal to
France, using yournational
railway, staying ,in modest
hotels and eating 'in neigh-
bourhood cafes, few of which
were listed by Fodor or
Frommer.
Mostly, we loved it. The
mountains, the high meadow
grass blowing like water in
the wind, the ruined castles,
and proud dark -eyed people
continually delighted us.
Toledo, the Alhambra and
the Prado were thrilling:
Often we were the only
tourists in 'an RENFE rail-
way carriage full of folk
coming home after a day of
work in the olive groves, or
going out to see their grand-
children or nuzzling away
the early days of a honey-
moon.
We liked this and we felt
fortunate to have been treat-
ed with dignified courtesy by,
so many of your Spanish
countrymen.
But there were a few
things about the Spanish in-
.teriorwhich puzzled us, and
if you really want tourists to
penetrate the interior of your
beautiful country Mr. Fuejo,
you might look into them.
We soon got used to the
idea that train schedules in
Spain are a mere rough ap-
proximation of what actually
happens out there on the
tracks. We missed a few
connections here and there,
but what the heck —.we were
on a holiday.
But one characteristic of
your Spanish railway sta-
tions mystified us. Time
after time, we de -trained,
and sought a place to check
our bags while we toured the
town or ate lunch or looked
for a hotel. Time after. time
we'd follow illuminated
directional signs todiscover
rows and rows of modern
baggage lockers, none of
which was operational.
The •information given at
the central deskwas always
the same. "No senora. It is
not possible to check bag-
gage in this station."
In Barcelona, there was an
interesting variation: The
banks of lockers were non-
fuctional, as usual, but we
were directed to. an apart-
ment a couple of blocks from
the station where, for a fee,
bag -sitting was available.
With difficulty we found
the apartment, a grubby
second floor walk-up. The
living room was crammed
with back packs, suitcases,
duffle bags and knap sacks.
The operation was super-
vised by a dour lady who
gave us a baggage check,
shooed us out and returned to
fiercely scrubbing her bath-
room floor.
After lunch, we returned
with misgivings, but our
luggage was safe and sound.
The dour senora restored it
to us, shooed us out again
and got on with her house-
cleaning.
The second problem we
had with Spain, Mr. Fuejo,
was with beggars. Before
you berate me for my flabby
North American supersensi-
tivity, let me assure you that
I can handle adult beggars.
But it bothered both of us to
be beseiged at dinner by
eight and nine -year-olds.
. In Madrid, a girl of about
fourteen came to our table
with a four-year-old on her
back. Four eyes begged
piteously. Four hands scoop-
ed bread from the basket on
our table. We were glad to
give them the bread but what
they really needed was
money. We saw them run-
ning to adults who waited in
the shadows, and collected
whatever the children had
cadged. I had an uneasy
feeling that if the kids didn't
fork over a reasonable take,
things might have gone
badly for them when they got
home later in the evening.
It seemed a sad and de-
structive way for children to
grow up.
With respect Mr. Fuejo,
here's an idea you might
want to toss around with
your superintendent of rail-
ways. It would help to lure
tourists inland, and it would
make them happy when they
got there.
Why nbt get those hun-
.....................:
T HAT'S•
Sil-IUW Bill
Remember the good old
. days when Mother stood
ironing, tears running down
her face as the latest sad
development unfolded on
"As The World Turns" or
"The Edge of Night"?'
Remember how her day
would be ruined if one .of the
children had a dental ap-
pointment
or Auntie called
for a visit when her favorite
soap operas were being
televised? And remember
how Dad ridiculed and
teased her about getting
"hooked" on trash like this
.and hinted that only "little
minds" were consumed with
such trivial nonsense?
Well, early in the fall
• season, the Nielsen ratings,
'which tell the tale for many
stars and their series in the
U.S., revealed that more
than Mom watch and
become involved in the lives
of the families on America's
top soap operas. "Dallas"'
headed the list, with little
minds in' more than 22
million households glued to
the set to see who shot
Bobby, how badly and why.
That's a lotta minds being
polluted!
Right behind "Dallas" was
another CBS series, "Falcon
Crest", also an evening soap
opera, which lured almost 20
million households. In fourth
place the same week was
ABC's ' biggie, "Dynasty",
captivating more than 18 .
million homes anxiously
awaiting the latest develop-
ments in the Carrington
household. .
Finding his way into the
middle of all the sob stories
was Bill Cosby whose •new
series was in third place in
the ratings. Cosby is proving
once again that he can do
more 'than sell Jello and
Coke.' This much -loved
comedian is still a welcome
visitor in many. American
homes.
Other series making the
top ten, in the ratings were
• "The A -Team", "60 Mi=
nutes" and "Cheers". Three
series well known to Cana-
dian viewers, "Magnum,.
P.I.", "Hill Street Blues"
and "Simon and Simon",
made it into the top 20.
0 0 0
Kitchener's Centre in the'
Square will present a classic
the first week in December.
Long associated with the
joyous seasons of Christmas
and Easter, , Handel's
"Messiah" will be presented
in two performances,
Saturday,, December 1, and
Sunday, December 2, both at
8 p.m. Presenting the
familiar 'choruses and
beautiful solos will be
soprano Ingrid Suderman,
mezzo-soprano Catherine
Robbin, tenor Seth McCoy
,and bass Mark )?'edrotti,
assisted by the Kitchener -
Waterloo Philharmonic
Choir and the K -W Sym-
phony Orchestra.
Tickets for this joyous
experience are available by
writing the Centre in the
Square, P.O. Box 2187,
Station B, Kitchener N2H
6M1, or calling 1-800-265-8977.
The number of suicide
attempts is 10 times great-
er than the successes.
dreds of baggage lockers
operating? Put the dour lady
from Barcelona in charge of
a national Ministry of Locker
Rentals. She'd have every-
thing humming like a top in
short order.
The resulting revenue
could•finance a rip -snorter of
a campaign to get tourists off
the beaches and into the
beautiful back country. And
then, Mr: Fuejo, you could
tax those tourists and get
some social assistance going
for the little kids and their
1
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1
1
1
1
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1
parents.
In closing, Mr. Fuejo, I in-
vite you to come to Canada
where nothing is perfect al-
though Canadians like to
think everything is. Un-
doubtedly you will be mysti-
fied and annoyed at many of
our social practices. Why
does one night in a big city
hotel room cost more than 8
week's groceries? How can a
so-called civilized country
serve lukewarm, bitter,
brown water in a styrofoam
cup, and call it coffee? Why
is it so awkward and expen-
sive to buy a pleasant bottle
of wine in this country? Can't
Canadians do anything about
poison ivy? Mosquitoes?
Stale peanuts?
Isn't it wonderful, Mr.
Fuejo, how we are so easily
able to point out another
country's shortcomings
when we are so blind to our
own?
Eh?
Yours in
international love,
SW
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