Time and the issue of the waiting staff







 Time waits for no man - although Brian Cox may have other ideas.  Today we will cross the greenwich Meridian and someone has felt it was worth putting up a small obelisk to that end and drawn a line across the road.  I say road, the old road that has been sliced off by some straightening and so the line is in this improvised layby.




The obelisk has been reviewed by 108 people ina 4.2 star sort of a way.  It has a website.  http://www.thegreenwichmeridian.org/tgm/location.php?i_latitude=40.980800   A year ago Antonio said ‘Very curious place and even more so if you are from Barcelona and compare Avenida Meridiana and this very remote place. Centennial olive trees and a good place to stretch your legs.’   That says it all really.



Now you may be asking, given the Spanish are - in the east - on the Meridian why don’t they use proper time, British time because, time for invented in England - before that people just had days and months and no proper order to it at all.  Seriously, it is slightly confusing when you arrive in October or February and it is so dark in what should be morning.  Well, here is why.



The railways brought standard time to the Midland Railway in 1846, It came to Spain on 22nd July 1900, when the president of the Consejo de Ministros, Francisco Silvela, proposed to the regent of Spain, María Cristina, a royal decree to standardise the time in Spain; thus setting Greenwich Mean Time as the standard time in peninsular Spain, the Balearic Islands and Ceuta and Melilla from 1st January 1901 onwards. 



In 1940,  Franco changed the time zone by changing 16th March 1940 to match up with his best chums in Germany. This was made permanent in 1942 in order to be in line with occupied Europe. Several western European countries, including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands stayed on German time after the war in addition to Spain.


In September 2013, the "Subcommittee to Study the Rationalisation of Hours, the Reconciliation of Personal, Family Life and Professional Life and Responsibility" (subcomisión para el estudio de la Racionalización de Horarios, la Conciliación de la Vida Personal, Familiar y Laboral y la Corresponsabilidad) of the Congress of Deputies made a report to the government of Spain proposing, among other things, a return to Greenwich Mean Time. The subcommittee considered that this time zone change would have a favourable effect, allowing more time for family, training, personal life, leisure, and avoiding downtime during the workday. The proposals are aimed at improving Spanish labour productivity as well as better adjusting schedules to family and work life. It still hasn’t happened.


In Galicia the difference between the official local time and the mean solar time is about two and a half hours during summer.  For example, in Compostela  it is noon at around 13:40 and sunset is around 21:15 local time, while in Menorca sunset is around 20:20. No pleasing some people.


On we go to where the N-420 joins the N-232.  At this point is the Hostal Las Ventas. It has 865 reviews and comes in at 3.2 stars - which is a bit on the low side. https://www.facebook.com/hostallasventas#  Five days ago Ramon said four stars ‘Everything is homemade and freshly made, especially the tortillas and croquettes.  Maricarmen  was outraged by the fact the coffee cost 1.60 and was in a clear plastic cup.  This may not strike as deeply to a UK audience as it did here.  The waiters do not always come in for the highest praise in the last six months but some people liked the food.  I urge you to go there and seek the truth of it,





Oh well, on and on,










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Much a do about something

Image
  In North Lincolnshire there is an OS square which is all but empty,  In a single corner stretches a few metres of power cables to spoil the virgin whiteness.  Today’s walk is not so blessed with flat calm.  We will see trees.  We will see ups.  Views are compulsory.  Houses aren’t.  Let's talk about Asturias in the years from 718 to 757. In 711 the full force of the Islamic tide swept from North Africa into Visigothic Spain. At the Battle of Guadalete King Roderic and much of the nobility were killed and the Iberian Peninsula collapsed before the all conquering crescent.  The thing is, Asturias is a long way from the main body of Spain. It is a bit wet and more to the point lacking the plunder which was the way of paying the Army of the Conquest.  The Caliphate’s hold on Asturias was tenuous to say the least.  Enter  Pelagius. Pelagius has many myths swirling around him and a very butch Victorian statue in Gijon.  Accord...
Read more

In which a Roman Bridge and a Funeral Parlour are reviewed.

Image
  We are rising again. We are rising 20 of your earth metres today. We will be 818m above the level sea. We are about at the highest point in the Cheviot Hills. We cross the Rio Porma and into Villarente and Puente Villarente. Both these twin settlements, lurking along the roadside, have generally grown in size since 2000.   https://www.turismocastillayleon.com/en/art-culture-heritage/great-routes/way-saint-james/puente-villarente First we must cross the Roman Bridge. Coyotuco is back with a five star review: A beautiful BRIDGE with a lot of history but it is not PEDESTRIAN. For pedestrians they have made a PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY right next to it. We are passing by the Artesanias Luyma so let us gaze at their ceramic goodness. Let us wonder  https://www.artesaniasluyma.com/categorias/pereruela/ While we are here and we are passing the Tanatorio Camino de Santiago let us visit this 39 reviewed funeral home. It gets an average of 4.9 stars.  https://www.antamontalvo.es/esq...
Read more

Mini Pieces of Supposed tuna

Image
  Pina de Ebro has something for everyone who enjoys the architecture of Spanish pueblos.  It has the tiny lanes, on which houses have been rebuilt for generations without a care for the needs of the modern motorist.  We have the pathways which have been tiled over but once were dirt tracks.  We have the modern suburban developments of low rise houses and 80s hopefully aspiring shacks.  First all, however, we have a park. One thing we noticed, especially with a small boy in tow, was the number of parks with interesting play equipment.  This is because, in Spain, people seem to like children.  This does make them a semi-public property and people feel free to indulge them with sweetmeats and pass comments. ‘I think sucking thumbs makes children look ugly’ said one elderly woman.’ My Spanish for ‘well desiccated prune face, no one asked you’ deserted me.  The play equipment is in the Plaza Pilarin Artigas.  Honestly I’ve looked and was giving u...
Read more