Brits Behaving Badly

Cycling along the beach recently I couldn’t help but slow down to admire the way the Spanish enjoy the late afternoon sun, the BBQ’s were out, the games had started and the whole beach had a pleasant buzz to it …… and then a stone landed on my head!

Looking round it didn’t take me long to find the culprits: three youths, red as lobsters, drunk as skunks, throwing stones at the seagulls. You have guessed already, but I will confirm: they were British.

In that one small microcosm of beach life it was all so perfectly summed up as to why so many countries across the world at best tolerate us Brits on holiday. Of course people like that are in the minority, but as is often the case the minority have the ‘loudest voice’ and ‘perception is reality’ as they say.

So I thought I would do a little research: and it seems that Spain last year saw the largest number of arrests of British citizens abroad, beating the drug related arrests from the likes of Jamaica, Argentina, Brazil, Serbia and Peru. The same report showed that Spain continues to be the country with the most Britons hospitalized each year, a number that is still increasing year on year.

Bullfighting was in the news again this week, although I can’t report any victories for the bulls this time, rather the opposite in fact as the controversial sport has been declared ‘an artistic discipline and cultural product’, protecting it from mounting pressure by animal rights campaigners who want the practice banned. The tradition is already illegal in Catalonia after a law was passed against it last year and many had hoped that more regions would follow in their footsteps, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Am not sure what the situation is like with Mosquitos where you are, but they are pretty rampant here at times, but there may be a solution, albeit a somewhat drastic one! Contrary to popular belief, mosquitos are attracted to their prey not by the sweetness of their blood, but by the amount of carbon dioxide they exhale. The insects detect CO2 on the air current and know that there is fresh blood to be had not far away. Adults produce more CO2 than children, and the amount depends on diet and how physically active the person is. So …. stop breathing, or at least learn to hold your breath for a very long time!

Last story as I have something to say at the end. Lot of coverage as you would expect about the forthcoming election in Spain (which I have been asked to cover in series of articles for the Telegraph if you are at all interested!) with a number of experts predicting an absolute majority for the Popular Party. One thing that virtually every expert seems to agree on though is that post election there is going to have to be a lot of belt tightening across Spain, in what is being described as an “attack on living standards” as Spain faces yet more austerity cuts.

And finally ….. appears that my recent comment “One of the best for me was that we have an answer as to why Spaniards stay at home for their holidays rather than venture abroad: They are scared! That´s right, the macho men of Spain, who will happily beat up their partners, watch a man with a sharp stick kill a bull and tie up and leave a pet dog to die are scared of driving abroad!” hit a nerve with a Spanish reader, which I must say is good! Good obviously that that they are reading an English Language paper (let’s be honest how many of us Brits read the Spanish ones?) and good that they felt so passionately about the subject. Without going into great detail I think that the ‘nuance’ of the ‘irony’ didn’t make it through the transition process, although I will say that while I agree, and have often written, that many domestic violence cases are committed in Spain by non Spaniards the fact remains that it happens on an increasingly regular basis in their country and more often than not by people that are already under restraining orders from their courts. I think the phrase we would be use is “it happens on their watch”, so it is about time to stand up and take responsibility. As for the claim that most animal cruelty is also by foreigners though that is just rubbish. I see too many cats and dogs abandoned, tied up and left to die, neglected and thrown out onto the streets by the Spanish to ever be convinced otherwise. We work with a number of exceptionally caring and compassionate Spanish people in our cat re-homing and transport project (www.alstrays.com) and they are forever apologizing for their countries attitude towards the animals. They inform me that the schools are making more of an effort to educate todays generation, which is great, but it will take time of course. On can only hope it will improve but in the meantime we will continue to try and help the cats like the one that had it’s legs tied together and had been left to die by a Spanish family, or the 5 kittens we are currently fostering that a Spanish man dumped on the beach … he was seen doing but just shrugged when confronted!

This column is sponsored by Central Contracts for publication in the Round Town News