I once heard a joke from a Canadian about a guy from Newfoundland who moved to Mexico.
He was concerned about language and was relieved to hear that the main difference between Spanish and Canadian was to write or speak in capitals and very slowly.
He was in a bar in Mexico City chatting to the Bar tender and after a while of speaking slowly in Capitals asked where are you from, Newfoundland came the reply.
Well, he asked, why are we both speaking Spanish?
Wherever we go we take our language with us.
Alheurin el Grande is a pretty hilly place and is almost but not quite a suburb of Malaga but it has its own identity, its cafes, a great Library with exhibition space and a swimming pool.
Whenever I visit in Europe I get the same sense of wonder at how such relatively small towns maintain their Civic life, whilst in the UK they have the life leached out of them by centralisation and the processes of urbanisation which make every small place dependent on a nearer, larger better resourced centre.
There are just too many shiny sheds pretending to offer choice whilst actually reducing it.
We flew in to Malaga on Tuesday exchanging the freezing conditions of Newcastle with the balmier climate in Southern Spain.
The Euro has held out so we still had some spending money and our first task was to stock up the fridge in the Chaplaincy flat.
So hey ho, we couldn't find a co-op and decided that Lidl was the best place to go.
Stepping into the Lidl in Coin, (pronounced co-een), was an extremely strange experience, a kind of deja-vu, vu, vu.
It was laid out in exactly the same way as the Lidl store in Carlisle, exactly, so we were able to wander round and stock up with the basics with a sense of familiarity.
Most of the other shoppers it appeared were also English so the passing conversations sounded exactly like the ones you might overhear in Carlisle.
As I say Deja-vu, vu, vu.
Recent experiences swapping the familiar places, names, accents with the unfamiliar in Norway, Genoa and now Costa del Sol as a Locum Chaplain in the Diocese previously known as Fulham and Gibraltar is a strangely rewarding experience but it is also a lesson in the Europeanisation of the British.
In the different locations we have met British artists, writers and businessmen who have relocated for the stimulation, freedom or opportunity their new setting has given them. Many of the folk we have met have been able to develop their skills as teachers of the English language and it is the language that arguably is the most powerful force for change of all, we have already heard that speaking Spanish is difficult because so many local people want to practise their English.
In Genoa we used to visit the Cinema to watch the Lingua Original films shown in English (American) with Italian sub-titles. Which was a way for us to practise our Italian and for Italians their English.
This love affair with English and Englishness is somehow not reciprocated by the English themselves who resolutely refuse to learn European languages, I ask myself How rude is that?
We want to be European when it suits us, but we take the liberty of saying Non when it suits is also, we have a right of Veto and the Prime Minister made some political capital with the Euro-Sceptic element of his party.
But whether in Genoa or in Costa del Sol or elsewhere the British are voting with their feet to move for freedom, for better weather or (in some cases) better Health Care or just to eke out their pensions.
With the ending of final salary pensions it may be that the outflow of the retired to the land of the eternal golf of the mind might slow down but there was no doubting from the evidence of the flight we took from Newcastle, which was fully booked and the return flight also fully booked, that Europe, whatever the Euro-sceptics might argue, IS STILL AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR MANY OF US.
He was concerned about language and was relieved to hear that the main difference between Spanish and Canadian was to write or speak in capitals and very slowly.
He was in a bar in Mexico City chatting to the Bar tender and after a while of speaking slowly in Capitals asked where are you from, Newfoundland came the reply.
Well, he asked, why are we both speaking Spanish?
Wherever we go we take our language with us.
Alheurin el Grande is a pretty hilly place and is almost but not quite a suburb of Malaga but it has its own identity, its cafes, a great Library with exhibition space and a swimming pool.
Whenever I visit in Europe I get the same sense of wonder at how such relatively small towns maintain their Civic life, whilst in the UK they have the life leached out of them by centralisation and the processes of urbanisation which make every small place dependent on a nearer, larger better resourced centre.
There are just too many shiny sheds pretending to offer choice whilst actually reducing it.
We flew in to Malaga on Tuesday exchanging the freezing conditions of Newcastle with the balmier climate in Southern Spain.
The Euro has held out so we still had some spending money and our first task was to stock up the fridge in the Chaplaincy flat.
So hey ho, we couldn't find a co-op and decided that Lidl was the best place to go.
Stepping into the Lidl in Coin, (pronounced co-een), was an extremely strange experience, a kind of deja-vu, vu, vu.
It was laid out in exactly the same way as the Lidl store in Carlisle, exactly, so we were able to wander round and stock up with the basics with a sense of familiarity.
Most of the other shoppers it appeared were also English so the passing conversations sounded exactly like the ones you might overhear in Carlisle.
As I say Deja-vu, vu, vu.
Recent experiences swapping the familiar places, names, accents with the unfamiliar in Norway, Genoa and now Costa del Sol as a Locum Chaplain in the Diocese previously known as Fulham and Gibraltar is a strangely rewarding experience but it is also a lesson in the Europeanisation of the British.
In the different locations we have met British artists, writers and businessmen who have relocated for the stimulation, freedom or opportunity their new setting has given them. Many of the folk we have met have been able to develop their skills as teachers of the English language and it is the language that arguably is the most powerful force for change of all, we have already heard that speaking Spanish is difficult because so many local people want to practise their English.
In Genoa we used to visit the Cinema to watch the Lingua Original films shown in English (American) with Italian sub-titles. Which was a way for us to practise our Italian and for Italians their English.
This love affair with English and Englishness is somehow not reciprocated by the English themselves who resolutely refuse to learn European languages, I ask myself How rude is that?
We want to be European when it suits us, but we take the liberty of saying Non when it suits is also, we have a right of Veto and the Prime Minister made some political capital with the Euro-Sceptic element of his party.
But whether in Genoa or in Costa del Sol or elsewhere the British are voting with their feet to move for freedom, for better weather or (in some cases) better Health Care or just to eke out their pensions.
With the ending of final salary pensions it may be that the outflow of the retired to the land of the eternal golf of the mind might slow down but there was no doubting from the evidence of the flight we took from Newcastle, which was fully booked and the return flight also fully booked, that Europe, whatever the Euro-sceptics might argue, IS STILL AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR MANY OF US.
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