Driving back from Fuengirola yesterday we saw a roadside stall selling Oranges.
We had seen the trees groaning under the weight of fruit as we passed. So we decided rather than buy Orange Juice from the supermarket in a carton, we'd juice our own.
The sack was huge, any number of Oranges, possibly forty in the sack, possibly more, I asked the price, 3 Euros.
As I reached to pick up the sack I was told no and the stall holder lifted them and placed them in the boot of the car.
The Oranges were so fresh that they immediately scented the car interior.
I was once advised by a second hand car dealer that a trick of the trade was that placing Orange peel under the seats made a second hand car smell fresher and more attractive to a prospective purchaser.
We were not planning to sell the car because it doesn't belong to us, but the scent of freshly picked Oranges made it altogether more attractive.
Again we commented on our experience in this part of Spain, fresh picked fruit for 3 Euros a sack is ridiculously cheap but the costs of labour can mean that much of the fruit is left to fall because it is too expensive to pick and migrant labour is no longer available.
But, like the petrol station where an attendant fuelled my car, sin plomo, the purchase was supported by customer service, I cannot remember the last time that someone offered to carry goods I had purchased to the car.
In England it seems, all these activities have been outsourced to the customer, get your trolley, load it up, take it out to your car and load your own shopping and the day is almost here when you have to scan it yourself too.
On the BBC News last night we were told that the good news is that unemployment is rising more slowly.
Public sector jobs continue to be shed in shockingly large numbers, there is some evidence of private sector jobs being created, but unemployment continues to rise.
Whilst many of the service jobs are low paid and low status nevertheless it seems that there is an inherent contradiction between on the one hand outsourcing jobs to the customer/consumer and on the other appearing to be surprised that there are fewer jobs in the economy.
So in a leading economy in the first world we herald as good news that unemployment is rising more slowly, we continue to criticise those without work in derogatory terms and we continue to award massive bonuses to bankers.
When we settle down tonight with a mug of tea to watch the TV at 7 00 pm CET we will do so nervously.
Can Manchester United manage to do what they failed to do at Old Trafford and contain a youthful and exuberant Athletic Bilbao side and overturn a deficit by scoring enough goals to cancel out the away goal advantage?
Chelsea managed to defy the odds last night can Manchester United manage the same tonight?
It was with interest that this morning I read that the Athletic Bilbao team are pretty much exclusively recruited from the Basque region, they are local youngsters playing as much for Basque pride as for success and the wealth that come with it.
That seemed to me to be refreshing.
Maybe the mercenaries' day is over in football. Maybe the mercenaries day could be numbered in banking and huge supermarkets and other aspects of our community and social lives.
Maybe it is time to start thinking once again how employing local people, sourcing local seasonal goods, paying a fair price and distributing bonuses is the way not only to reduce the rise in unemployment more slowly but began to manage it out of the economy all together.
The Co-op manages to share its profits across the broad range of its members who are owners and shareholders, its communities, through community fund grants and suppliers by operating a fair trade ethic across its supply chains.
This morning we juiced our locally grown Oranges and sipped the sunshine.
We had seen the trees groaning under the weight of fruit as we passed. So we decided rather than buy Orange Juice from the supermarket in a carton, we'd juice our own.
The sack was huge, any number of Oranges, possibly forty in the sack, possibly more, I asked the price, 3 Euros.
As I reached to pick up the sack I was told no and the stall holder lifted them and placed them in the boot of the car.
The Oranges were so fresh that they immediately scented the car interior.
I was once advised by a second hand car dealer that a trick of the trade was that placing Orange peel under the seats made a second hand car smell fresher and more attractive to a prospective purchaser.
We were not planning to sell the car because it doesn't belong to us, but the scent of freshly picked Oranges made it altogether more attractive.
Again we commented on our experience in this part of Spain, fresh picked fruit for 3 Euros a sack is ridiculously cheap but the costs of labour can mean that much of the fruit is left to fall because it is too expensive to pick and migrant labour is no longer available.
But, like the petrol station where an attendant fuelled my car, sin plomo, the purchase was supported by customer service, I cannot remember the last time that someone offered to carry goods I had purchased to the car.
In England it seems, all these activities have been outsourced to the customer, get your trolley, load it up, take it out to your car and load your own shopping and the day is almost here when you have to scan it yourself too.
On the BBC News last night we were told that the good news is that unemployment is rising more slowly.
Public sector jobs continue to be shed in shockingly large numbers, there is some evidence of private sector jobs being created, but unemployment continues to rise.
Whilst many of the service jobs are low paid and low status nevertheless it seems that there is an inherent contradiction between on the one hand outsourcing jobs to the customer/consumer and on the other appearing to be surprised that there are fewer jobs in the economy.
So in a leading economy in the first world we herald as good news that unemployment is rising more slowly, we continue to criticise those without work in derogatory terms and we continue to award massive bonuses to bankers.
When we settle down tonight with a mug of tea to watch the TV at 7 00 pm CET we will do so nervously.
Can Manchester United manage to do what they failed to do at Old Trafford and contain a youthful and exuberant Athletic Bilbao side and overturn a deficit by scoring enough goals to cancel out the away goal advantage?
Chelsea managed to defy the odds last night can Manchester United manage the same tonight?
It was with interest that this morning I read that the Athletic Bilbao team are pretty much exclusively recruited from the Basque region, they are local youngsters playing as much for Basque pride as for success and the wealth that come with it.
That seemed to me to be refreshing.
Maybe the mercenaries' day is over in football. Maybe the mercenaries day could be numbered in banking and huge supermarkets and other aspects of our community and social lives.
Maybe it is time to start thinking once again how employing local people, sourcing local seasonal goods, paying a fair price and distributing bonuses is the way not only to reduce the rise in unemployment more slowly but began to manage it out of the economy all together.
The Co-op manages to share its profits across the broad range of its members who are owners and shareholders, its communities, through community fund grants and suppliers by operating a fair trade ethic across its supply chains.
This morning we juiced our locally grown Oranges and sipped the sunshine.
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