Quite a few different talking points in recent days, or even weeks. While queuing in the post office, a discussion began about Christmas decorations and before long there were quite a few people chipping in, all Spanish – well, the queues are so long at the moment, it’s a good way to pass the hours for anyone who forgot to take a camp bed.
People reminisced about the days when many of the streets were decorated with lights, at the same time understanding why local businesses no longer participated. The general consensus was that the current paucity of Christmas lights does nothing, or is even negatively affecting attempts to get into the festive mood.
A very common comment from visitors to Nerja in the past two or three weeks – and many are regular visitors – is ‘how quiet it is this year’, some going as far as to say it is the quietest they have ever known it.
Certain areas, or bars and restaurants, have been doing a fair trade – afternoons in Plaza Fabrica de los Cangrejos, the Balcon de Europa and the bars opposite the Hotel Monica, but other areas have been doing, shall we say, less well. It has not been uncommon to walk past as many as eight bars and only count about three customers between them.
One restaurant owner said that during one weekend, when they would normally have a reasonable trade even at this time of year, they didn’t have a single customer.
There are a lot of people struggling at the moment. And as far as politics go, there also seems to be general agreement that there is very little to choose between any of the politicians or political parties these days, all seem quite happy as long as their own nests are suitably feathered and all seem equally clueless.