Free-D

Nothing is more indicative of a country’s social health than the general attitude towards its young and elderly. It’s commonly believed in England that Southern Europeans live longer. But I’m not sure it’s true; the old folk of England manage to drag out more or less the same life span as their Spanish and Italian counterparts. The only difference is that Spanish “old timers” seem, on the whole, to actually enjoy their last years. To be old in England is, sadly, to be largely forgotten. It’s a strange anomaly that the largest sector of the population, with so much potential, is the most woefully neglected. The young also get a rather poor deal in the UK; not materially – heaven knows our children never want for food, clothes, toys or even “game podlets”. It’s just respect and the right to be real children that they’re denied. Children are constantly presented as a problem: problem teenagers, problem toddlers etc…. well, what about problem parents? From the pushy, overbearing and smug middle class “yummy mummies” to the ASBO toting “scummy mummies” – parents can be a pretty poor lot, at least compared to their progeny who are, after all, only kids. There is an echo of all this in Spain, a faint shadow of the deep social malaise we are living with in England. In general though society seems healthier here. I remember as a child being slightly afraid of the elderly as they wobbled towards you with their wavering tones, obsessed with Victory V’s and smelling of Lavender or mutton. Since moving to Spain I’ve recovered some of that fear, but for very different reasons. The sight of a seventy year old woman taking to the stage dressed as a seventeen year old “vixen” in plaits and a mini skirt for a local pensioners theatre production might go some way towards explaining this. The same performance saw another Albense lady deliver a frankly over-generous helping of distressingly filthy jokes: honestly butter wouldn’t have melted. Yes, it was frightening, but somehow admirable as well. They say “there’s no fool like an old fool”, and usually in England we equate “fun” with “folly”. Well yes, but what’s really foolish is surely not to spend every moment up to the last squeezing what bubbling, flavoursome, foolish drop of joy you can from life. The Spanish do seem to think more of their young and old and it pays off in the form of a culture which is better integrated and altogether happier. If you are in any doubt of this, take a few hours out to sit in Salamanca’s plaza mayor.