It’s good to be back.
What I love about being in a capital city, especially one like Madrid: My watch died somewhere between Norman and Madrid, and all I have to do to fix it is walk two blocks. Not only can they replace the battery (which they did), but if the inner works of the watch need fixing, they can do that too 🙂
Yesterday morning (and morning lasts till 2pm, something I love about Spain) I went to the bank (2 blocks the other way) and sorted out money issues. Then I walked another several blocks and got a SIM card for my mobile phone. More complicated than I expected. Calling and data plans are in general much cheaper in Spain than in the US, but also much more complicated. I had to show my passport and give them all sorts of info, and then it took half an hour to get everything to work on my phone. Granted, I have a Windows phone (if you’re tempted don’t do it. No apps for Windows, even the new phone company whose prepaid card I’ve just bought does not provide a Windows app (although it is one of the few in Spain with a network guaranteed to work on a Windows phone). That makes everything more difficult Still, it was a far cry from popping a new SIM in the phone as one can do in the States (provided you don’t want Verizon).
Madrid is still trying to keep calm….
Good idea, since it’s very hot right now, it was 99 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:15 pm yesterday. And of course air conditioning has never taken in Spain, outside of certain businesses. I would have slept beautifully last night if it hadn’t been for the stuffy, boiling, room. I finally opened the windows; better to be murdered in my sleep than to sweat all night.
Another great thing about Madrid: farmacias y patatas fritas por todas partes…
One thing that has really changed since I first came here in 1988: shorts. See that woman walking to the right, in the short shorts? and for that matter, the men in the long shorts (why is it women wear extremely short shorts and men long shorts?) … (that’s rhetorical. I know perfectly well why it is so. The world never changes, really, it just dresses differently).
Shorts never happened 25 years ago, except when combined with gym clothes, and even then got looks. Not shorts, not tennis/running/etc shoes, and god forbid white socks. Certainly discoteques did, I wonder if that is still the case.
Other things are slower to change…
I had forgotten how much people still smoke here, and that’s even though I come from Oklahoma, where far more people smoke (cigarettes anyway) that in California. You cannot escape the smell of stale cigarette smoke in Madrid, and butts are everywhere.
And then there’s the trash that you get in most big cities…
But I am really glad that I do not have to drive in Madrid!