Tree on a hill (May 1993)
The first time I came to Spain was for a three-week visit. I staying with my friend Juan Carlos in Alcalá de Henares, a historic town which is now essentially a bedroom community for Madrid. I played in Madrid while he was at work. We visited Segovia, Toledo (pronounced /toe lay dough/ and Chinchón, and I took myself off to Córdoba and Ávila. (Don't ask, I was clearly on some form of drug when I planned my route. However, World Heritage Sites must have been a priority at the time.) When JC picked me up from the airport, we headed for Alcalá. I looked out the car window to the hills in the distance and saw some scraggly trees silhouetted against the sky. For some reason these seemed quintessentially Spanish, and I excitedly turned to JC and said something look, "Wow, look, Spanish trees!"He, of course, thought I was mad.
posted by Ned | 10:45 PM
3 Comments:
I remember when my family used to go on vacations in "Europe" - because of course at that time the Continent was definitely a separate place from the UK - having discussions in the car with my brother as to what language the animals understood in each country. It seemed to me at the time that they all understood English because if I spoke to them they seemed to react in the same way as animals back home.
I also remember the first time I went to Wales with Chloe, that we had fun as we crossed the border from England, identifying the 'Welsh trees' and the Welsh sheep etc.
And you think the Continent is not still separate from the UK? Heck, even the Spanish refer to "Europe" like it's antoher place. I wonder who thinks they're actually in it? Must be them French and Germans.
Well, from afar, I had the impression that there had been something of a generational change in the UK as well as a certain cachet for things European now but I have little data to go on.
I do know when I lived there that I thought it was strange to feel more affinity with some aristocratic English person whose life and life-style had little in common with mine rather than a teacher in France or Spain etc. but then I was always a foreigner wanting to escape from there anyway (even before I was conscious of it) so I admit to having a jaundiced view.
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