Integration at its best
Last Sunday Alfaz celebrated International Day, postponed from the previous week due to anticipated torrential rain – which in the end never materialised. Many were left bemused at the forecasters, who much like in the UK manage to get it so wrong despite having the best and latest equipment and weather radars!
On Saturday, torrential rain lashed down and many probably thought it wouldn’t go ahead yet again, expecting another last minute cancellation in the morning but thankfully despite grey clouds looming and early morning winds, it was all go. Many of the stallholders had evidently spent many hours preparing food so it would have been a real shame, but in the end, the sun even broke through for the event. The opening ceremony, with flags of all the participating countries was a truly wonderful colourful sight and it was like a guessing game trying to identify some of them – a real test of my ‘O’ Level geography.
Over half of the registered population of Alfaz is non-Spanish, in other words, foreign. The largest percentage are Norwegian and Alfaz has the biggest Norwegian population outside of Norway! They have a church, schools and social club between Alfaz and Albir, in addition to many businesses, much like the Brits do. However, speaking to many of my Norwegian neighbours when it comes to pensions, they are in a different league to us for they tell me that the average monthly pension is the equivalent of €1,700! That is certainly over double the Spanish rate too, so no wonder they find everything so cheap here and can afford to live like kings and also eat out regularly.
As the cost of living is so high there, many pensioners move abroad and Spain, in particular Alfaz has become a mini Norway. Here they can afford a much higher standard of living, probably in much the same way that the British could…. once upon a time. However, with the falling rate and even more uncertainty due to Brexit, many are now unsurprisingly struggling to manage. Prices are rising everywhere, not only utilities but also food, services, goods, rent – I have yet to find something that is now cheaper than it was even a few years ago! I remember going to the weekly Alfaz market and paying 40 cents for a kilo of oranges – now it more like €1 and that’s not just down to inflation. Prices rise but pensions and wages don’t.
Years ago, it was certainly cheaper to do a weekly shop here in Spain than it was in the UK and the offer was much better, especially with the fresh fish selection. But now, it’s the other way round, especially with the likes of BOGOFF offers – buy one, get one for free in places such as Tesco and Asda, which you rarely see here.
But seeing so many different nationalities opting to live here rather than their own countries obviously proves it is still an attractive choice. The mayor went round to each stand and being the diplomate, gracefully accepted samples of food and drink offered at almost each one. However, I did feel for him having a rather large plate of rice and chicken korma thrust to him at 11.30 on the India/Pakistan joint stand followed by sweet cakes at the Algerian stand next door. I just hope that he had a rather large pack of Rennies or the Spanish equivalent on him as there were over 50 stands that he had to get around!
Where applicable, each country also wore their national costumes and some were spectacular and bright – what a shame that England doesn’t have one.
It was just as well that the weather was kind otherwise, it would have most probably been cancelled for this year, as this Sunday there is a big race and then Alfaz goes into their fiesta and weather will get very unpredictable. As it is, just as stallholders were packing away at 17.00, the first specks of rain began to fall… and this week winter appears to have descended overnight. Sandals and shorts have now been packed away and woollies and boots are coming out of hibernation for many households – except for the holidaymakers who are now easy to spot. Oh well, we’ve definitely had a very good run this year – and it’s now just over 7 weeks till Christmas. It seems like only yesterday that we were all complaining about the heat, now it’ll be how cold it is… us Brits are never happier than complaining about the weather are we, regardless of where we live.