The Spanish At Their Best

Many, many years ago, just after my love affair with Spain began, I visited Estepona with my family to view investment properties. One of kids slipped in the shower and cut his chin badly enough for it to need stitches. I hadn’t a clue where to go or what to do so I called my friendly estate agent! He came out immediately and drove us to the town’s medical center (every Spanish town has one). As a former rugby player I knew all about casualty departments so I thanked the agent for showing me where it was and said he didn’t need to wait, we could walk home. He gave me a very old fashioned look and I soon found out why. We went in, my stitched up son was seen immediately and within 10 minutes we were on our way home again! Incredible to anyone used to the usual 3 hours + wait in casualty in the UK.

This was my introduction to the Spanish approach to emergencies. Whilst day to day things can be left to “mañana”, when the chips are down all the stops are pulled out. If you have an accident on the road, everyone stops to help, calling for assistance, directing traffic and doing whatever has to be done, whilst hospital emergency departments are exactly that! They aim to treat you and get you on your way as quickly as safely possible, even if, as happened to me once, this means dropping your shorts in a busy room for a quick injection of anti biotics in the bum!

What made me think of this? Well my friends in Spain have been suffering greatly of late with natural disasters of one kind or another; a huge area just behind my old home in Alhaurin el Grande was destroyed by a wild fire whilst the recent rains have caused serious flooding. Summer fires and floods after rain are always going to happen but what matters is the response! The firefighters in particular are amazing. You can see hectares of burnt land but the houses in the middle some how survive because of their skill and expertise. At a time when all the news from Spain is of doom and gloom these natural problems and the reaction to them is a reminder that Spain and Spaniards are at their best in a crisis! They understand what a vecino really is and anyone in trouble can expect help. That's why, no matter how bad things may look, they will turn round.

Can I also add that there are some very nice and talented people in Spain and can I therefore show my appreciation to http://www.facebook.com/Sh7Solutions for allowing me to use some of their photos.

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