Life in Cartagena

A friend, over from the UK, was telling me how he had nearly slaughtered a whole zebra crossing load of pedestrians as he turned right at some traffic lights. He had waited, dutifully, for the green but there is a standard difference to the light sequence here in Spain as against the setup in the UK. Traditionally the UK system gives the cars which have been released a clear run as they go either straight on or make a turn. In Spain cars are often stopped again by the same set of lights on turning right or left. If you're not expecting it finding a bunch of pedestrians crossing in front of you, as you accelerate away, can be a bit of a shock. Roundabouts are different too. In reality most Spanish drivers behave as their British counterparts do. They attempt to cut the corners in the roundabout and they use all the available traffic lanes. But the rule is different. Technically you have to be in the outermost (the longest) lane in order to leave the roundabout. The only people w...

I went into town today to visit a series of galleries that have on a joint photo exhibition. I travelled in and home on the No.9 bus which is one of the two minibus routes that run around the city. Both of the minibuses never fail to provide an entertaining ride. Being minibuses everyone is close together so, obviously, people are going to chat - Spaniards do. The driver can't help but get mixed up with the passengers either, not that they ever seem to mind, and in fact the driver is often the lynch pin for the whole conversation. It's impossible to remain anonymous on the No.9 so much so that people even speak to me. Today a woman who got on at Corte Inglés said she was only riding a couple of stops - she'd only got on because her shopping was heavy. Then she recognised the driver, Pedro, and decided she'd ride the whole of the circular route to catch up on his news. On the way home the driver had the radio on in the background. When a song came on he liked he tu...