The daily 2pm mascletá. All sound and tremendous fury that has to be heard to be believed!
It has been a year of difficult austerity that has moved things from bad to worse. How on earth did this country get itself in such a bind? When we first came here things were more or less standing still. The image of a restaurant in the north advertising for one waiter, that attracted a line of hopefuls stretching all the way to the south was popular. Then came the change from pesatas to the euro and all the secret savings came out from under the mattress and was converted into building projects that became out of control.
It's a real shame that normal steps were not exercised to control new building starts instead of concentrating all of Spain's new buildings for the next 20 years over a very short period of time. Now we are finding the country's wealth is tied up in unwanted and unused buildings that can't be sold.
Banks that financed the projects no longer have money to lend, and the government that overspent on many of the projects no longer have cash flow to support very basic social programmes. However, we Spanish are social creatures and somethings are sacred, such as fiestas. We have to party and that means the show must go on.
Somehow the city of Valencia are finding the money to stage the daily mascletá at 2pm in the plaza, and the monuments will take their places in the many crossroads that will effectively close some 600 streets. You have to be a real glutton for punishment to drive into Valencia between the 14th and 20th of March while the monuments are in place.
There are some changes this year from the 'ealf 'n safety crowd. No longer will small children be allowed to walk about with a lighter setting off crackers and blowing off fingers. In addition, children between the ages of eight and twelve have to carry with them an official copy of parental permission to handle fireworks. Perhaps most important of all is that restrictions have been placed on where the setting off of fireworks can take place.
In the past the mischievious would throw loud crackers close to the elderly, or under the chairs of ladies sitting having a cup of coffee to see their reaction. The size and effect of the large boomers compare favourably with munitions on the war front. That was never funny, so now they must use the dry riverbed or approved park areas. About time!
The thing to remember is that Valencia becomes a very unfriendly place for cars. It's time to wear comfortable shoes and to pack your sense of humour, unless the crisis has killed it.
Copyright (c) 2013 Eugene Carmichael
