[Dixielandjazz] Spanish hours

[Jim Kashishian]

The following is from a local newspaper in Spain that prints its articles in
English.  The practice of everything running late in Spain of course effects
our playing hours.  We used to play midnite until 4am in the 1960's & 70's.
Nowadays, we play between 10pm and midnite, mainly due to people wishing to
go to sleep around midnite in the buildings surrounding clubs.  When we
leave the clubs at around 12:30, we often find it hard to get onto the
street due to the crowds going by.  

Nite clubs, not jazz clubs, though don't even open their doors until 1:30am,
and no young person in their right mind would show up before 2am.  They go
on then until 7am.

Dinner is traditionally at 10 or 10:30pm.  Lunch, which is the big meal, is
at 3pm.  That can vary throughout the country, but those are the hours in
Madrid.  Although most people don't actually go to bed now for a siesta
(except in the summertime!), there is usually a 2 hour break from 2pm until
4 or 4:30pm when shops, businesses & schools close down.

We should be on the U.K. time, but our clocks are set one hour later as
Franco wanted to be on the same time as his good friend Adolf!  There is
talk about changing the clocks back, but the assumption that that will help
productivity is a pipe dream.

Here's the article if anyone is interested.  Jim




US reheats debate over Spain's '10pm dinners'

Published: 19 Feb 2014 13:17 GMT+01:00
Updated: 19 Feb 2014 13:17 GMT+01:00

A front-page article in the New York Times about Spain's potential time zone
change has led to a raging debate in the US on whether Spaniards are right
or wrong to do everything later.

The piece, titled "Spain, land of 10pm dinners, asks if it's time to reset
the clock", has been the New York Times' most emailed story in recent days.

The news that Spanish lawmakers had proposed putting the clocks back an hour
to increase productivity is hardly breaking, The Local and other European
media having covered it last September when it happened. 

But Jim Yardley's piece has drawn so much interest across the States that
numerous other media outlets have decided to give coverage to the Spanish
time zone conundrum.

Online culture magazine Slate has offered the most thought-provoking
spin-off piece, titled "Spain Shouldn't Change Its Mealtimes. We Should
Change Ours".

"Keep in mind that, because of Spain's high latitude and its idiosyncratic
time zone, the sun usually doesn't set there until 9 or 10pm In other words,
the land of 10 pm dinners actually knows what it's doing," wrote Slate
journalist LV Anderson.

The comments sections for both articles show how divided opinions within
Spain are regarding the country's unusual timetable.

Some agree that Spain needs a change whereas others say the New York Times
offers a simplistic view of Spanish working habits, arguing most employees
don't take siestas and often work very long hours.

Centre-right daily ABC has criticized the American broadsheet for taking the
same tack as the UK's Telegraph in a September article "Time's up for
siestas, delayed meetings and late nights, Spaniards told in effort to make
them work better".

Both newspapers used images of Spaniards taking a siesta to run with the
idea that long, lazy lunch breaks and late prime-time TV hours are ingrained
in Spanish society and are hindering the country's productivity.

This is a view of ARHOE, a Spanish organization that fights for a charge to
Spain's unique lifestyle.

"The real problem in Spain is this culture of 'presentismo', or just being
in the office, even if you are not doing anything," ARHOE president Ignacio
Buqueras told The Local in July 

"We want a culture where time is used well and where people also have time
for their private life," the head of the non-profit organization said.

"This will improve productivity in Spain, and it will make us more
effective. It will also improve quality of life so that people can be with
their family and friends."