[Dixielandjazz] Spanish hours

[Marek Boym]

My son owns a bar in Tel-Aviv, not Madrid.  He opens around 9PM, and for an
hour or so the volume is passable, and customers are few.  The real work
starts around 1 AM, and the place stays open till 4-5 PM (until the last
customer).
As to culture - wahtever foreigners say, national habits and cultures are
very unlikely to change, whether we like it or not.
As to the British censoring the Spanish habits, many years ago our leading
humorist and satiricist Efrayim Kishon wrote about trying to make a film in
England, and the working habits there seemed very similar, except that
instead of siestas the Brits had prolonged tea breaks.
Jazz places in Britain don't stay open very late, though - tha lst time I
was there, the Hornchurch Jazz Club ended its sessions around 11PM.  At the
Bude festival it was later, but festivals have rules of their own.
Cheers


On 19 February 2014 20:10, Jim Kashishian <jim at kashprod.com> wrote:

>
> 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."
>
>
>
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