Transformers and stamps
Mid May, 2006
So a couple of weeks into our new experience, our electric toothbrushes are running low on juice and need recharging. However, they are American and so need different electricity. So off we go to get a transformer. Not too difficult you might think...
- Store 1 - "Do you have transformers?" "No, but you can get them anywhere... except here."
- Store 2 - "Do you have transformers?" "No, but you can get them in Corte Ingles."
- Corte Ingles, hardware department - "Do you have transformers?" "No, but you can get them in the lighting department."
- Corte Ingles, lighting department - "Do you have transformers?" "No, but you can get them in the hardware department."
- Corte Ingles, hardware department again - "Do you have transformers?" "No... you cannot buy the transformer today because it is Saturday and the store is closed. And of course you cannot buy it on Sunday. You certainly can't buy it on Monday because ALL the shops are closed as it is Fiesta... and, come to think of it, you can't buy it on Tuesday either as that is the day after Fiesta. So you will have to wait until Wednesday. How's your Mum... great shoes, where did you get them... blah blah blah?"
Four days later, when our toothbrushes were gasping their last breath, we found an 'electricidad' store and duly bought what we needed. But then, snapping at the heels of that adventure came the most important day of the year - MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY! We had to embark upon another retail adventure and buy a birthday card and a stamp.
I quickly discovered that all the cards are in Spanish. How English of me to think they would be in English. So I found a card with a suitable picture and words that I thought I understood, with sufficient space under them to handwrite an English translation. Of course I could have written anything I liked and Birthday Girl would never have known the difference, but it's the thought that counts.
It took us a day to figure out that stamps are not sold in stores that also sell postcards or envelopes. The answer was always the same - the shop assistant just smiled wryly and said "No, not here. Estanco." It took us another day to figure out that 'Estanco' is in fact the name of a government-controlled store, and not local slang for "you idiot, get out of my store."
The thing with Estancos is that they are tobacconists which the government has said must also sell stamps. But they are only open in the mornings and do not reopen until after lunch at 5, at precisely the same time as the one and only collection from Madrid's wonderfully large and bright yellow post boxes. I am a man and so am utterly incapable of multi-tasking. Consequently I tend to act in a serial fashion and will spend the morning buying and writing my cards, then remember that I ALSO need to buy stamps. By that time, of course, it is too late.
Once posted, to the Spanish mail system's credit, my card actually arrived within a day. And we got away with it because there was a funny story behind the delay. But I won't get away with it next year!
Hasta luego!