Monday, February 02, 2015

Not at all happy

The whole point of the Medieval Market from the stall holders point of view is to make money. The entertainment might draw the crowds in but if the people keep their hands in their pockets, the whole event is a waste of time for them.

Thirty of the stalls quit before the event even started either because they had suffered damage on the Thursday night or they saw no point in being there given the weather conditions . Most of those that stayed claim to have lost money and blame the Ayuntamiento for not postponing the event when it was clear that it would be dogged by high winds and then rain on Saturday.

As I have said in a previous post, many Spaniards go to the market with no intention of buying anything. To be honest, with the number of people crowding the narrow streets on Saturday and Sunday, it would have been virtually impossible to stop and look at what was on offer. Stalls in the wider streets might  have fared better but then those streets tend to attract fewer people and in any case, people walk down the middle of them, avoiding the stalls altogether. 

Those who were at the market would likely have observed that the majority of people actually buying from the stalls were tourists; British, Germans and other nationalities. For example, Pam and I bought a couple of items for our grandchildren.

The only stalls that would have made money were those selling food. It is very hard to walk past the tempting aroma of meat cooking on a barbecue and not want to sample some and of course, all that walking around makes you both hungry and thirsty. 

What will happen next year is anybody’s guess. Spaniards are indomitable people who are not easily phased by adversity and so I imagine they will be back next year hoping that the weather Gods will be kinder.

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