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Thursday, April 02, 2009

The sun will shine . . . tomorrow?


As if to quieten my grumpiness about how much I am paid there is programme on television about how desperate the search for jobs is in some parts of Spain.

We have yet to see any real effects of the crisis here in Castelldefels, or at least here next to the sea. I always make the assumption that most of the people around us bought their flats years ago and have watched their investment grow and grow. Even with the crisis wiping off a substantial chunk of wealth from the book value of properties here, I think that most of the owners are still very much quids in as far as their investment is concerned!

There is very much a sense of the end of term about the staff and certainly about the students. As if to give a little extra spice to the end of term one of the years is being reorganized so that I can experience a little thrill of discomfort to keep me going through the short holiday break. I lose three pupils and gain six. The story of my life!

Instead of diminishing, the work load that I have seems to be increasing. I will continue to monitor what is going on and learn that if I want to survive in the private sector of education I will have to keep my mouth shut for the immediate future.

My contract is a temporary one and I will not be in an even remotely secure position until I get a permanent contract. Such a contract does not mean that you cannot be sacked summarily – it merely means that you will be entitled to the statutory days’ compensation for each year you have worked in your position!

Spain is not Britain and sometimes the different ways that things are done are breathtakingly different. But all part of the experience!

The weather continues to be poor and the poverty of the sunshine here is exacerbated by my listening to Radio 4 and hearing that fine sunny conditions continue unabated in the land of my birth!

I have just seen the six day weather forecast and I gained no confidence from their prognostications of gloom and dampness. I think curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and my eBook may characterise this Easter holiday!

The last words of Osvald Alving are beginning to haunt me!

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