Although there are signs of negotiation between the lorry drivers and the government that may bring the current Spanish transport strike to an end, food is still running out in the supermarkets. Luckily we got some staple foods in, just in case. See the video above!
Update: South of Watford weighs in, intelligently, and amusingly!
Edith
12 Jun 08 at 12:07 pm
What a good idea. It sounds like you are saving yourself a lot of money in the process as well, because these foodstuffs hardly cost anything!
richardksa
12 Jun 08 at 12:22 pm
Great mind etc!!! Just returned from the supermarket where there is no milk, no bread apart from slimming bimbo (There’s a joke in there somewhere!) and very little veg. So what did I buy? Fabaldas, pasta, and cans of abondigas. No tinned peas, but masses of sweetcorn. But surprisingly, after weeks of being absent, my favourite microwavable pizza has reappeared.
Janice
12 Jun 08 at 1:25 pm
It’s an interesting time to be in Madrid. I arrived Saturday to spend 3 weeks working on my Spanish and enjoying one of my favorite cities. Instead Tuesday evening I was caught in a mob scene at the local supermercado. It’s just another thing to add to the total experience.
Thanks for the food tips.
Graeme
12 Jun 08 at 2:43 pm
As for it stopping raining, I wouldn’t look at the forecast for Sunday and Monday if I was you.
Stephen
12 Jun 08 at 3:48 pm
I’m getting a sense of deja-vu about all this. Perhaps Zapatero should contact T. Blair for advice on how/how not to handle a fuel crisis. When was it something similar happened in Britain? 2000? For a short while a popular Labour government became very unpopular. It all blew over though and Labour won the next election by another landslide.
Stuart
12 Jun 08 at 4:48 pm
If you die Ben… can I have your new TV?
Ben
12 Jun 08 at 4:49 pm
No!
Jill (la vieja de la manga)
12 Jun 08 at 4:55 pm
Yesterday the local Mercadona was out of all fresh, meats, fish and most fruits and vegs. Broccoli however was available and the freezers had loadsa frozen fish – anyone want my recipe for broccoli/fish bake?
Eldeano
12 Jun 08 at 5:04 pm
Still laughing at the “You’re not having any of my lentils
” line.
ValenciaSon
12 Jun 08 at 5:23 pm
Ben, I’ll trade you a can of soup for your new TV.
SergiMan
12 Jun 08 at 5:37 pm
Oh Ben, you lost a great opportunity to add a new idiom to the list. “Lentejas: si quieres las tomas, y si no…”
And next time try the “Espárragos Cojonudos”, from Navarra of course.
Ben
12 Jun 08 at 5:45 pm
@Sergiman, love it!
@vs – when the looting starts, are people going to be coming for the new tv or my food? Which will I defend more valiantly?!
Ray
13 Jun 08 at 1:45 am
you are not alone up there in Madrid…
http://flickr.com/photos/aparejador/2574294620/in/photostream/
ValenciaSon
13 Jun 08 at 2:57 am
@Ben: Is that a rhetorical question?
Ben
13 Jun 08 at 12:16 pm
gary
13 Jun 08 at 12:41 pm
Keep the TV – can I have the macbooks?
Ben
13 Jun 08 at 4:26 pm
Tampoco!
Ray
14 Jun 08 at 5:29 am
Why does it seem that in Spain, whenever there has been a big strike like this one, the leaders of the group/union that is striking is always on TV talking about getting an agreement or ‘contract’ with the ministry or government? has the government got itself so wound up in the affairs of commerce that business organizations can longer make agreements and contracts, without the government getting involved?
Why is it the government’s job to guarantee a worker’s group anything. Isn’t that the job of the companies they work for?
Am I being naí¯ve?
What happened to good old fashioned ‘labor’ vs. ‘management’?
hellothere
14 Jun 08 at 12:16 pm
Oh no… and now this:
Food prices go up 18% because of the strike:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/huelga/encarece/alimentos/mercados/centrales/elpepueco/20080614elpepieco_2/Tes
hellothere
15 Jun 08 at 9:49 am
And the strike now is reaching the UK…
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/PROTESTAS/EXTIENDEN/REINO/UNIDO/elpepueco/20080615elpepieco_1/Tes
John Ross
15 Jun 08 at 1:30 pm
@Ray
The Spanish lorry drivers’ “strike” is not, in fact, a strike, in the sense of workers withdrawing their labour. A trades unionist I know defined it as a “paro patronal” (sorry, the English isn’t flowing fluidly in my brain just at the moment) because these lorry drivers (and the same applies to the fishermen) are small businessmen, they at least own their vehicles, and many have little fleets of two or three trucks or more. So “labor” vs “management” doesn’t work. They aren’t striking to get concessions from management (they are management), they are causing social disruption to get what they want from the government, i.e., society.
Personally, I have always maintained that all professional drivers – lorry drivers, white-van drivers, couriers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, – are bastards. Just look what a pillock Alonso is. My theory is that it’s the aggressiveness that the job requires plus all that sitting around and thinking too much about things, it’s bound to turn you into a sociopath, or worse.
cindy
16 Jun 08 at 4:34 pm
@johnross
thanks for your interpretation/explanation of this whole mess. my husband is spanish and he couldnt explain it to me !