You know you are getting more Spanish when the first heat of summer arrive with a bang, and you immediately start using ‘low blood pressure’ as an excuse to lie on the sofa all evening, avoiding the housework.
The key phrase to use here is ‘he tenido una bajada de tensión’, or for even more dramatic effect, una super-bajada de tensión, ‘bajadas de tensión’ (blood pressure collapse) being common amongst just about everyone in Spain when it’s hot, including it now appears, me as well!
Bajadas de tensión can be cured by various means, including: a) Rapid ingestion of Coca Cola/Sugary food, b) Doing nothing when there is lots to be done c) Telling everyone about your bajada, repeatedly d) all of the above. I’m getting good at this, and there have only been three days of heat so far!
On another note, as soon as the sun came out a few days ago, the Retiro park filled with people with bajadas de tensión stripped down to their underwear. Strapping young men in nothing but tattoos and tight boxers, women in bras and tangas (g-strings) – does this happen in your part of the world?
I’m sure it’s a more pronounced phenomenon than this time last year – am I just getting old?!
Apologies for the lack of illustrative photos to accompany this point – just think ‘slightly grungy lingerie ad with trees’, and you get the picture! Instead, here’s a favourite old photo of mine from 1998, of a man in the park selling chistes (jokes):
Anyway, that’s enough for today, I feel another super-bajada de tensión coming on, and I may barely make it back to the sofa…
Graeme
29 Apr 10 at 10:08 am
The current forecast for next Tuesday in Madrid is for a maximum of 14º – with rain. That should sort out your bajada de tensión.
Ben Curtis
29 Apr 10 at 12:21 pm
Great! Long may it keep going down!!
Kaley
29 Apr 10 at 10:21 am
I’m in Salamanca and it’s the same way here. I really dislike waking up in the mornings and feeling STICKY. And what’s more, it’s APRIL!
Ben Curtis
29 Apr 10 at 12:21 pm
I know, what will august bring…
Jessica
29 Apr 10 at 1:53 pm
Too funny about people walking around in their underwear!! Gave me quite a chuckle. We’d get arrested here in the States if we did that. (Not that I would ever be tempted…)
I’ve only been to Spain in the summer, so that’s pretty much the only kind of weather I associate with it! It’s been about 12 years since I was last there, so the heat sounds kind of appealing, but that’s probably just nostalgia speaking!
Nicole
29 Apr 10 at 3:04 pm
Being from the States, I’m pretty sure that here people would get arrested if they were to walk around in nothing but their underwear. Here in Michigan, there’s a current debate on whether or not thongs should be banned from beaches. I suppose I’m in for a bit of a culture shock when I come to Spain for study abroad next year!
Jan
29 Apr 10 at 4:13 pm
We have the advantage of living a mile high in the mountains, it’s always about 6 deg cooler… including in the winter!
Lee
30 Apr 10 at 12:17 am
Come on, folks. You know it’ll rain again. Hasta el 50 de mayo….(BTW the photo looks like it’s from the 60′s. But I know it’s really from the 90′s – I was here then too. Amazing how much everything has changed.
Ben Curtis
3 May 10 at 8:59 am
It is indeed – I have photos of markets from 8 years ago that look like they come from decades back, and now sadly no longer exist…
madrileño
30 Apr 10 at 10:55 am
I love “blood pressure collapse” jejejeje..
American Girl
30 Apr 10 at 1:42 pm
We’ll be in Spain last week of May. Sure enough, temps will drop then!
LCharles
30 Apr 10 at 8:03 pm
Estoy pasando un mes en Huelva, o sea, estoy a punto de volver a ee.uu. despues de 3 semanas y media aqui el la capital y en la sierra de Aracena. Aunque mucha gente queja del calor, no me molesta. Al menos no este calor. Tenemos 32 grados aqui y para mí es perfecto. Ojala que pudiera quedarme aqui para siempre. No quiero volver a ee.uu. ni a nyc.
La choquera.
Gary
1 May 10 at 3:54 pm
You may be interested to note that there is no law forbidding public nudity in Barcelona – one heavily tattooed man walks the streets stark naked
Rachel
6 May 10 at 12:01 am
When I lived in Spain, it took me forever to understand the phrase bajada de tensión. It never occurred to me that lower blood pressure could be a good reason to do nothing.
Daniella
12 May 10 at 11:06 am
Ben
Does ‘chistes’ has another meaning or was the man from the photo really selling jokes?
regards
Ben Curtis
12 May 10 at 11:19 am
Apparently he was selling jokes! I imagine you paid him to be amused! I didn’t ask though!