I am sure readers will be well aware of the current disagreements in Spain regarding Catalonia and the desire of its people, or some of them, to return to independence. So what is the problem and why?
Well, Catalonia was an independent region of the Iberian Peninsula – modern day Spain and Portugal – with its own language, laws and customs.
The economic crisis in Spain has only served to magnify calls for Catalan independence – as the wealthy Barcelona region is seen as propping up the poorer rest of Spain. It could be said that these are similar circumstances to the issues the Scots have with the rest of the UK, I guess.
In the case of Catalonia the situation did get quite tense once or twice over the past couple of weeks and the reason I want to mention it is because once again it reinforces the resilience and determination of the average person to just get on with their lives.
A couple of nights ago there were a lot of protesters and other people gathered in Barcelona, the main area of Catalonia. It seemed to have the possibility of flaring up into a riot. There were also hundreds or maybe thousands of tourists going about their business of taking in the city’s numerous sights and all of its history. The TV journalists were there and they were talking to tourists and asking if they were concerned about what was going on. The people questioned all felt quite safe, assuming that it was just a protest and as there was a big police presence they wanted to get on with their sight-seeing and were prepared to take a risk.
Closer to home, here at Solar Solve a customer asked if one of our technicians would visit their shipyard where they are building a superyacht, to measure up for SOLASAFE screens for the navigation bridge and then return a week later to install them.
It meant that the young man who was asked had to fly into and out of Barcelona twice whilst the protests were taking place, to perform what turned out to be an excellent job on behalf of Solar Solve Marine.
Needless to say the company directors were very apprehensive when he was in the Catalan region but it turned out that he was quite safe.
Maybe the threats of terrorism that we all face daily are making us more determined and a little bit more fearless than we used to be so that we can just get on with living our lives??
