Is the cliches true about the Costa del Sol?
You know what they say about the Costa del Sol? Well some of it is true. ‘It’s just populated by retirees who read ‘The Sun’ or the ‘Daily Mail’ and can’t speak a word of Spanish’, is the snobbish cliché uttered in the ‘salons’ of places like Barcelona and Madrid. The real picture, of course, is much more complicated. But as with most clichés, sometimes there is a grain of truth, as I found out myself the other day. The other day, a friend came to visit me ( in one of those bastions of snobbishness mentioned above) from the Costa del Sol. He complained there was no hot water so I had to gently ask if he had trying the tap marked ‘C’ for caliente (hot). That’s when it became clear he believed ‘C’ was for cold. Seemingly on the Costa, they have taps marked in English – H for hot, C for cold. I teased him, suggesting he had now entered a ‘Spanish-speaking zone’, but the joke was lost. Or maybe not funny? Anyway, despite my friend’s problems with the language, I am sure readers will contac
