Hey everyone! I’m a little late on today’s Where in Spain Wednesday post because I’ve had a nasty hacking attempt on my blog that banned me from entering for a while. Sad face! And I’m hoping this doesn’t happen regularly on these self-hosted things…
Anyway, for this week’s post I’ve shared a snap of one of my favorite buildings in Madrid – the Banco Español de Crédito (the Spanish Credit Bank), proving both how beautiful Madrid’s architecture is and how easy it is to learn a good chunk of Spanish vocabulary.
The adding an “o” trick doesn’t work all the time, but when it does I feel like I’m getting away with something (“Bank-o”, “credit-o”….it feels like I’m just inventing words).
And while we’re on the topic of Spanish banks, I recently got a surefire sign the economy over here really is suffering. Somehow, they’ve managed to successfully send a traffic fine all the way to my parents in California. Yep, the same people who are seemingly incapable of getting packages delivered to the correct address* have found it within their skill set to send fines internationally. ¡La crisis! indeed.
*In a four-month period, my roommates and I acquired SEVEN missing packages between us.
Of course, they’ve very sneakily gotten it to arrive on the other side of the globe outside of the period you’re supposed to pay it in, which also conveniently means you can no longer pay the reduced rate. Tricky, tricky!
Anyway, irritation at the selective postal service functioning and the economic crisis aside, this bank building in Madrid really is very pretty. Plus, it’s got that intimidatingly grand feeling that I love seeing in big capital cities.
Ooh, and don’t forget to check back on Friday for the reveal of my secret project! I’m so nervous/excited to unveil it and show you all what I’ve been working on.
Besos!
-Jess
Unfortunately, this isnt a consequence of the crisis. Correos used to lose packages before the crisis either. It is better if u use companies like TNT, Seur etc.
On the other hand, you are right when you say that they are more efficient in terms of fines. This kind of mail always arrive (not in the past) and it is because goverment needs money.
Great picture, I also like this building
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Oh, I just meant that it’s pretty funny that they can get the system working when they need someone to pay them! They must be quite hard-up for cash. 🙂
Gorgeous! I don’t know much about architecture, but I loved everything in this district in Madrid.
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Me too, it’s all very grand and formal.
there’s a lot of unfair bad press about Correos….while it may take longer to receive letters or packages, i’ve never believed that they lose them unless some worker is a robber and puts the post in his pockets….and honestly it makes me smile thinking of a postal worker putting some letter in his pocket while looking around him to avoid being watched.
i think that people who have problems is because they fail to have their addresses correctly, or that their names aren’t shown on the postboxes, or even if a postbox has many names because the house or flat is shared by many roommates, it might end up with the postbox totally filled, so the postal worker must leave the letter on the postbox or even on the floor at the sight of neighbours….
i think that if you have a real address with a postbox showing your name correctly, you will always receive anything that is sent to you.
nice pic of the building.
I don’t think it’s unfair to complain about Correos not delivering 7 packages in 4 months – that’s a LOT of incompetence happening somewhere. In this case, it was all issues with boxes, not with letters, and aren’t they not supposed to leave boxes with neighbors or outside the flat?
If a postal worker stealing packages, even though not a system-wide issue, then it’s still an issue with Correos’s employees not doing their jobs correctly. I know that my package at least was addressed correctly to a real address, so I was pretty cross never to have received it.
the only reason to explain why Correos doesn’t deliver packages is because the postman steals them (and Correos has nothing to do with it).
Correos work brilliantly if everything is done correctly, and if the package isn’t small they will leave a notice in the postbox so you can get it at the office.
so again, the only reason for those 7 lost packages is due to some worker stealing them.
I think that’s a reasonable explanation, but Correos is still liable in that case, no? And not catching somebody over a four-month period when they’re stealing so often is pretty bad.
if a postman is stealing some letter or package while he is outside delivering, Correos can’t be able to find it out if the postman puts the letter in his pocket secretly