Fuck, it seems unbelievable. So much talk about Easter Week here and there, that if it’s going to rain, that if it snows, that if this and that… and bam, it’s gone. We haven’t even heard about it.
And the worst thing is that we keep calling it “Easter vacations”, when in fact it is already a long weekend. It’s that clear. It wasn’t like that before, at least for those of us who are dedicated to rural tourism. Easter was the good push that helped you to last until summer. Now, with luck, it gives you to reach the end of the month. Because it is not like before…
It used to be almost 15 days of movement. Two whole weeks. I was looking the other day at the 2008 or 2010 schedules and, damn, what a difference. Now you fill three nights and be thankful. And then come the politicians and the TV news with their occupancy percentages: “98% of the hotel sector is full”. But where do they get those numbers from? Because I don’t believe it at all.
Here on Sunday, when it was still a holiday on Monday, there were already empty houses. And hotels, I can’t even tell you. The outbound operation started on Thursday and ended on Friday night. The return operation began yesterday, Sunday, and ends tonight. All express.
And look, we can’t complain either. We have filled all four nights. But we are already looking ahead to the May long weekend… and I don’t have a good feeling. Something tells me it’s not going to go so well.
This profession is like that. Since December waiting for Easter to come to breathe a little. Just a little. Because then we have to hold on until Sant Joan, crossing our fingers for a summer season that is getting shorter and shorter. It’s a real drag. And then comes the Treasury and you get the axe. Because if there is one thing they are not… they are fools.
They put the taxes in every three months, right after the holidays, and of course, when you do the numbers you see that, if it weren’t for these days, you wouldn’t be able to pay. They have it well studied, I tell you.
And meanwhile, the world is going to shit and we don’t seem to care….
Yesterday, some clients were telling me that they are killing the middle class. But I told them no. They are not destroying it: we have burst it by ourselves.
In the past, our parents raised seven children, gave them an education, a house, a car, vacations. Today they say that this is impossible. And maybe it is… but it is also true that we live like marquises. We do not deprive ourselves of anything. It wouldn’t have crossed my mother’s mind to buy my father a pair of 170-euro sneakers. Or to have a 2,000 euro cell phone. Or a TV of a gazillion inches.
In the past, people were middle class because they didn’t spend on appearances. We do. Well, at least I have never deprived myself of anything… and I don’t have anything either.
Oh, by the way: I don’t know if I’ve been disconnected from the world, but I haven’t seen a single Semana Santa paso on any TV3 news program. You?
Post-Holy Week Reflection:
And so, just like that, Holy Week went away. It entered with threats of rain and left without making noise, like that guest who does not help to pick up but takes with him a táper.
They sold us “vacations” and gave us a long weekend with traffic jams, half-full rooms and TV news talking about record occupancy while you look at your bank account and wonder if they have counted the seats on Mars as well.
Easter used to give you enough fuel to last you until summer. Now, with luck, it gives you enough to pay the VAT for the quarter and a box of paracetamol. Because being self-employed in rural tourism is like that: you get excited in March, you melt in April, and in May you are already crying with the weather forecast.
Of course, it is not the fault of the system, nor of Europe, nor of the politicians. The fault is ours. For having thought we were middle class while we mortgaged ourselves to have a cell phone that takes pictures of the moon and a pair of sneakers that cost what a week at the beach used to cost.
We live in luxury, but we do not make ends meet. And meanwhile, the Treasury is waiting in the wings, with more faith than the steps that did not appear on TV3.
And so we continue. Filling rural houses for three days, emptying our souls the rest of the year, and hoping that the May long weekend will work a miracle. That’s why we are in the land of saints, right?
From MasTorrencito we wish you a good day and may your dogs be with you!!!!
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If you want, you can see our vouchers for weekends, retirees vouchers, at an incredible price… go to www.mastorrencito.com or if you want you can read more history and anecdotes that have happened to us in MasTorrencito… Click here … https://casaruralconperrosgirona.com
