Many things we didn't know.

We don't just learn Spanish from our teacher, we also learn a lot about Spain and life in Bigastro in particular.

Last night, we met up with Antonio and walked along Calle Purisima. On the way we stopped at several places where he explained how things used to be. For example, we learnt that Calle Purisima was mostly lined with single storey dwellings in the past and the road was simply compacted soil - no tarmac!

Further on, we stopped at a vacant plot where Antonio told us a cinema once stood. In fact, there were two cinemas on the site; one for winter and one for summer. The summer one was open air with its own screen.

Antonio went on to tell us that, in  fact, there used to be another cinema in Bigastro located elsewhere. At that time, nobody had televisions in the town, the sole entertainment was either the radio or a trip to the cinema.

We explained that it was much the same in England during the 50s. Pamela and I both recall that our first television sets were bought specially to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Because we were the only people in the streets where we lived to have televisions, the neighbours all came round to watch the ceremony unfold. On a screen no larger than 14 inches and most probably only 12, you had to be close to the set to see any sort of detail.