Sponsors for the crisis

As you may know, the financial crisis here in Portugal is rather serious. As in Greece (and Italy), the main problem in Portugal is the excessive public debt; this is in contrast to the kind of problems in Spain and Ireland, where the financial crisis is related to the banks' debt. To avoid bankruptcy, last year the Portuguese government negotiated a loan from the IMF and the European Union. Such a loan came with a number of very severe conditions on the way the country should invest its resources in the following years. These conditions are many and rather detailed; for instance, one of them says that the government has to sell one of the two public TV networks. For this reason, it is widely recognized that any ruling government (either left-wing or right-wing) will have very little opportunity to do something---apart from making sure such conditions are duly implemented, that is.

Among the different components of the Portuguese state, public transportation is in a particularly delicate financial situation. This includes the several companies that serve Lisbon (the buses, the metro, the ferries over the Tagus river) as well as the national railway company. The current debt associated to the metro of Porto is also in absurd levels. As a consequence of the huge debts these companies have to deal with, their services have been reduced or drastically modified so as to optimize resources. More dramatically, fares have increased significantly. Just in the Lisbon region they have been increased at least twice during 2011. It would not me surprise me if there are other increments before 2012.

In this context, the metro of Lisbon has started to reduce its services.  For instance, after 21:30h trains get shortened: rather than using six cars, they use only three. This idea first started in the blue line, which is probably the most used one. Today I have learned that they will be implementing this same reduction in the yellow line, which I use less.  This is a very reasonable thing to do, as you could see almost empty trains late at night.

In what appears to be another creative solution to the crisis, last week the most important metro station in Lisbon has been sponsored. Indeed, the metro of Lisbon has signed an agreement with Portugal Telecom (PT, the largest telco in the country) and now the Baixa-Chiado station is called the "Baixa-Chiado PT bluestation". This is the first time I hear of a public building (a metro station, in this case) which becomes sponsored by a commercial brand. As a result, every piece of public information in the station contains the PT logo; also, a number of video beans projecting news and PT ads have been placed in what I am sure is the largest, most transited station in Lisbon.

This sponsoring scheme is already common in stadiums and large venues, which are mostly private and very costly to build.  However, it is strange to see such a traditional place in Lisbon becoming sponsored, even if PT is still a public company. Can you imagine the Châtelet-Les Halles Orange station in Paris? Or the King's Cross BT station in London? (In contrast, I am not surprised at all to know that there is a AT&T Station in Pennsylvania.)

Needless to say, the new name of the Baixa-Chiado station is a rather cosmetic consequence of the crisis; many Portuguese are dealing with consistent salary cuts, new taxes, downsizing of public services, and general pessimism.  However, it is unavoidable to feel that, in the name of the crisis, certain "reasonable" limits are being overcome by things such as sponsoring a metro station. This is particularly troubling when you realize that surely there are ongoing actions which are less evident (and more disturbing) than changing the name of a metro station.

Summer owls

The main attractions of Jesolo, Italy are its proximity to Venice (40km, more or less) and its very long beach (the longest of Italy, about 15km). The town of Jesolo is actually two towns: the center (Jesolo paese) and the beach (Jesolo lido).  While the two are not far from each other, their character is so different that you think they're two distant places. While Jesolo paese does not appear to have a proper central square, the most remarkable thing in Jesolo lido is a seemingly infinite street in which everything happens; it has several squares along it and ends with a lighthouse.

Jesolo lido, however, only exists from May to September.  The rest of the year, the vibrant town along the beach disappears, and becomes an abandoned place next to the sea. It seems that no one lives there during the rest of the year: those who work in the hotels, restaurants, and many shops of Jesolo lido come and leave with the tourists. They are some sort of summer owls:  they work hard while most people are on vacation;  when tourists get back to their cities, they take vacations and start preparing the new season. Life manifests itself as a splendid duality.

Jesolo is not really a big town and summer owls know each other rather well. They have been doing the same for years, perhaps not always selling the same products or offering the same food, but always doing their life during the summer.  So it is common for them to take vacations together, and to complain about tourists together. While many of the tourists who come to Jesolo come from northern Italy, a large proportion of them come from Austria, Germany, Denmark. It is then not a surprise to see business with signs in German and English. The love-hate relation between locals and the tourists is a marriage of convenience that makes part of the character of the town.

As in the rest of Italy, the most important day of the summer for Jesolani is Ferragosto. At this point, the summer owls are already tired of the season, and can reasonably predict how it will conclude. By then, they already know what went fine, and what they should do better next year. Together, tourists and locals share the traditional fireworks of Ferragosto, which mark the beginning of the end of another summer season. The same event triggers different emotions, though: while as tourists we realize how fast time passes on the beach, for the summer owls of Jesolo the fireworks evoke the hard work done, and the hope of some rewarding vacations far, far away.