This week’s main event was the May Day rally. Having been brought up as a social democrat, I have a certain emotional attachment to the day. More importantly, the weather is good and photo opportunities abound 🙂
Main
We came back from Denmark Sunday evening, after 5 days with glorious sunshine there. Monday morning, when I walked to the bakery for a baguette and croissants, the view was like this:
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Fortunately, Alicante weather was soon restored. On Friday I had lunch with a former VP of our office, and on the way to meet him I stopped at Salinas de Santa Pola:
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Also on Friday, the other big event of the week took place. My dog Cheeta had knee surgery, something which had been decided a few weeks ago but postponed until our return from Denmark. Here she is, back home about 8 hours after the operation:
The rest of the pictures are from the May Day rally in Alicante.
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The route is the same every year, so it is easy to pick good spots. Here is the head of the rally, at Plaza Luceros:
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Señoritas in the crowd:
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The rally is organised by Spain’s two main labour union federations, the Unión General de Trabajodores (UGT) and Comisiones Obreras (CCOO). The main difference is that one of them used to be connected to the Communist party back when such a thing existed. Aside from the big two, other fringy groups show up at the rally with their banner:
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The fringe groups tend to hand out leaflets, and some people actually read them:
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Another attentive reader:
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Crutches do not stop this man from marching along:
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Two wheels and red banners:
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The rally arrives at the Esplanada de España, the main beachfront road in the centre, where speeches will be held and Internationale sung:
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Cute…:
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Even cuter with the union cap:
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The lady from the organising committee introduces the first speaker. Because there are two unions, there are also two speeches. The first speaker was quite boring and long-winded. By the end of her speech the audience had dwindled significantly. And this year’s attendance was not great to begin with, despite the crisis. Since Labour Day fell on a Sunday, most people had Monday off to compensate, and given the resulting long weekend, a lot of Alicantinos were out of town visiting family and friends elsewhere in Spain:
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A member of the band studying the music during the speeches. Note the lubricant in his pocket:
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May Day be damned, the baby must be admired and commented upon:
