The Spanish Opportunity

So.. youth unemployment is high in Spain. Everyone's afraid.

But surely this is a grand opportunity for a renaissance in Europe? Perhaps planting trees, greening the desert.

What isn't needed: millions more tertiary industry employees. Service sector - pen-pushers, or people trying to sell mobile phones, cases, gadgets in shopping centres. There are enough of those, and most of the senior job positions are being held on to by the baby boomers who can't afford to retire due to not saving.

Ok, fine. So the answer isn't more of the same - hurrah! Not more concrete, more commercial, more lives wasted.

I really love Ursula K LeGuin's book "The Disposessed". In one half of it, people are in a perhaps over-communist society - but it works, mostly. When there are emergencies, the people are mobilised to work, for the good of society.

How can the Spanish unemployed be motivated, sustained and utilised?

Or a slightly different question - how can those people be brought together as brothers and sisters in the same manner as during a time of war, but without the actual war?

By best idea would be tree planting. Individual gardening. Self-sufficiency in huge numbers.

Starting something from within - not demonstrating against the government, the lack of money, the austerity. But finding their own solutions, making something wonderful for themselves.

How to get the ball rolling, though, is what I don't know.

There is a huge opportunity there, I can just taste it, almost feel it. It's called meaningful work. Fixing up our despoiled planet, with the resources we have.

What a resource! A whole generation!

Well.. the lovely old house was just too expensive given our "non-standard incomes" (ie, we're both on contract).

However, with a sizeable downpayment, the bank has agreed to lend us enough to buy a small house in the town of Arnprior, about 45 minutes West of Ottawa.

It's a compromise. Not ideal for my wife while she's working in Ottawa (though there is a commuter bus), but thankfully she's willing to make the sacrifice, so I can have a bit more room and - most importantly, a garden.

Not a big garden - the whole lot is about 70' by 120'. But "enough" to get me started, I think.

We'll be really close to a river, too, which is a huge bonus - I miss the sea so much, it's just like part of me is missing. One day we'll move somewhere overlooking the ocean, I think!

The current downside is that we don't actually complete until the end of June and I'm going a little bit crazy. Thankfully I'll be in the UK for most of May. But I'm bursting to take action - and there is just no room to do anything that would actually be useful here.

Like build a small greenhouse or coldframe. Starting seeds.. yes, when I get back.

Currently my hobby is silver... silver coins mostly. Why? Ahh.. I'm not really an armageddon-worrier, but paper money with nothing real backing it.. I can understand why it is prone to government (and, currently, bank) abuse.

Quantitative easing: Oh, nobody's lending anyone any money. Let's just print more, then!

Not inflationary, at all...

Oh yeah - and it's so pretty! Have a look at Fiji Taku 1oz coins - beautiful!