TMB Throws it's toys out of the pram by banning ads on buses

TMB can only be described as pathetic for vetoing and advert for their buses which reminds the Catalan government that they should include a checkbox which says “Castellano” on the enrolement papers for schools here in Catalonia. This check box is for parents to tick so the school knows that their children should be schooled in Castellano. This is the same company that happily let their buses parade around Barcelona’s streets with “atheist slogans” or in their reply “pro Church slogans“. Apparently nobody from Promedios which is the company that has exclusive rights to the advertising on buses was available for comment. TMB however limited their replies to a rather coy “ooh, the publicity on the buses should be respectful”. Typical.

On the other hand, restaurants and bars in Barcelona are to be put through the mangle by 22 inspectors that initiated a campaign to test and see if they indeed used Catalan in their establishments.

The president of the restaurant trade Gaietà Farràs had this to say - “The restaurant sector has much bigger problems than the use of Catalan in its establishments”. He also went on to state that this is not a good time to initiate such a campaign which ends up penalising the sector. Bars and restaurants have greater problems on their minds such as a sharp fall in clientele, payment to suppliers or even trying to maintain the same level of service in a difficult enconomic climate.

Typical of the Govern - in effect they are biting the hand that feeds them. When they are not marking up Barcelona with “zona verdes” “zona azules” and taking away the right to speak Castellano, they hit the tourist sector with stupid demands and in the middle of a credit crisis, too.

Maybe they should start with McDonald’s and Burger King’s staff to see if they know any Catalan at all as most of them seem to be from South America. Anyway, as everything in Catalonia and most of Spain seems to be “arreglado” with Euro notes of high denomination, I trust that it won’t be too much of a problem to overcome and obtain a big Green Tick in the right box by one of the 22 inspectors asigned