Despite having been in Madrid for about a week over a year, I am still always surprised by the size of beverages here – they are small. Freakishly small by North American standards (if you order a pop at a restaurant, you will usually get a 200ml (6.7 oz) bottle. Anyway ...

While I don’t regularly drink coffee, when I do order one, I expect to get more than a thimbleful of the stuff:

I don’t suffer from Gigantism, that is regular, black (though I have no idea why it is slightly frothed on top) coffee (not espresso) served in a cup liberated from a doll’s house.

There is just enough coffee to give you a taste, but nowhere near enough to pick you up. There isn’t even enough to last through more than a single nibble of dessert.

A lot of businesses close for part or all of the month of August in Spain. The streets are empty as the Spanish head elsewhere (although, I am not quite sure where). As I walked down the streets, easily 1 in 10 businesses were closed for Summer holidays, with at least an additional 1 in 10 offering reduced hours – usually no hours on Saturday, but some go further and only are open mornings.

All sorts of businesses close down: stationary shops, restaurants, bars (cerverceria), hair salons, tobacconists, toy shops, reality agents, food stores, lawyers, opticians, etc.

Here are some notices I snapped in Valencia:

“We are on Holidays!!!!” - Restaurant

“We are rested. Stop. Returning August 30th. Stop. Greetings to all.” – Hair salon (at least they were creative).

“Closed for Holidays” – Furniture Store

“During the month of August”

“Closed on Saturdays”

“Sorry for the inconvenience” - Optician

“Schedule” – Stationary Shop

“Closed from the 4th until 29th of August” – Toy shop

“Returning the 6th of September. Happy Summer” – Ice Cream Parlour