It's half past one, and I'll go to bed as soon as my hair dries. Today was a very long drive to Madrid. The evening was wonderful. Pop-Pop's friend Margarita picked us up from the hotel and did a little driving past important places in Madrid, but mostly took us to Las Cuevas, where the Tunas sing. Ever since I read and was told about these restaurants during my first year of high school Spanish class I've been waiting to be there. We snacked before the crowds arrived, but I did catch the ambience (and eat an amazing omlette, see the buildings, and hear the Tunas). Then Margarita's husband joined us in the Plaza Mayor above, and we had an excellent and slow dinner. I'm not fond enough of seafood to enjoy much of the Spanish cuisine, but the foods I might have liked I loved.

In Las Cuevas I told Margarita about my Fundamental Problem and observations of English and French culture relating to it, then asked what she felt the corresponding Spanish answer to the problem was. Her answer, to which Pop-Pop laughed and commented he was thinking the same thing, was simply, "to enjoy life." I'll take the liberty to re-translate her thought into the language of my philosophy, where "life" is a series of circumstances and "living" is what we make of them; I would phrase her answer "to enjoy living". The distinction is important. To enjoy life would be denying the fundamental problem, denying we are dreamers and lovers and heroes in search of magic. The Spanish do not do this. They enjoy living, taking what they have and drinking the cup to the lees. Again referring to my (in this case our) definition, "magic" is when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as with poetry or a good game of a team sport. And magical living is the Spanish solution; to take what situation life is presently offering and make it into something more.

Last night's conversation focused on what is now happening with Johnson and Johnson, reminiscing about the good old days, our travels, and briefly about my schooling and a typical day in Pop-Pop's retired life. As in the conversation with Bob Dean, Pop-Pop was saddened by Margarita's news of a declining work ethic, exchanging community and pride in the work for personal ambition. The era of co-workers who realized friendship and teamwork were more valuable than monetary income is gone, [working for long term success has been replaced by looking good to get a promotion,] and people like Margarita feel like relics. While Pop-Pop governed quality control there was never a product recall; under the current personnel there have been over twenty; Margarita is being pressured to slacken quality control in Spain because in England this was done, justified by "a tradition of excellence". The sections of J&J in different countries have abandoned cooperation for competition as managing directors with political agendas have appeared.

"If you have enough people you can change things," Pop-Pop said last night, recalling the community he and his peers had formed at J&J. But now that creation is outnumbered by the ambitious, and they get to make the change. Pop-Pop saw it coming and left rather than suffer a decay of his morals and ethic; Margarita does not yet have that option and refusing to join the new mentality fatigues her.