When I booked a hotel for a week in August in Santillana del Mar, the hotel asked me to transfer some money to their bank account as a deposit, since they don’t accept credit cards. That was half an hour in the bank. They also wanted me to send the bank receipt. Knowing that in Spain, the photocopy is king, I photocopied the receipt: that was another 20 minutes, since there is always a queue in Spanish photocopy shops (incidentally, one reason why Spain is such fruitful territory for researchers is that there at least one archived copy of every document created in the country since about 1492). I stamped and sent the letter. Two days later it arrived back at my house with a mysterious message stamped on it: “DOBLE DE LA INSUFICIENCIA DE FRANQUEO: TASA 0,52€”. I looked at the stamp I’d put on: it said “65”. I didn’t understand: surely there wasn’t a problem with putting a stamp on for a higher value than the necessary amount? I asked in the local tobacconist, which is where stamps are sold. He pointed out that I’d accidentally used an old stamp worth 65 pesetas (the word “peseta” appeared nowhere on the stamp) and that peseta stamps are no longer valid, the period of grace being long over. The price of a stamp for sending a letter inside Spain is €0,26, and to send the letter, I’d now have to pay twice the price of the missing stamp - €0,52. Effectively I’d been fined. “But,” I wondered cautiously, “can’t I just use a different envelope, one which doesn’t have the mysterious message stamped on it, and pay the normal €0,26?” “That’s what most people do,” the tobacconist said. “You don’t happen to have a spare envelope, do you?” I asked. “Yes,” he said, and handed me one over the counter. “Gracias,” I said.
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