Sea air?

[allergyboy2001]

I was at a city beach in Spain recently. It was not a cold day, and no one seemed sick, but I observed a fair number of men who blew their noses in handkerchiefs, or occasionally tissues - apparently because the smell of the sea air made their noses run. I had never thought of that before as a reason for a runny nose. Has that happened to anyone here or have you also observed this?

Side note: Tissues sold in Spain tend to be very thick and strong - because Spanish men have refused to give up blowing their noses forcefully, even when using a tissue. A marketing tactic to encourage the switch to tissues, I guess. 😢

[cjblo]

Lovely praise for Spanish men! Wondering what city beach you visited? Must say I have seen them use handkerchiefs but very rarely nowadays...

[allergyboy2001]

Different beach in Spain, but someone recently remarked on Twitter that she had never seen so many people using hankies as when she was at the beach in Cadiz.

 

[Hajo]

Well, I´m almost every year in May at a Spanisch beach near Cadiz. To be honest its mostly frequented by German tourists, except at the weekends. So I cant speak for Spanish guys. But I know, that there are also a few pollen in the air in May - I remember one year when a German guy had to blow his nose very often at the beach. So it could be that also some nativs suffer from allergies there? Maybe the wind, which is there almost every time, plays also a role? 

BTW: Interesting idea, with the special thickness of Spanish tissues, never bought them there. Maybe I should do it next time?

  

[beijoseternura]

Hello, there could also be the opportunity that the sea air dries out the nasal mucosa or the nose gets runny because of the fine sandy particles in the air. I observed it a few times too but it was on a portuguese beach and there were flowers and blooming shrubbery too. So it could be many reasons for it. 

[allergyboy2001]

Good theories, beijoseternura!

Hajo, I was thinking about that also - some of the people using cloth handkerchiefs might have been Germans, or other tourists from outside of Spain. I heard that in Mallorca, there are some multilingual signs where German is the first language, then English, then Catalan, then Spanish. :-)