This is just a little discussion post about something that's been on my mind for a while, so feel free to read if you're interested.
During the time I've been on LG, I've always wondered if there are other people from the same country as me who share the same hobbies or interests. When it comes to street lighting enthusiasts in Spain, I honestly expected there to be at least a decent amount of people. I've met quite a few people here interested in all kinds of different hyperfixations and communities, like buses, trains, trams (public transport in general), emergency lighting such as sirens and lightbars, and many others.
Compared to other countries, lighting in general has quite a bit of history and interest here in Spain, but I haven't really come across many people who are interested in street lighting specifically. On this site, I've only seen two other people who are from Spain,
@Daniel f and
@Indalux . They aren't very active around here anymore, neither am i until the last few days. But i've ended up talking with them later on
I think another thing that makes it harder to find Spanish people here is probably the language barrier. English isn't exactly the strongest point for a lot of people in Spain, especially when it comes to speaking or writing it online, so I imagine there are probably people who are interested in this kind of stuff but simply don't use English-speaking sites or communities. There might actually be quite a few Spanish enthusiasts out there that I've never come across just because of that.
Street lighting, and lighting in general, has a pretty long history in Spain. Philips, for example, produced a huge variety of lamps and lighting equipment for all kinds of uses, and there were also a lot of Spanish companies making lighting products back then.
I just wish there were more people sharing these kinds of historical pieces from Spain. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there that I feel doesn't get documented or talked about enough. There are probably tons of old luminaires, catalogs, installations and other pieces of history still sitting around somewhere, and it would be really cool to see more of them being documented and shared.
What do you usually think when wondering about knowing how many people have the same interest as you locally?
