In
the last day or so, I've speed-read a book called Jesus the Jew.
The only reason for starting on it was that I liked the title. Having
finished it this evening, I was left incredulous that any company would publish a book with a maximum possible readership of
five. Essentially, it's unintelligible to anyone who isn't a biblical
scholar with a knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and possibly
Ethiopian. By the time I got to the end, I was only to happy to
accept the author's (apparent) thesis that Jesus was a prophet, a
healer, an exorciser of devils and possibly one or two other things.
But that he never called himself Christ, Messiah, Son of God or even Son
of Man; that he wan't born of a virgin; and there was no
resurrection. Just a Jewish lad who done good, then. But who ended
badly.
Casting
round for lighter reading in Waterstone's this afternoon - and not
finding the paperback edition of Paul Preston's The Spanish
Holocaust - I bought a copy of "1000 Years of Annoying the
French", which promises to be an altogether more humourful read
that Jesus the Jew. Not that there weren't any laughs in the
latter. There certainly were. Never more so than when the author
ripped into one of the five people in the world who shares his
obsessions and tore a strip off him for criticising an earlier book
of his. There's no feud like an academic feud.
Other
shopping news - I got a new cafetière
today. The package leaflet helpfully points out that "Hot water
is a hazard to children". Who'd have thought it?
Still
on shopping . . . I've been trying hard recently to identify what
changes have taken place over 12 years in the Spanish supermarkets I use, to set
against the relentless innovation of British supermarkets. I haven't
come up with much yet - still no foreign wines, for example - but
I'll keep you informed. Perhaps things are different in Madrid and
Barcelona.
Another
leaflet I read today was in my regular café. It advised they were
now getting their coffee from a different supplier - would you
believe a New Zealand company? - and that all their baristas
had been fully trained in using the equipment. Which possibly took
all of ten minutes. I had to look up this word barista and, as
I suspected, it simply means 'A person who serves in a coffee bar'.
Presumably introduced by Starbucks.
Talking
about labels for people - I spent a frustrating 25 minutes today
trying to make an appointment at a hospital in Leeds and dealing
solely with recorded messages. But It wasn't a complete waste of
time, as I learned that receptionists and secretaries are now called
'advisers'. As in "All our advisers are busy at the moment". And that the hospital and I have different concepts of
'soon'.
The
eurozone:
So there is, after all, a Plan B . . . . "A
[German] finance ministry draft shows that Berlin is preparing a
fresh bail-out to stabilise the Greek economy and stem EMU-wide
contagion after a return to the drachma, should the country reject EU
austerity demands." More here.
Finally
. . . We all know that the shorthand for Greek exit is Grexit.
Well, here are a few more suggestions. You saw them here first:-
GREXISTENTIAL
- Relating to the future of Greece
THE
GREURO - The disguised drachma.
GREVENTUALLY
- When Greece will leave the EMU.
A
GREED - A group of Greek politicians.
Other suggestions
welcome.
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