One
of the towns Arnold visits is Villaviciosa, scene of a famous regal
mis-landing. Whenever I see the name of this place, I think of one of
the songs of the Liverpool folk group, The
Spinners.
There's a big prize for the first reader to come up with it. Not too difficult.
Spain
is scrapping its only aircraft carrier. The work was expected to go
to the Cádiz shipyards but it's actually heading for Ferrol, which I
visited a few weeks ago. The main – and simple – reason for this
appears to be that Ferrol is in Galicia and that's where President
Rajoy is from. And there's a lot of support there for his right-of-centre PP party.
In the town where Franco was born.
My
overnight guest told me this morning she'd been disturbed by Toni and
a child shouting at each other at 1am this morning. I had to tell her
that Toni is away at sea and that what she'd experienced (as I had) was Toni
junior(17) bawling out his young brother(8). Each of whom has
'inherited' a predilection for shouting in place of talking. Still,
it could be worse; they could have formed a rock group.
At
least one Spanish industry has benefited from the extraordinary 50%+ unemployment rate for young people. Up on the north coast coast, the numbers of
surfers have rocketed up. Another industry showing high growth is
that of car and house robberies, particularly along the coasts where
there's a high percentage of second (i. e. unoccupied) properties.
Talking of property, Brits
remain the leading foreign buyers but the
second position has now been taken from the French by the Russians.
Which explains all the menus in Cyrillic I saw up in the
North East a month of so ago.
It's
reported that the top speed on Spain's autopistas may rise from
120 to 140kph. The rationale seems to be that this will make the
highways more appealing and so both the state and the toll companies
will get more income. Safety? Not a consideration, apparently. There would be uproar in the UK. Probably the USA too.
Saudi
Arabia: Which century would it be in if it weren't for oil? Saudi
husbands will now be advised by text if their wives are trying to
leave the country. Even if they're doing this together.
Finally
. . . Watching the international rugby yesterday, I noticed – you
could hardly miss it – a huge advertisement for Dove
Skincare for Men in the centre of the field.
Utterly impossible to imagine 30 years ago. Maybe even 20. You have
to hand it to the marketing men. And to the susceptibility and gullibility of all
others. Well, most of them.
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