The
other blow to a monarchy already on its knees was a dire performance
by the king in his address to the military on Monday, where he
hesitated, stammered and repeated parts of the text. The odds on him
abdicating soon have surely shortened. Perhaps a tad surprisingly,
his son the crown prince still retains his popularity with the
Spanish people. Though this could change if his reported marital
difficulties result in divorce.
Talking
of reports . . . El País tells us that the wife of the
Spanish president has had not just one but two abortions, one of them
as late as 6 months. Not surprisingly, the man who's now driving the
abortion law revisions has been labelled a hypocrite.
We're
all familiar with stories of hailstones the size of tennis balls. Or
golf balls as least. Well, the storm that hit Pontevedra last week -
and which I missed - certainly seems to have
deserved the description. All of my (plastic) drainpipes are riddled
with large holes. And even more tiles have disappeared from the roof.
So now I'm gearing up for a battle with the insurance company.
Tidying
up my book shelves, I came across something I bought many years ago -
The Little Green Book of the Sayings of Ayotollah Khomenei of
Iran- The man who effectively deposed the Shah in 1979. Contrary to
appearances, this is not a spoof but a genuine collection of the old
man's dicta. I thought I'd quote them one by one over the coming
weeks. So, here's the first one:-
During
joint prayer the woman must position herself behind the man. If the
woman and the man enter the place of worship at the same time and the
woman happens to find herself in front of the man, she must say her
prayer again, after placing herself where she belongs, i. e. behind
the man.
Perhaps
I should stress that Iranians are Shia Moslems, not Sunni. Attitudes
may be different among the latter. Though I doubt it.
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