Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Second post of the day . . .

The Duchess of Alba is said to be the richest woman in Spain. She’s in her eighties and has had enough expensive cosmetic surgery to leave her with a characteristic perma-stare. Though what accounts for her odd voice, God alone knows. Anyway, she’s upset her children by taking up with a man who, though considerably her junior, loves her deeply for what she is. I mention all this because I’ve read that she’s just been in for a bit of brain surgery and I’m wondering whether she knew anything about it.

The EU parliament has been treated to a "hard-hitting condemnation of Spain’s urban planning practices, weak property rights, and unresponsive legal system”. Click here if you want to know about the rather predictable reaction of Spanish MEPs from both major parties. Interestingly, this report coincides with a survey which suggests the British dream of buying property in the south of Spain has not been much affected by ‘scare stories’ in the UK media. Which must be music to the ears of many bureaucrats, developers, estate agents, lawyers and assorted crooks down there. Some of which are the same people. Or at least related.

This last week has seen two quotes from Spanish female singers which left me rather quizzical . .
Niña Pastori – Flamenco is suffering because gypsies are no longer poor.
Concha Buika – Galicia is one of the most African places in Spain.

Another thing I’d appreciate enlightenment on is when it is that Spanish uses capital letters, outside the obvious ones I mean. Tonight I saw that not only Government and State merited this treatment but also the Market. And Labour and Capital?

As I’ve noted a couple of times, Galicia has three small airports for a population of 3 million. They seem to spend a good deal of time and effort competing with each other. Not far south of us, Portugal has a truly international airport outside Oporto and this is growing far more rapidly than the three Galician facilities combined. There’s probably a lesson to be drawn from this but no one here gives any impression of understanding what it is. Too busy fighting their own corner, perhaps.

Which reminds me – A woman down in Pontevedra city was recently arrested for repeatedly scratching her neighbours’ cars. For parking outside her garage would be my guess.

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