Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, March 21, 2009

They’re a pugnacious lot, these Celts. At the Championship-deciding rugby game between Ireland and Wales this evening, there was a fight within the first minute. Of course, genetic studies have now revealed that the English have just as much Celtic blood as either of these nations but we like to pretend we don’t. And blame our bellicose tendencies on the booze. Many Galicians also like to think of themselves as Celts but they seem to come from a far more peaceable strain.

So, BAA – owned by the Spanish company Ferrovial – has been ordered by the UK competition authorities to sell one of its London airports as well as others in Britain. Some have said this is shoddy treatment of a foreign investor – a view which may gain traction in Spain – but others have suggested Ferrovial brought it on itself by maximising its profit at the expense of customer service, falsely assuming that the British competition authorities would be as tolerant of this strategy as those back home in Spain. Perhaps it’s both. Or maybe it was just a case of a company flush with funds being dumb enough to listen to the now-discredited investment bankers who love to see cash churning.

The good news for Galicia’s bureaucrats is that they’ll soon be able to take Ryanair flights from Santiago airport to Brussels. Which will obviate their need to drive down to Oporto in cars whose blackened windows screen off their embarrassment. On the other hand, even in these straitened times, will the region’s politicians be willing to travel cattle class?

Telefónica has announced it will be giving discounts to the unemployed, at least for a few months. No sign, as yet, that it’ll be offering the same to British pensioners whose income has dropped by 40% because of the fall of the pound against the euro. Bastards.

Finally, I’ve read that an English lady, Margaret Gimson, who’s lived in Galicia for many years and is an expert on camellias has written about her experiences here, in a book entitled “Los nuevos vecinos de Eugenio en la Galicia de España”. More info when available.

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