Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, May 28, 2009

In the book I cited yesterday, Simon Jenkins says of Mrs Thatcher that "In truth, she had convictions on everything but ideas on little." And he repeats someone else's comment that she was a politician of conviction but not of convictions. Jenkins claims there's a parallel here with Tony Blair and I wonder whether the same is true of President Zapatero.

Which reminds me . . it was a joy watching Barca play their wonderful football last night but Spanish TV has a bizarre habit of returning time and time again to the same 'celebrity' faces in the crowd, rather than to Mr or Mrs Any-Fan. But as least this gave everyone in the bar the chance to laugh regularly at an excited President Zapatero and to guffaw at a snoozing President Berlusconi. Possibly dreaming of other forms of play.

The other odd thing about the evening was everyone in the bar - except me, of course - applauding Iniesta off the pitch towards the end of the match. He must have good hearing if he was able to appreciate this accolade. They can be very emotional, the Spanish.

I mentioned the other day that time gets consumed in mysterious ways here in Spain, the solution to which is to manage your expectations and to always carry a book. I had another fine example this morning. Needing to replace a car which would cost me between 2,500 and 6,000 euros to fix, I took myself down to the showroom of a local dealer. As it wasn't yet open at 9.30, I asked in the workshop when it would be. "Well, he should be there now" the lady replied. "Perhaps if you wait a few minutes." After 10 minutes, I went back to her and asked if she could at least give me some brochures. Which she did. They were for the wrong car but, hey, it's a start. And it'll give me something to read when I make the compulsory second visit.

By the way . . . I still have the wood and leather chairs from Iran that I mentioned yesterday. In need of the money to buy a new car, I'd be happy to let them go at, say, 500 euros each.

Finally, I was going to say that the latest addition to my long list of woes was an inoperative lawnmower. But I gave it a good talking to and a hefty kick and this spurred it into life - whilst very effectively removing the plastic cowl from the engine pod. Sadly, though, the treatment didn't work for the DVD my daughter and her friends want to use.

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