Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

As I’ve said, for some years now I’ve tried to obey all speed limits when driving. Though I appreciate my record of three fines over the last 12 months might be seen as giving the lie to this. Anyway, I’m particularly careful when driving down the hill to park at the mall before walking across the bridge into town. This is because, firstly, there are children’s playgrounds on both sides of the road. And, secondly, because most of the kids using them come from the nearby gypsy settlements. Rumour has it that it’s not a good thing to even slightly damage one of these with your car. I say ‘rumour’ but we did have the report of a few years ago of an incident down south when a gypsy girl ran out a bar and across the road and was slightly injured by a passing car. The driver of which was then shot six times at close range by her father. Or rather five, as one shot went into the dashboard. Naturally, I try to keep this image in mind as I drive down.

The Ferpes shop I mentioned the other day turns out to specialise in lingerie. Another good reason why it was spelled the Gallego, and not the Castellano, way. En passant, I suspect ‘underwear’ is ropa interior in both languages.

Talking of shops . . . I walked past one this evening called Huevos Grandes, with the byline Dirt Shops. It specialises in motor-cycle gear. The literal translation of the Spanish is ‘Big Eggs’ but I imagine a Spanish reader could give us the real sense. And somebody might be able to explain the Dirt Shops bit.

On the subject of noise, I’ve been twice blessed this week. Not only has Tony gone away to sea but the Catalan kids who normally spend the entire month of July screaming in the pool next door appear to be giving us a miss this year. Which, I guess, is why the above-ground pool is currently being dismantled. There must be some way I can (noisily) celebrate all this. Especially as the change looks permanent.

Finally . . . I thought you might like to know that the budget for the new bus-stop down at the roundabout was 98,252 euros. But I’ve no idea what it actually cost. Secondly, after a brief hiatus, it has now resumed its previous role as a parking space. That said, we’re only in phase 2 of the transmutation, as so far the parking is only single file. It may be a few days before we get to doble and then – sure as big eggs are big eggs - triple fila. With all the chaos that causes on the roundabout.

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