Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

This is the first post of what is turning out to be a most frustrating day . . .

One major irony associated with Ryanair's decision to locate its NW Iberia hub in Oporto is that the airport expects to benefit enormously from next year's Xacobeo Year, in which Catholics can get extra time off their Purgatory sentence if they make the pilgrimage to Santiago. Reminding us once again that it was the RC Church which invented Marketing.

Our major local paper - The Voz de Galicia - reports today that the airline's decision is a major blow to our economy and that our three airport cities are now demanding a plan from the Xunta which will allow them to compete. Rather too late for this, I would have thought. This horse has bolted, jumping over spilt milk as he fled. Of course, the Voz didn't see this as a really important development and so put it on page 4. The major front-page news was that the new Miss Universe from Venezuela has grandparents in Galicia and might well come and visit them. We all get the governments we deserve. So, God help us.

But why, I hear you ask, did Ryanair favour Oporto over, say, Santiago? Well, my guess is that they found someone who could - unlike our new President - speak to them in English. And that the Portuguese were not distracted by arguments about whether the official documents should be in Gallego or Spanish. But I could be wrong. It could just be rank stupidity and inefficiency on the part of our businessmen and politicians.

More later.

No comments: