Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

 I went to Vigo airport at 11 yesterday morning to pick up my elder daughter. Which was a shame as she was due to arrive at 11pm. But at least my two trips allowed me to re-acquaint myself with a new parking facility there which has been ruthlessly designed to maximise both confusion and accidents. And that’s before you take into account the drivers who have an eccentric view of the one-way system both into the car-park and around the its three floors. Especially those who try to enter through the exit lane. Or block the latter so as to load passengers and their luggage. Saving all of ten seconds in the process.

But good news! The fence was finally fixed today, exactly four months after I sent my letter to the community president. Fittingly, it was electricity from my house which drove the gardener’s drill. I would post a foto but I suspect this would be even more boring than the previous one.

It turns out that last night’s meeting was not just for residents of our community but for all the folk who live on the hillside and who are being threatened with forestry-clearing bills from the local council. A new annual tax, in other words. No wonder I didn’t recognise anyone there. And no wonder the fence wasn’t on the agenda!

Talking to an estate-agent friend about the new flat blocks still going up in Pontevedra despite the massive overhang of new properties on the market, I learnt that no-one is buying them – either ‘off-plan’ or when finished – and that they’re being built “very, very, slowly”. Since “very slowly” is the norm here, I’m not clear what “very, very slowly” really means. Nor do I know where the finance is coming from. Presumably from the retained earnings of those construction companies which have survived the culling. And who presumably hope to make a killing in X years time. I can’t say I wish them good luck.

Finally . . . It’s not only exotic Indian and Korean restaurants which fail in Pontevedra. The Ambrosia vegetarian restaurant (down, aptly enough, in Vegetables Square) has now become O Pinchoviño and offers exactly the same tapas menu as all the other two thousand bars in the old quarter. The Ambrosia staved off death for a while by adding meat lasagne to its menu. But this was clearly not enough and it finally went the way of the previous valiant veggie effort to offer more healthy – or at least greener – food. Así son las cosas. But I should probably admit I never ate at either of them.

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