Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Intriguing to see that more than three hundred gays are planning to hold a “flashmob” protest in front of the Pope when he comes to (rather belatedly) consecrate Barcelona’s famous Sagrada Familia church at the weekend. This, it seems, will be a festival of same-sex throat tennis. But I fear it may lack the desired impact, as His Holiness must by now be inured to reports of males doing things he wouldn’t want to do to other males.

A front page headline in one of our local papers today – “Foreign multinationals now control 72% of Galicia’s water supply”. Apart from France – which really is foreign, of course – these companies turn out to be based in Madrid and Cataluña. And so are presumed, I guess, to be more rapacious than those of local origin. Or possibly less susceptible to local political pressure.

Ten more police have been arrested in connection with the multi-crime mafia operation in Lugo, bringing the total up to twenty three, I believe. By analogy with the alleged institutional racism of the British police, you could say, I guess, that their Lugo brethren have been infected with institutional prostitution.

Finally . . . Forgive me for boring you with the fact that, as a retiree who’s not yet 65, I’m compelled to have private medical insurance. Needing to visit a doctor for the first time in years today, I decided to check on the company’s web page for relevant practitioners, only to find their list drastically shorter than the last one they sent me in 2003. The explanation, it seems, is that most doctors in Pontevedra no longer work with my insurance company, Mapfre.  You might think the company could have advised me of this significant reduction in the level of their ever-more-expensive service. But this would be to suffer from excessive expectations. In the same way, you might think that the bank in which my term deposit expired yesterday could let me know and advise of the options open to me, rather than shunting the money into a non-interest bearing account until such time as I realise what’s going on. I said a few days ago that Spaniards are more self-reliant than others. Hardly surprising really. The Devil has a good chance of taking the hindmost here.

Tailnote for new readers: My daughter tells me she’s had over 600 hits to her new novel. Which must say something. The first nine chapters of this fine work can now be downloaded in pdf form, for easy reading. It’s a “Fast-paced political thriller but, above all, a personal tale of pride and paranoia.” Set in a fictionalised Cuba, it’s being e-published at the rate of at least a couple of chapters a week. If this entices you, click here.

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