Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Life in Spain – No. 578: When I went to my local gym to ask about their timetable and fees, I was given the option of going only in the mornings. Which would be cheaper than the more crowded evening sessions. The ‘morning’ period stretched from 7.30am to 5.30pm. Though the ‘evening’ session lasted until 11pm - just before peak TV viewing time in Spain. Incidentally, the gym caters mainly for the pijos and pijas of Pontevedra’s most expensive barrio nearby. So it’s a little ironic that the gypsy drug-dealing takes place in its shadow. Or is it?

My pupil didn’t turn up again today. But her mother did. To explain that Maria had yet another exam tomorrow. It was, in fact, the season of exams, she said. So perhaps we could leave the lessons for three or four weeks. Perhaps we should leave them forever, I replied. Which I’m sure is what will really happen. Still, I managed to get the mother interested in a place for Maria on a summer school which my elder daughter and her partner are planning to have in the UK next year. So not entirely a waste of an afternoon. Plus I was told she now had two, and not just one, friends who wanted to meet me. I do hope they don't want bloody English lessons for their rug rats..

Courtesy of my friend, Dwight, here’s a fascinating article on the myth of EU contagion, inter alia. The writer perceives Europe’s leaders to be standing in the worse place possible and taking decisions which are neither fish nor foul – with predictable results. “A currency union does not require a debt union”, he insists. Adding that “The major danger to the euro right now is that the European Central Bank is buying weak sovereign debt—not that Ireland or Spain might restructure. The euro as a currency is stronger if it is insulated from sovereign default.”

Finally . . . A foto of one of at least two bridal shops in Pontevedra. With so many other retail outlets closing, how on earth do both of these survive? Money laundering? If so, white’s an appropriate colour.

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