Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, May 05, 2011

My old friend, Noise in Spain . . .   I was in a wi fi bar with my daughter this morning and, when she spoke to me, she whispered. As I did when I answered her. Then later, when my sister called me on Skype, I was told in no uncertain terms - albeit in a whisper - that the unspoken rule in the place was no phone calls. Which all seemed rather ironic as, in a far corner of the bar, there were a couple of young ladies shouting to each other in that very Spanish way of not caring who hears your conversation, private or otherwise. One almost forgets these little cultural differences.

After years of exhortations from both of my daughters and one of my sisters, I have finally joined the Apple Mac "community". I had thought it would stand out in any wi fi café we used but this is not so. Malasaña, it seems, is the Hampstead of Madrid and Macs are simply de rigeur. Thank-God mine is the latest MacBook Pro and has back-lit keys to differentiate it from all the others!

Talking of daughters, it was nice to see Hannah's comment on last week's clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona endorsed today, after their latest meeting - "Javier Mascherano again auditioned for a pantomime." But at least some football broke out this time and Real Madrid regained a modicum of pride. Rumour here has it that Mourinho will not be summarily sacked but will be given another year to bring home some decent silverware. If so, I wouldn't rule out him walking before the end of next season. After all, he must be living on borrowed time.

Meanwhile, onto Wembley, where "A rare mixture of indefatigable work ethic, great togetherness, humility and, of course, world class talent is going to grace the Championship final." Hopefully from both sides.

The immediate Bin Laden joke in Liverpool was - "Who said you couldn't take out a bin on a bank holiday?" For American readers, a 'bin' is a garbage can. I suspect Trevor apSimon over at
Kalebeul will be collecting and fearlessly posting all of the jokes quite soon. So why not visit his site before it disappears?

Talking about the UK, it's reported that Britain is the only industrialised country where working hours are longer than in the 80s. At 35, this is 7 hours more than Finland, 6 hours more than the Netherlands and 4 hours more than Germany. And possibly 15 more than the lazy Frogs.

Thanks to a Find-Out-Who's-Checking-Your-Profile app, I now know that the blasted scammers/spammers who blight out net lives can now use Facebook for their malevolent ends. So don't be tempted to find out who your 'stalkers' are.

The English language - Is 'strived' really an acceptable alternative to 'strove'? Or has it just sneaked/snuck into the language by stealth?

Finally  . . . A slight correction -  The Izadi Crianza 2006 is just under 9 euros in Spain, against 11 quid in the UK. Here in Madrid, at least. May be cheaper elsewhere.

Finally, finally . . . Here's a sentiment that will surely appeal to all morriña-prone Gallegos - "Nostalgia is the key to a happy future."

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