Well, if Tony ever did take on board my request, it didn't take much time for him to revert to form. At 8.15 this morning he was bawling at his two sons as loudly as ever. I felt for my two visitors trying to sleep in. Especially poor Sarah, who has the room on the other side of the wall from the boys.
Historian Paul Preston has a new book out, called "The Spanish Holocaust". The review in IberoSphere is harrowing enough, so one can only imagine what experience the book itself offers. Interestingly enough, the publication coincides with a storm around the section on Franco in a new National Biography Dictionary, published by Spain's Royal Academy. Astonishingly, this has been penned by someone from the far right and takes, not unexpectedly, a sympathetic view of the dictator. Specifically, the author claims that Franco ruled "authoritatively" and not dictatorially. Which will be a surprise to the relatives of all the dead catalogued in Preston's book. That said, I see that the blurb for ITV's documentary series on the Civil War, refers to an "Authoritarian State". Anyway, here's The Guardian on the Franco biog and the outrage it's caused.
There are any number of words in Spanish which mean 'slut' or 'whore', most notably the feminine versions of masculine forms which mean something relatively innocuous. Like golfo and golfa. Lout/slob and tart/whore, respectively. But I came across a new one today - fulana. Needless to say, the masculine form means the relatively tame "a so-and-so", or "such a one".
Finally . . . Regular readers will know I think the Spanish can be amongst the most friendly, generous and 'noble' people on the planet. But also that they can come across as astonishingly inconsiderate of others. Parking my car below the local supermarket this morning, I saw a nearby car straddling two bays. And, despite the fact that parking is at a premium everywhere in this city, I saw four more examples of this as I made the short walk to the lift. My view is that the drivers should get back to find their cars scratched. Though, given their thoughtlessness, there has to be some doubt they'd be capable of putting two and two together.
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