There's
a junction down near the A Barca commercial centre which is a
thing of either true brilliance or rank stupidity. As you approach
it, with an eye on the traffic coming from the left, there's
vegetation on the central verge. This used to form a partial block
of your view. But vegetation grows and now the block is total. So,
either this is a case of potentially fatal negligence or a clever
example of how to force traffic to stop because it can't see a bloody
thing. You choose. I'm going with brilliance. Honest.
Ana
Botín is the daughter of the chap who set up the Santander Bank
empire. She heads up the UK organisation and announced a week or so
ago that she wanted to 'transform banking in the UK'. Not, one hopes,
in the direction of Spanish banking. Perhaps she could start by
ridding Santander UK of the reputation it has for achieving the most
complaints to the Ombudsman.
I
read recently of a couple of giant tortoises that had split up after
more than a hundred years together. The male, it seems, had turned
his back (shell?) on the female. I was reminded of my first night in
my lodgings in the Seychelles back in '65, when constant love-making
- or efforts at it - between two of these creatures penned below my
window deprived me of most of my sleep.
I've
finally discovered why baby-carriers are so much bigger than the
push-chairs which served my two daughters. These days you can lift
child and chair out the car as a single unit and seat them in a frame
with wheels. Plus, I've been assured, a vehicle like this with big
wheels is easier for a jogging parent - almost said 'mother'! - to
push the bairn ahead of him/her.
Some
interesting facts:-
1: Rembrandt sold
his dead wife's grave and burial plot to pay for the grave of his
mistress.
2:
London is drier than Barcelona, Rome, Istanbul and Dallas. And it
gets only half as much rain as Sydney. Whatever that means in
gallons/litres, it's bound to fall during both Wimbledon and the
Olympics.
Finally
. . . Can anyone vouch for the gentleman who sent me this message
yesterday? Dear
Friend,
I am Mr. Bernard Williams, the Auditor General, Santander
Bank, UK. In the course of my auditing, I discovered a floating fund
in an account, which was opened in 1990 at Abbey National Bank before
it was bought over by Santander Group of which I am the auditor,
belonging to a dead foreigner who died in 1999. Kindly view the
attached memo for more details.
Finally,
finally . . . News of a book written by a fellow blogger and friend
of mine. After he's sent me a free copy, I'll review it. Positively.
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