A
couple of days ago, I had to fool Ponte-WiFi
by using three different phone numbers and sign-in codes. But not
even this was enough today. After closing on its standard 15 minutes,
it then did this again ten minutes later. And then refused to work at
all. Could this have anything to do with today being the big holiday
of Galicia's patron saint, St James/Santiago? Who's clearly not the
patron saint of the internet. I wonder who is.
Which
reminds me . . . When new words come into being in Spain, who decides
what gender they'll have? Take weblog
and blog,
for example. I believe these are both masculine but since it could
take a few years for the Royal Academy to recognise them, how did
they get their masculinity? Is there a basic rule that everything is
masculine unless it's obviously feminine? Un
gay,
for example.
But
anyway . . . There was a lovely family dinner in a lovely restaurant
last night in honour of my lovely neighbour Ester's birthday. It
started at 9, finished at 12 and then moved home for dessert and
drinks. And more drinks. Ester's lovely, about-to-depart, Viking au
pair, Hanna, drew the short straw with the liqueurs but made a good
fist (mouth?) of semi-downing an aguadiente(firewater)
which
is also used to clean graffiti from the city's walls.
During
my research of the retail scene, I've naturally come across some
bizarre names for shops. Such as an outlet for kids' clothes called
Sergeant
Major.
And then there's Go
Home.
Given this is now closed, it seem a rather appropriate injunction.
Much better than, say, Come
In and Buy.
By chance I came across one of my posts from 2007
today. When I was already writing about closing shops and opening We Buy-Your-Gold
kiosks.
Five years already!
Asked
about the food eaten during the Franco period tonight, a BBC
contributor said that these, of course, were times of hardship and
even famine. And that, ironically, the 'sort of polenta' commonly
eaten back then was now considered fashionable. Even
though too much of it can make you ill. But I suppose too much
anything – say, wine – can make you ill.
Reader
Sierra has kindly provided this article on Spain's new residency
requirements for us EU citizens, which she says are even more complex
that the provisions on prescription charges. Keep
it Complex,
as I regularly say.
The
Eurozone:
Click here for another (large) dose of pessimism. How justified it is, I
couldn't say.
Finally
. . . I saw this today on the window of a branch of our new Galician
bank, formed by fusing our two savings banks. Handily, it's in
Gallego but if you're a Spanish speaker and, more so, a Portuguese
speaker, you should be able to navigate your way through the ten
undertakings. Which will almost certainly be taken with a huge pinch
of salt by everyone. Except the directors still enriching themselves
and their friends and cronies, one way or another.
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