As
in the UK and France, this has been a poor July in Galicia. In the
words of a headline in the Voz de Galicia - An English
summer has installed itself in Galicia. In sympathy, the English
weather has turned to the Far East for inspiration. And has delivered
deluges which resemble the monsoon rains of, say, Indonesia. Flooding
is widespread and havoc has been wreaked on the Formula 1 race
scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday. More seriously, since many (most?)
Spanish families make their holiday bookings rather late, unless
things improve quickly, the impact on Galicia bookings for August
could be disastrous.
The
electrician who stole the Codice from Santiago university last
year is also accused of stealing from the collection boxes over the
last 25 years. Appearing in court yesterday, he was accused of an
'offence against intimacy'. Or 'intimidad'. Anyone got a good
translation of this?
How
good to read that the Cruise-Brookes divorce has "hit
Scientology where it hurts." I saw a reference today to Kolob,
the star, or possibly planet, which is believed to be closest to the
throne of God. And which astronomers have yet to locate. But this
turned out to be a Mormon, rather than a Scientology, belief.
Which
reminds me . . . I also learned today there's a British woman on
Spanish TV who's celebrated as a medium, even though she can't speak
a word of Spanish. At the risk of making her more famous, here's some garbage from her
web page. I find it hard to contain my anger at what I see as
exploitation of the vulnerable. But no doubt she would see things
differently. The channel is Tele5, which is, I believe, part of
Berlusconi's empire. Who presumably couldn't care less whether she's
honest or not. So long as the viewing figures are good.
I
regularly use the word 'Ta' for 'Thank-you' and thought this was a
universal bit of shorthand. So I was a surprised recently when a
reader asked me what it meant. I replied that is was Scouse for
Thank-you and that I believed it was derived from a Scandinavian
word. So it was good this evening to get confirmation from a charming
young Finnish lady who's spending the summer next door at the lovely
Ester's that the Swedish for Thank-you is tack. For those
interested in knowing more Scouse, here's a dictionary.
My
regular morning wi-fi café offers a coffee, a croissant and a (very)
small glass of fresh orange juice for the price of 1.10 euros. This
morning, though, I wasn't given any juice. When I pointed this out,
the barista acknowledged this and, a minute or so later, put a
normal glass of juice next to my coffee. "No," I said "I
wanted the normal small glass." "I haven't done them,"
was the confounding reply. So it seems that orange juice is not
provided at weekends. And, sure enough, I was charged for the glass I
did or didn't ask for. You win some and you lose some.
Finally
. . . I accepted the Guardian's challenge today to take the
History quiz given to those who want to become British citizens. I
obviously wouldn't be telling you this if I'd failed, but I was
pleased to score 13 out of 15. So can keep my citizenship. Now I have
to decide if I want to. Or if I prefer to become a Spanish citizen,
based on more than ten years of residence.
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