Noticing
there were at least two drivers on the roundabout talking on their
mobile phones this morning, I took to wondering about why this offence is so
common here. It it because, unlike in the UK, no stigma attaches to
those committing it? They aren't seen as reckless fools either by
their passengers or by their fellow drivers. If so, is Spain less
'developed' in its attitudes? Or is the UK over developed?
You'll
all know of the internet dating site which only allows people it
considers beautiful to become members. (Query: Can its criteria be
all that demanding when they have five million members?) Anyway,
they've provided some top and bottom data. Turns out that Northern
Irish men are the ugliest and Brazilians the most handsome. As for
women, Scandinavians dominate, with Norwegian ladies being the
prettiest, followed by Swedish women. The ugliest ladies are said to
be German, followed by British lasses. All highly subjective I guess.
Spain
is said to be experiencing a resurgence in the sport of wild-boar
hunting on horseback. Although those idiots who lambasted Jamie
Oliver for simply making a reference to bullfighting may see this an endorsement-by-mere-mention, it decidedly isn't.
I
had an email this morning from a lady offering to write something for my blog. She suggests "An
article that looks at how the Internet has changed the way English is
used today; not only has its syntax changed as a result of the
Internet Revolution, but the amount of job opportunities has also
shifted as a result of this shift." You'll appreciate that
anyone who wants to write about English but uses 'amount of' instead
of 'number of' - never mind shifted
and shift
within seven words - is never going to get my vote.
It's
not only the Spanish who go in for 'spontaneous' performances in
public places. Here's the Greeks at it too.
I've
said that not every shop in town that closes is immediately boarded
up. A few new ones have opened up. Among these is one large
delicatessen and another place which the owner described to me as
'half delicatessen, half gifts'. I don't expect either of them to
survive.
My
neighbour, the lovely Ester, has taken a couple of weeks holiday and
has apparently decided to spend a good part of them tarting up my
garden. Having suggested that I get a ladder to take down the passion
flour tendrils that had snaked up the branches of my copper beech
tree, she then proceeded to do this herself. Saying she had less
concern about climbing the ladder herself than about watching me do
it. That done, she moved on to pulling all the passion flowers out of
my hedge. Noticing she was still in her pyjamas, I told her I'd
decided to Christen her La Señora de las Pijamas.
Some
advice, mostly for men: If your shaving stick and your roll-on
deodorant are very much the same size and shape, it's best not to
have them next to each other on the shelf. For you are likely to rub
soap into your armpit at least twice.
Finally
. . . Although the jays are possibly still around, there's been very
little bird activity on the 'feeding station'. Some compensation came
today with the arrival of a blackbird through the back door of the
house and its departure through the front door, after a few circles
of the premises. We live in hope.
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