Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

One of life's oddities is that so many people around the world seem happy to sport the British flag – the Union Jack – on their clothes. Even as their clothes. Few, though, will have looked quite as bad as Leslie Garrett did when singing the British anthem in honour of Bradley Wiggin's victory in the Tour de France on Sunday. So garish and awful was her dress that it almost distracted me from the ghastliness of her sub-operatic performance.

I see that a new ailment has been invented, for which someone - literally – has the solution. It's Tired Eyes. Tired ears next? Ugly lobes?

And since we're talking of eyes, here - a propos of nothing - is a nice pair.



Which sort of reminds me – The Queen's face looks remarkably smooth for her 87 years. Does Botox have the royal seal of approval, I wonder.

A week or so ago, I wrote that Pontevedra had not one but three separate tourist offices, all competing with each other. But I was wrong. There are four. The Turismo of the Galician Xunta is so narrowly focused, I couldn't find any brochures there in any language other than Gallego. Perhaps they've taken to heart the prediction that belt-tightening Spaniards won't be coming from other parts of the country. Though there was a couple of these at the desk, being attended to in Spanish. The brochure which interested me most was for a museum exhibition in the vast white elephant on the outskirts of Santiago, which is Galicia's most expensive vanity project. And which the local government is desperately trying to find a use for. If you're trying to find it, it's called A Cidade da Cultura da Galicia and it's on Monte Gaiás. And you should know that Luns pechado mean it's closed on Mondays.

Another observation on the changing retail scene in Pontevedra – Somewhat to my surprise, we're now blessed with some new travel and estate agents. The former may turn out to be temporary and the latter must know something I don't know. I certainly can't see them doing much business in August.

I mentioned Pontevedra's pretty women yesterday (I should mount a gallery, I guess) and just want to add that the attractiveness of their dogs seems to be in an inverse relationship. Boy, are they ugly, comprising, for the most part, fashionable pugs and French bulldogs. Occasionally, someone goes the whole hog of dragging round a British bulldog. Than which there's no more repulsive canine on the planet.

Well, I've been joshing for almost a page and ignoring the fact that Spain stands on the verge of sovereign bankruptcy. If you've read a newspaper or seen the TV news today, you can't have failed to notice this. Rather than add my own analysis and predictions, here's a few articles for those with an interest in knowing more:-
- Eurozone danger mounts as Spain spins out of control. The battle for Spain is already lost.
- No amount of austerity measures and reforms has managed to keep Spain out of the eurozone debt crisis and the free-spending of the country’s autonomous regions could be the catalyst for the much-feared bailout.
- Blaming the Spanish vctim as Europe spirals into a summer crisis.

Coming down from those heights, we reach the question of whether “Barr pled guilty” is correct English. Or is it perhaps Scottish usage?

Finally . . . I was reading an English paper on line this morning when I was suddenly confronted with an ad for something involving that dreadful woman Belén Estéban. What is my world coming to? And how and why?

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