Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, August 15, 2012


A series of shorts tonight . . .
  • Nice cartoon in the Voz de Galicia: It's a nice paradox that Spain is being kept afloat by the submerged economy.
  • What's in a number? The UK media said there were about one billion viewers for the Olympics opening ceremony. Here in Spain the number was four billion. Hard to reconcile. What surprised me was that the Spanish number wasn't quoted to two decimal places – to give a specious veneer of verisimilitude.
  • Another paradox? Noise problems for residents have increased because smokers are now compelled to drink and dine outside. With a loud TV next to them.
  • The Café Moderno in town is still a haven of peace and quiet. Provided you get in and out by around 12.30, which is when the mothers start bringing babies in prams or push chairs. Or, worse, toddlers with feet and vocal chords. I say 'Café Moderno' but it's now been renamed Café Tortini. Dunno why.
  • Funny to read within a few minutes that Wayne Rooney earns 20 million dollars a year, that Brad Pitt has bought a watch costing 200,000 dollars and that the (Communist) mayor of a town in Spain has broken into a supermarket, with friends, so as to give food to the poor of his town. Oh, and that old fraud, Fidel Castro, has a net worth of 750 million dollars. How and why, one wonders.
  • The Guide to my iPod Shuffle warns I risk damage to my hearing if I increase the volume when ambient noise rises. Bloody 'ell, I'd hardly hear a thing if I didn't do this in Spain.
  • The motif on the wall of the office of the local cable company R was flying pigs. Makes you wonder.
  • Query: Would the BBC/CBC allow its (female) newscasters to undo the two top buttons of their blouse, to reveal their decolletage?
  • The man behind EuroVegas, Sheldon Adelson, has said that, whether he plumps for Madrid or Barcelona, he wants to allow smoking in the casinos. The European Union says that this concerns them. I'm betting on a concession.
  • Is there any Spanish speaker out there who knows what “To buy an exquisite jamaicana” means? I assume we're not talking bordeles here.
  • Did you know the word pinguid exists in English, meaning 'fat', 'greasy, 'oily'? I only know this because today I looked up the Spanish word pingüe and found it means 'plentiful'. And pinguid.
  • There are plans to build a city only for women in Saudi Arabia. It's said this will increase their freedom but I'm not clear how. Perhaps they won't have to wear the veil, etc. as there won't be any male eyes to ogle them with rapacious intent.
  • A local village called Mogor honours one of the many thousands of virgins that populate Spain. This one is called the Virgin of the Six Swords. But it's not clear whether she carries these three to each hand or whether they're stuck into her.
  • Unaware that they are being racist, the Spanish are apt to say things like “OK, Britain got 29 gold medals but most of these weren't won by real Brits."
Finally . . . here's a foto of a chap who stands near the main square, selling trinkets and making money from fotos of his salamander, who usually sits on his shoulder. This creature is of marginal interest in the summer, when there might be enough heat for it to occasionally shift its position. In winter, though, it moves less than your average corpse.


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