Today
they celebrated the feast of the Our Lady of Mercy on this
side of the river. Meaning the supermarket and petrol station down by
the bridge were closed. Which I discovered after parking and going up
in the lift. The local paper talked of a day of festivities. If so,
they must have got drenched. In the nearby town of Porriño
yesterday, Jesus of the Agony never even got out of his
starting blocks because of the gusty wind and heavy rain.
Which
reminds me . . . You'll recall we had a Festival of Tripe in our
barrio not so long ago. And, just in case you don't know what
this looks like, here it is as served to me as a tapa on
Sunday.
And
here's what it looks like hidden behind a handy Tapas menu.
I
went with the patatas alternative. Meaning crisps/potato
chips.
The
worst consequence of the rain would be the destruction of the wine
crop, as harvesting is now under way. Last year a number of
bodega owners were fined for over-producing (not a concept well-known in
a free market) but this looks rather unlikely this year.
The
Spanish word Joder
means 'To fuck'. Or just 'Fuck!' But, Like coño, it seems to
have a great deal less taboo value here than in Anglo-Saxon
societies. My lovely neighbour, Ester, sent a text message to her 17
year-old daughter yesterday and got in response the
one-word message Joder! Which she found amusing. As I did too,
of course.
I
tend to go on about noise. Especially that from Toni next door. So I was delighted to have this support from a recent leader in El
País:- "We are Noise: The law is not enough to tackle a problem
rooted in our culture and exacerbated by the prohibition of smoking
in bars.” On the same subject, The Xenophobe's Guide to the
Spanish puts it this way:- “Shouting
indoors as well as out in the open must be endured [tell me about
it!] as the Spanish voice box was originally built along the lines of
a quadrophonic sound system.”
The
company implicated in bribing the Mayor of Ourense is called Vendex.
It's been supplying services to 28 cities throughout Spain and the
police say they're currently dealing only with the tip of an iceberg.
I would't mind betting there are 28 icebergs for them to investigate.
There must be some worried mayors around the country.
Which
reminds me . . . A word which crops up a lot in reports of arrests
and charges is prevaricación. This usually means 'corrupt
practice' but, in the case of a judge, would mean 'perversion of the
course of justice'.
Are
there any other countries in the world where the school kids stop for
breakfast? This has only come to my attention because parents are
reported to be sending their offspring off in the morning with
'packed breakfasts', rather than pay the increased prices charged by
the schools for feeding them. I'm guessing they all go home for
(lunch), which will, in fact, be the main meal of the day.
Finally
. . . I was fascinated to see that one of Argentina's football club is called Newell's Old Boys. Shame, though, that the players have N.O.B across
their breast badges.
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