Well,
the begging industry here in Pontevedra reached a new high today. Or
should that be a new low? Walking back from the main square, I was
met by two midgets. Well, by one of them; the other was
accosting someone a couple of metres away. I immediately recalled the
warning I'd read about practitioners of the old phoney charity
racket. One where the chuggers indicate they're deaf and dumb,
handily hiding the fact they're Rumanian and can't speak Spanish. I
raised my gaze and took my leave.
In
the UK, the neighbours of a woman who constantly shouts at her
husband have succeeded in getting a 'noise abatement order' slapped
on her. Here in Spain we can only dream of such things.
To
the disappointment of some, the world didn't shuffle off its mortal
coil today. But no doubt some other date will now be chosen by those
who hold apocalyptic views. I guess no one will be surprised to hear
there are more of these in America than anywhere else. Astonishingly,
some 55% of Americans are said to believe in the Rapture, which is
the bodily ascent to Heaven of the saved. And which was pilloried in
a recent edition of Family Guy on the BBC.
I
read somewhere today that Brussels thinks that austerity is doing the
trick in Spain, in that unit wage costs have started to fall towards German
levels. Perhaps, but one wonders how much this owes to salary and
bonus reductions in the public sector, as opposed to the private
sector, where competitiveness matters rather more. I say this after
reading in today's Voz de Galicia
that the region's civil servants are to be hit with a third reduction
(of 7%) inside two years.
The
Voz also told us of a
3.4% increase in water charges as of January. Way above inflation. We
won't get any information from the company, of course. We never do. I
should say 'companies' as I read last week that water charges are
different in each of Galicia's cities. And surely no single company could
operate this way, could it? Especially as rates are twice as high in
Vigo as in Ourense.
Cádiz
is a major port on the west coast of Spain, famous as the place where
the navies of both France and Spain hid from Nelson for several
months, before someone had the bright idea to throw caution to the winds and bolt for the
Mediterranean. Anyway, over the years, it's received many millions of
euros from the EU, to invest in its zona franca, or free port. Surprisingly,
this didn't run to the cost of a decent accountant because, when
Brussels asked where their money had gone, no one could say. So now
the management has been asked to pay back 80% of what they got.
Reportedly, they've admitted that
the money was spent on vanity projects, wages, the financing of outstanding bank debt (currently 150m
euros), utility bills and “otherwise just fizzled away”. Whelk
stalls spring to mind. Anyway, what chance is there of any money
heading back north? And how long before we hear complaints that Brussels
is 'not showing solidarity”?
Finally
. . . A nice Spanish joke doing the rounds:- The Guinness Book of
World Records decides to call in record-holders, so they can
prove they still merit the garland. So, record holder no. 1 goes in
and comes out with a smile. Ditto no. 2 and no. 3. Then comes the
turn of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. The door opens and out comes an
enraged Ali Baba, spitting out the question – Who the fuck is
Bankía?
For
those not in the know – Bankía is a fusion of several of Spain's
piss-poor regional savings banks and several of its board members are
arraigned on various charges. More here
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