Whle
driving north today, I listened to a Spanish woman at Swansea
university talking about the way the British and the Spanish receive
compliments. It came as no surprise to hear that the former are
woeful at it but the latter pretty damn good, If only because dealing
in compliments and superlatives is part of the Spanish way of life.
But I did learn that Spanish men tend to go in for 'ironic upgrades'.
For example, if you congratulate your (male) partner after a game of
tennis, he's likely to respond with something like - “Yes, I'm
brilliant, aren't I? Invincible.” I'll have to keep my ears open
for that.
I'm
in Talavera de la Reina for the night, 600km closer to Pontevedra.
When I was checking in to my hotel, I had to ask about wi-fi and was
then given a handwritten note of the network name and the password.
It struck me as daft they choose to write these out each time.
Especially when – as you'll have guessed – the network name was
wrong. Fortunately, the password wasn't, saving me a trip down to
Reception.
Does
anyone know Laisa Rika? I ask because she's suggested I join a Google
circle (no, I've no idea either) and I've never heard of her.
Stranger still, neither has the internet. If you google her name, you
get 4 citations, none of which have anything to do with her. Is is
really possible to remain unknown in this day and age? Incidentally,
3 of the citations are of tuporn.tv. Which is probably a clue.
Finally . . . Are we edging towards serious social unrest here in Spain?
- "At least 40 people have been arrested and 12 injured, including
a child, during yesterday's massive protest which filled the streets
of Madrid calling for an end to unemployment and funding cuts in
healthcare, welfare and education. The demonstration went nationwide
and around 80 towns and cities in Spain reportedly joined in".
More here."
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