Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Dropping my daughter off at Malaga airport yesterday, I caught sight of another of the trolley-guys who are said to live there. Someone had given him enough money for a Coke. I also noted a large banner suggesting that the British go home and stop trying to 'colonise' Iberia, the Spanish loss-making airline. This is because the company which owns both British Airways and Iberia, wants to reduce the notoriously high salaries of Iberia employees and also to lay some of them off. It struck me that no one here protested against Spanish colonisation of British companies when, for example, AENA took over several airport operations and Santander bought out at least three British banks. Spain is different, as they say. Anyway, you don't look for logic in protesters.

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."

No comments: