Another
thought on the revenue-raising capacity of the police – If they do
as I suggest and station themselves down by the roundabout to catch
all those drivers using a mobile phone, they can also collar all the
imbeciles who – for no benefit to themselves - block my access to
the roundabout and the bridge into town. By the end of the year,
they'll have enough to pay off the entire national debt. By the way,
during 40 years of driving in other countries before I came here, I
garnered not a single fine. I was stopped for speeding once in both the UK
and the US and given a gentle warning. Contrast the situation here,
where I've picked up 7 fines in less than 10 years. I once wrote that
the only way to avoid speeding fines here in Spain was to drive
everywhere at 50kph. I would add now that the only way to make sure you
don't end up paying 'road taxes' is to stay off the roads. I wonder
when they'll start policing the ridiculous 30kph(19mph) limit on the
road to and from the roundabout. Possibly never, as we have a judge
living here.
Sticking
with driving – I read somewhere an expert's view of the 5 biggest
errors committed by Spanish drivers. The worst was said to be not
driving through a roundabout correctly. As I've said a couple of
times, the crazy Spanish law is that everyone who isn't making a
U-turn has to funnel into the outer lane, even if they're leaving
via, say, the 5th exit. This, I suspect, is another
example of Spain being 'different'. And it's not only foreigners who
are confused.
I
had lunch today with my friend Fran, an Anglophile, a Liverpool-phile
(in every sense) and the driving force behind Los Porcos Bravos,
a football team who play against the Sheffield Stags twice a
year for the Anglo-Galician Cup. We covered a lot of ground but were
firmly in agreement on one item – someone needs to write at least a dissertation on the similarities (and differences) between Scouse and
Galician humour. I fear it will have to be me.
I
saw a bit of the Thatcher cortege. What impressed me most was
the sight of policemen dressed as they used to be, without the
swathes of protective clothing and the 20 bits of equipment they
sport nowadays. They looked very slim. And vulnerable.
Telefonica
called me this evening, ostensibly to ask how satisfied I was with
their services but really to sell me their new Fusión
package. I told the lady I wasn't satisfied with the low internet
download speed and she said that there was nothing they could do as 1
mega was the max in my barrio. As if that were a proper
answer, since the remedy's in their hands. Anyway, when I got off the
phone and tried to test the speed, it was so low I couldn't get the
relevant page. When I did, it (eventually) registered the
ludicrous speed of 71kbps. I was tempted to try and get her back on
the phone.
Finally
. . .
Bon
Mots
Governments
have done far more to curb concealed movements of workers across
borders than concealed movement of corporate money.
[On religion] Who
expects a person to be reasoned out of something they were not
reasoned into?
Who
would have thought, in 1989, that the eastern half of Europe would
survive a financial storm better than the western half?
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