The
Pontevedra retail scene continues to confound me. We now have at
least 5 frozen yoghurt or chocolatiere places - and one which
combines both - while common-or-garden cafés continue to close. And
then there are the new sweet(candy) shops. Will they all survive the
onset of autumn and winter? I suspect not.
Talking
of Pontevedra . . . The internaional average for the percentage of
the work force employed in public administration is 18%. In
Galicia as a whole, it's 22%. And for Pontevedra city, I wouldn't be
overly surprised if it were over 90%. I exaggerate, of course, but
perhaps not by very much. As I say, the percentage of those working in the retail
sector falls by the day.
What
constitutes a 'recession'? There is a technical definition, of
course. So you'd think there'd be no room for differences on how long
Spain has been in recession. And yet I read yesterday that it was 2
years and then later heard on a BBC podcast it was 4 years. Not
exactly a minor difference.
Spain's
(in)famous left-wing judge, Báltasar Garzón, has been trying to get
the national rail carrier, Renfe, into the dock alongside the
railtrack company, Adif, and the driver of the train which crashed so
spectacularly in Santiago a month or so ago. So far he's not had any
success but I suspect he'll stick to his last, even though there
may be opposing forces at work stronger than those of the enquiring judge.
Given
the number of motoring fines I've garnered in the last 10 years, I
wasn't pleased to hear that the police now not only don't need to
stop you for some (alleged) offence but that all they need to do is
post notice of your fine in the national bulletin. Should this not be
your daily reading, your fine and late-payment penalties will tot up
relentlessly. So it was that the writer of a recent letter to El País
had his reach 1,600 euros, from a base of 100. You can, theoretically,
get details of your situation from the web page of the Traffic
Department but my details have never been recognised there. This site may
be of greater help to those now worried by this news. I believe it
searches the national bulletin for any relevant citation. Good luck.
By
the way, you may have wondered how our friend finally found out about the
1,600 euros he'd been fined. I believe it was when the police used
their powers to take it straight out of his bank account.
The
least surprising news of yesterday - "Now that the summer is
over, the Foreign Minister is talking to his British counterpart about the relevant forums which will discuss matters relating to
Gibraltar." This, of course, was on page 16 of the paper.
Finally
. . . What is it with the British flag, the Union Jack? While taking
my midday tiffin yesterday, I noted 3 women wearing T-shirts or
carrying bags bearing it. Does this happen to any other country's
standard? And do the women actually know they're flying the flag
for Britain?
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