Dawn

Dawn

Monday, September 23, 2013

Royal divorce?; Veils; Mega projects; Language utility; Celtic salsa; and Salt mines.

Rumour has it that the lovely Princess Letizia will soon be back on the marriage - or at least the boyfriend - market. Allegedly, things between her and the Crown Prince are less than hunky-dory and the Palace is planning for a divorce. Just what they need following the fall in royal family popularity caused primarily by the romantic shenanigans of the king.

The Public Prosecutor has told the investigating judge to lay off the 5 Adif directors being examined in respect of the Santiago rail crash. His rationale is that the offence of imprudencia(recklessness?) can only be levelled at "juridical persons"(companies?) and not at "physical/natural persons". Is it conspiracy thinking to see government interference with due process here?

During a discussion on British TV yesterday, one of the participants - a muslim - pointed out that neither the burka nor the niqab were demanded by the Quran and, indeed, were banned for the haj pilgrimage and for prayer sessions. So, for him at least, they shouldn't be allowed in public places either. I have to admit to severe discomfort at seeing them - e. g. at my doctor's surgery in the UK - and to viewing them as both a denial of the self and as an accusation of others. And I'm not at all persuaded by the statements of some women that they enjoy wearing them. Especially if they also have gloves on.

There are 2 huge leisure projects planned for Spain and both of them have a sword hanging over them. Barcelona World, it seems, is threatened by the aspiration for Catalan independence and Madrid's Eurovegas may fall foul of the government's refusal to make a specific exemption to its anti-smoking laws so as to allow the infernal practice in restaurants, bars and gambling dens there. My own guess is that Madrid will give way on this and that the project will be launched in due course. Unless it is stopped for some other reason, such as not having a planning licence.

I have a reader - presumably Galician - who clearly thinks it wrong of me not to learn Gallego. Especially as the language is a beautiful one which goes back 1,000 years and is the forerunner of Portuguese. Well, yes, but the value of a language lies not in its age or its beauty but in its utility. And Galego has little of this, even in my part of Galicia, where the language most in use is Castellano, or Spanish. The most useful language in the world - English - might well be less beautiful than Galego and is certainly less ancient but it's of vastly more utility. Which is why so many Spaniards (and Galegos) are striving to learn it. And I'm not striving to learn Galego.

If you've ever listened to Irish or Scottish (i. e. Gaelic) music and thought 'Hey, this would be improved by the addition of elements of Hispanic salsa", then this is the group for you. I happened upon it when I lingered on the BBC Alba station last night while zapping. And here's a bit more about them.

Finally . . . Years ago, I had the pleasure of descending a considerable number of feet to get to Cheshire's salt mines. Where there were vast chambers carved by almost-as-vast machines extracting the mineral. The wheels of these seemed as large as houses and it was astonishing to learn they'd had to be brought down in pieces and then assembled in the mine. Equally hard to believe was the comment that, if they broke down, they were simply abandoned as it would involve too much work and cost to disassemble them and take them back up. One such dead machine was pointed out to us, killed - we were told - by someone trying to drive it in first gear and reverse at the same time. It was interesting to contemplate what some future archeologist, many centuries from now, would conclude on finding the monster down there. My most abiding memory, though, is of our guide inviting us to take a piece of the (pink) rock salt but warning us to stay clear of the glistening pieces. "That's where they've been pissed on" he explained. I leave you with a short video of the place.

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