One wonders
now whether there will be a slew of ETA members - and others - suing
the Spanish government for compensation. I guess so. A good time to
be a lawyer. As if there were ever any bad times.
I read up a
bit more on Pugs yesterday. They were brought to Europe from China by
the dastardly Dutch and William and Mary brought them to the UK in
1688. They reached their peak in 2004, when - would you believe -
Double D Cinoblu's Masterpiece was adjudged Best in Show at the 2004
World Dog Show. This despite it having - inter alia - a tail which
grows the wrong way and which couldn't scare off a fly to save its
life. Which the dog wouldn't try anyway as its priority is to try to
breathe by panting. So, if you want to see a pack of flies laughing,
just follow a Pug around for a few minutes. Among famous people to
own one are Jonathan Ross, Hugh Laurie, Ted Danson and (of course)
the Duchess of Windsor. Perhaps the finest thing ever written about
Pugs was a 2007 piece in The Onion, which pulls no punches
about the breed's deficiencies. Well worth a read. Unless you like
Pugs. And I've just stumbled across this foto gallery of prime examples of the breed.
By the way . . . Did you notice the semi-deliberate mistake of yesterday? There is no such English phrase (well, there wasn't) - 'Pug ugly'. It's 'plug ugly'. Don't ask me why. Ni puta idea.
I was
chastened yesterday to find that I wasn't the first person, by any
means, to suspect Hitler's moustache was composed of extended
nasal hair. Devastating. But life goes on.
Galician
wine: Here's a nice article on the stuff grown on the steep slopes of
the Ribeira Sacra/Ribera Sagrada area, up near Ourense. It claims
that white Godello and Albariño grapes flourish up there but my
belief is it's only the red Mencia grape that clings to the hillsides
there. Still, the pictures are impressive. Expert comment welcome.
Often with
stupendous goals in football(soccer), you suspect they're a
combination of massive skill (hitting a volley) and a chunk of
luck(the parabola of the ball). But, whatever, they're wonderful to
watch and here's another couple.
Finally . .
. An old friend has sent me this Bismark quote on Spain: I
am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world.
Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success.
Is this any less true now than it was in the 19th century? Please
write on only one side of the paper.
Finally,
finally . . . Welcome Mrs Beltran as Member 101 to this blog. I'd
love to do this personally but, as I've said, Google makes this
impossible for me. Oh, by the way, hits have plummeted to
pre-existing levels since I identified Vulturestat.com as
being responsible for a false upsurge. DON'T go to the site; it
serves nefarious purposes, including communicating viruses, they say.
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