I
was wrong to say that the kamikaze driver jailed for 13 years had
been pardoned and released after only a few years. It was actually
after only a few months. I wonder whose son he is.
Asked
about how a jury could possibly be objective in the case of the
Santiago parents accused of murdering their daughter and already
tried (and convicted) in the media and in the court of public opinion,
the Public Prosecutor said the jury would have to reach a verdict
based only on the evidence presented to it in court. Fat chance, I
would have thought. As with the driver of the Santiago train that
crashed a few months ago.
One
of the few things to escape the 2014 budget cuts, in Galicia at least,
has been the amount spent by the regional government (the Xunta) on the
salaries of teachers of religion, i. e. Catholicism. This amounts to
€28m a year. Further evidence, I suppose, of the power of the
Church under our right-of-centre PP government, both regional and
national.
In
a father-and-son case centreing on tax fraud and money-laundering via
the company Damm, bail has been set at a mere €765m. Which may or
may not be a judicious joke.
I
read last night an amusing (and accurate) Spanish article on British 'courtesies'. It
reminded me an English friend's story about her sister who's married
to a chap from Cádiz. She obviously hasn't done a good job on him
because, when he abruptly told her to pass the milk, and she asked
him for the 'magic word', he responded with "Immediately".
For non-Brits, the phrase 'magic word' is what UK parents use for
kids who don't say 'Please'.
I'm
not fond of the seagulls which hover around us as we take our wine and tapas at midday, sometimes swooping down to seize the food from our
very hands. But one of them has risen in my esteem, after I saw it
give a vicious beaking to one of the bloody pigeons which are even
more of a nuisance.
Here
(via reader Ferolano and Google Translate, mostly) is an overview of
the Spanish political scene:-
The
two parties which have agreed to take turns in power peacefully are
two packs of men who aspire only to feed on the budget. Lacking
ideals, no higher aim moves them, not to improve living conditions of
this very poor, illiterate and unhappy race. It will be one
government after the other leaving everything as it is today, and
taking Spain to a state of illness that, for sure,must result in
death. Neither of them will rush to solve either religious, economic
or education problems. It will only be pure bureaucracy, despotism,
sterile labour recommendations, favours for cronies, legislation
without any practical effects and going forward slowly ... If nothing
can be expected from the royalist mob, we shouldn't have faith in
revolutionaries either. . . . I don't believe in revolution, either
new-style or old-style. . . It will be years, perhaps decades, before
this regime, its ethics attacked by disease, is replaced by another
bringing new blood and new mental fires. We
will have to wait at least 100 years for this, presupposing some "lucky
" people are born wiser and we have fewer crooks than we have
today. . . . Poor Spaniards! What it will cost us catch up.
The
interesting thing about this is that it was written in 1912, by
Benito Pérez Galdós. Despite this, as my Spanish friends agreed at
dinner last night, it could've been written yesterday.
Finally
. . . Here's my promised list, of the types of beggar we have in
Pontevedra. It's quite possible I've missed a couple:-
The
dwarf woman, who defies you not to give
The
coin man, clinking money in a corner of the main square
The
gypsy women who stand outside supermarkets
The
gypsies who stand outside churches
The
shop men, sitting on the steps with a placard in front of them
The
common or garden panhandlers
The
man who sells cheap books
The
gypsy crone who regularly curses me
The
man kneeling with his hands held out supporting a plate/dish, even in
the rain
The
man with the large iguana lizard
The
'jugglers' and their docile dogs
The
people who 'guide' you into free parking places
The
people who cadge cigarettes.
The
'musicians':
- Bagpipe
players
- Accordionists
- Flautists
- Trumpeters
- Guitarists
- Violinists
- Tin
whistlers
- Recorder
players
I
exclude from this list the excellent singers and musicians who have
fixed patches and who brighten up our summer months. And some of the wandering troubadours are not too bad either, even the mariachi bands. But not the tin whistlers and recorder players!
No comments:
Post a Comment