Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Corruption again; Abortion law regression; Language traps; Spanglish; & Tyre warning.


Corruption: The train chugs on: This week the police have searched the HQ of the governing PP party. And a searchlight has been shone of the astonishing things that took place in the Caja Madrid bank during the Aznar presidency. Including government pressure on bank executives, job placement for cronies and inappropriate loans. As I recall, the Chief Executive of the time - Señor Blesa - had been put in the job not because he knew anything about banking (he didn't) but because he was a mate of Aznar. As if that weren't enough, he's now been accused of various acts of financial skulduggery and of serial sexual harassment. The investigative judge has courageously said that in any other country he'd be in jail. A typically Spanish saga, in other words.

It's not often that a democratic country goes into reverse on its social policies but this is exactly what's happening in respect of abortion in Spain right now. Essentially, the government is reversing the initiatives of the last administration and taking the law back to the 80s. Or even, some claim, to the Franco era. According to one survey, 81% of the population are against this. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, isn't and it's still a part of the Establishment. Even if it doesn't play a part in the lives of most of the people who live here. More info here.

Language 1: There are 2 forms of the verb 'To be' in Spanish: Estar and Ser. And it makes a difference which you use. Sometimes a big one. Ser molesto is 'To be annoying'. Estar molesto is 'To be annoyed'. Or the other way round. I think this is also true of aburrido - 'bored' and 'boring'. Confusing or what?

Language 2: Latest bit of Spanglish: Leguis, Legins, Leggins: For 'leggings'.

The compulsive disorder nightmare - A foto of the leaning tower of Pisa in a frame on the wall. Think about it. If you straighten the tower, the frame is skewed. And if you straighten the frame . . .

Finally . . . I've mentioned this before but, should you buy or hire a car in Spain, you might want to check the tyres. For they're always over-inflated. Possibly significantly so. Ahead of driving south tomorrow, I've just discovered that mine are 33% higher than they should be, after a service in September.

Finally, finally . . . I decided to open my water bill before departing for the South. Big mistake. It showed usage of 387m3, against a norm of around 15. And a bill for €650. There was a leaflet with the statement telling me how the water company is improving its service. I couldn't find anything about their computer alerting you to the fact that your daily consumption is 26 times more than usual. 

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