The sale of houses and the
prices thereof continue to fall in Spain, 7 years after the boom
turned to bust. And yet, sales to foreigners increased significantly
last year, with Brits being well to the fore in the quest for
bargains. Given that prices are expected to fall still further, these
are either canny souls who know exactly what they're doing or folk
who - as the traditional phrase has it - have left their brains at
the airport. Either way, good luck to them. One thing's for sure,
unless there are very good reasons, this is not the time to accept
the asking price, however reasonable the (on-commission) estate agent
says it is.
The Executive arm of the
Spanish government has the constitutional power to pardon criminals -
something which it regularly does - without giving reasons - in
respect of senior politicians and bankers. In addition, the
government has a similar power stemming from nothing more than custom
and practice. So it is that: " A Spanish banker jailed
for stealing €30,000 ($41,000) from a client is one of 21 prisoners
given a reprieve during this year's traditional Easter pardons. Every
Holy Week, around 20 prisoners are freed at the request of the
Catholic cofradías, the religious brotherhoods behind most of
the processions which take place across the country". It's said
that the tradition began with a 1759 prison riot in Malaga. So,
Easter is a time when friendships really count in Spain. As if they didn't at every other time of the year!
Demonstrators took to the streets of Spain last
night to call for the restoration of a republic. The current
Constitutional Monarchy model has failed, they say, resulting in a
two-party system mired in perpetual corruption. The 1978
'transitional model' , they add, has outlived its usefulness and
needs to be replaced by something more up-to-date. And who would
gainsay any of that, particularly if it means a sensible federal
state? So, good luck to the March for Dignity.
HT to Lenox for the advice that you
can, perhaps, get a full understanding of the vast Gurtel corruption
case from this article in El País in English.
Finally . . . I don't whether this is happening in
Pontevedra as well as in Ferrol but I might just have a bit more
sympathy for some of our beggars in due course.
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