Dawn
Monday, August 25, 2014
Invitations; Life in Spain; Changing English; Ice buckets; & My new BBQ
Invitations: When I first heard the phrase
Significant Other, in 1986, I thought it was a joke but,
talking of my daughter's upcoming wedding, my young visitors today
acquainted me with the important distinction between this label and
that of Plus One. The latter is someone with whom you're not
in a relationship but who's still allowed to come with you. If you're
a johnny-no-mates, you just get an invitation for yourself alone, I'm
told.
Life
in Spain: There are (large?)
parts of Spain where tourism is still the cheap and cheerful variety.
Perhaps, then, it's not too surprising that the country comes quite
high - 5th - in someone's survey of countries visitors most moan
about. Ahead of Spain at 10% were the Dominican Republic(12%),
Egypt(15%), and Turkey(17%). But garnering most brickbats was the
cruise ship option, which upsets a huge 27% of its customers. Most
of the complaints relate to health, hygiene and food standards, it
seems. The last thing you want to be doing is eating a badly-cooked
hamburger in a dirty swimming pool, at sea.
Changing English: People of my generation
say either bored with or bored by. Today's generation
seems to say bored of, which
I guess we now have to accept as the authorised version. I've just
found this reference which confirms this - "It represents a
perfectly logical development of the language and was probably formed
on the pattern of expressions such as tired of or weary of.
"
This morning I was subjected to my visitors to the
ice-bucket ordeal. They adamantly refused to pour a kettle-full of
hot water into said bucket - to avoid a heart attack - and, instead,
poured in a few trays of the obligatory ice. I was quite relaxed
about it but found it worse than I'd feared. But the aspirin I gave
to one of them to administer should I suffer an infarct wasn't
necessary and, happily, one of my guests had a towel and a glass of
wine to hand. Plus the sun was shining. There is a video but, as my
language turned as blue as my face, this can't go on general release.
Finally . . . My new BBQ duly passed its
debut test today, even though I hadn't used either the spanner or the
screwdriver which the diagrams indicated were necessary. I will
tighten up everything one day. Maybe. There's an awful lot of it to
be done. And first I have to find out whether the contraption really
is foldable.
House
for Sale in Pontevedra
My
neighbours are moving to Madrid and selling their lovely house. Lots
of pictures here. Brief description: South west orientation.
Completely renovated. In a development with swimming pool, extensive
green areas, place for parties, excellent community environment.
€395,000.
Details
4
floors
322
sq m constructed, 283 sq m usable
5
double bedrooms
3
bathrooms
Plot
of 336 sq m
Terrace
of 336 sq m plus
Garage
Completely
furnished
Excellent
condition
5
built-in wardrobes
Lumber
room
Covered
laundry room
Central
heating
Private
garden
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