The
two leading lights in the Black Bank
Cards scandal have had bail bonds of €16m
and €3m imposed. One of them is reported to have used the
huge bank he headed - Caja Madrid - as a personal fiefdom. No one is terribly
surprised. Corporate Caudillos are hardly rare here.
Talking
of corruption
. . . A group of 6 politicians in Galicia has been accused of setting
up a multi-million fraud under which they siphoned off funds to ghost
training companies full of equally spectral students. This scam is
now so frequent, you wonder why such companies aren't treated as
inherently suspect. The other notable aspect is how easy it is in
Spain to get together 5 people as dishonest as you. "A country
of low ethics", as one Spanish reader once said. Putting it
mildly.
English/Spanish.
The former says ' . . . with hardly any paper', while the latter says
' . . . without hardly any paper' (sin apenas papel). Of no
great significance, I guess. Except that Spanish does seem to like
double negatives.
Talking
of Spanish . . . The Royal Academy yesterday published its latest
dictionary, including such new words as: dron, hacker, affaire,
wifi and tuit.
Summer
Pests:
I was amused to read that a beggar somewhere down south had a sign
which said: "At least I
don't inflict a bloody accordion on you". I knew exactly what he
meant; last summer we had 7 accordionists doing the rounds of the old
quarter all at the same time. Every night. With a very limited
repertoire.
Why
doesn't it surprise me to hear that Galicia has the highest number of
residents without internet. We have a lot of mountain
villages here. And a Telefónica which doesn't care much about
customer unhappiness and is averse to spending money to improve
things, even in coastal towns.
Being
a convert, my Catholic younger daughter will have 5 or 6 priests at
her November wedding. Mulling over how to refer to them in my speech,
I thought the collective noun for prelates might be 'a parish'. Or
perhaps 'a bar'.
Finally
. . . I helped a couple of Irish ladies find somewhere to eat lunch
yesterday by pointing out a nearby place to them. One asked if she
could go to the toilet in the bar we were in and so I pointed out
where it was. As they were leaving, she thanked me for allowing her
to use 'your' toilet. And the other told me I spoke excellent
English. Lovely ladies, en route from Vigo to Santiago.
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