On Sundays and bank holidays
in Spain, there's little open apart from bars, cafés and
cake shops. People will have differing views on on whether this is
charming or a bloody nuisance. But, anyway, IKEA invested in a store
in Valencia on the assumption they could open it on Sundays. But the
local government said not and the regional government has endorsed
this stance. As ever in Spain, a court case is now in the offing.
It's hard to believe IKEA didn't check out this assumption so,
presumably, someone was fibbing to them. On the other hand, it's
reported that "Local furniture shops said IKEA opening on
Sundays would be unfair competition, because they do not wish to open
on Sundays and bank holidays." Perhaps they kept their powder dry.
Today's El País had an
article headed: Spain - Good to live in; Bad to work in. The text
revealed(?) that the Spanish:- Work more hours than most other
Europeans, have longer holidays, deliver less productivity, sleep
less, stress more and are paid less. Plus they spend more time on the
streets and consume more in bars. Understandably, they have more
'friends'. As a country, Spain attracts less talent from elsewhere
and loses more of its own talent. Clearly something is very wrong at
the heart of the nation. "We don't instil effort and
excellence", says El País. "We continue with the culture
of the picaresque." Or, as I've put it many times, the first
priority is fun. Great if you retire here but . . . Anyway, El País
recommends the following actions, which have to be seen as the
absolute minimum:
1. Get rid of the
(stupid) split day, with its 3-hour-break and its late finish
2. Bring forward the
TV prime time, so that people can get to bed before 1.30
2. Move to the
Portuguese/British clock of one hour before Spain, along with
France(!) and Belgium.
Meanwhile, I look
forward to writing this same paragraph in 5 years' time.
Galicia's Minister of
Linguistic Policy predicts that only 1 in 4 Galicians will have
Gallego as their native tongue by 2045, if things continue as they
are now. In other words, if attempts to spread Gallego continue to
crash against the rocks of middle class aversion to a minority
language and if folk remain unpersuaded of its utility in the
Lusosphere (Portugal, Brazil and Madagascar). So, cue more attempts
to reduce Spanish in Galician schools?
To no great surprise,
we're being told that municipal taxes will rise again next year. But
at least bankers will have to pay them along with the rest of us.
Better news is that the highest tolls in Spain will not be increased.
Presumably as a result as a fall in traffic, rather than altruism.
In the context of the
Pistorius trial, I asked a lawyer friend about what "Beyond
reasonable doubt" really meant in UK trials. "Nowadays", he said,
"this just means 'sure'. Juries quite often ask whether this
means '100% sure'. Judges are told not to get into ‘how many angels
fit on the point of a pin’ arguments. Juries are just told they
should know what 'sure' means. A reasonable doubt is a doubt to which
you can ascribe a logical reason. It's all semantics anyway. A juror
knows if someone is guilty – you can tell by looking at him. If he
wears white socks with a suit and black shoes he’s a sex offender.
If he has ACAB [All coppers are bastards] tattooed on his knuckles,
he’s guilty of something. Otherwise why would he hate the Police?"
So, there you go.
Finally . . . 3 words
from Chaucer that we, sadly, no longer use:-
Fool-large: Foolishly
generous
Chynche: Miser
(Chyncherie)
Folily: Foolishly
Debonairetee:
Gentleness
And that's just one
page!
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