Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Quiz; A boob; Advertising; English; Spanish; Obits; Taxi guidls; Orujo risks; & Yo-Yo's then and now.

Who do you think this might be? Answer at the bottom of this post.

Oh dear. A charity up in La Coruña which provides clothing for the poor issued a notice on Xmas Eve advising of the days on which things could be collected: Gypsies were to come on Tuesdays and everyone else on Thursdays. Probably very sensible, if insensitive, but certainly not acceptable in these sensitive times.

Just before Christmas, my mail box was filled by a 92-page colour brochure of toys available from Din Don in town. I couldn't help pondering whether there wasn't a more targeted way of advertising. For example by identifying houses with kids. Or just handing them out to rug-rats in the street. I wouldn't mind but the glossy pages aren't much good for lighting a fire.

Yesterday I heard the Indonesian VP talking about the tsunami in perfect English and wondered whether we'd one day have a Spanish president who thought this was worth the effort. The three I've experienced certainly haven't.

Some new anglicisms: un buffer/bufer and el buffering. And el spooling.

And a new Spanish word for me - Un chaqué: A morning suit.

In the last week, El País has carried obituaries for both Billie Whitelaw, and Joe Cocker. Which is impressive.

Taxi fares are to rise by 2.1% in Pontevedra in January, against an inflation rate of close to zero. Could this be because they operate as a closed guild which negotiates with the council? And sets fire to the car of anyone who tries to operate privately and more cheaply? And then there's the reducing price of petrol/gas. Just asking.

Orujo is a liqueur which comes in 3 or 4 varieties. If you're a regular customer, you'll be given one or two glasses for free after a meal. It was reported yesterday that the police had raided an illegal factory up in the Galician hills, near Ourense. From the astonishing array of weapons collected, the business must be both highly profitable and cut-throat. Not wanting to go blind, I think I'll be giving them a miss in future. Especially in those places where all the drinks bottles fail to display the little sticker showing tax has been paid.

Finally . . . Just before Xmas, someone mentioned Yo-Yo biscuits and then showed something that was nothing like the minty chocolate biscuits I once enjoyed. And would do again, if I could find them. These were made by Burtons and United Biscuits, though I guess only UB sold them under the 'Yo-Yo' brand name. Burtons' were called 'Viscounts'.


Answer: It's the most likely sort of face for Jesus that experts can come up with. It's very different, of course, from any picture you've ever seen but, strangely, it's not a million miles away from Cecilia Giménez's version that gave us all so much amusement in 2012 and since. It creases me every time.

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