Easter Week is, of course, Holy Week or Semana
Santa in Spain. Click here for a taste of what this means on the
streets of her major cities.
It seems that the responsibility for last week's dreadful
air incident really lies with the French. For it was the
very tight German laws on privacy which prevented the airline knowing
anything about the mental state of the co-pilot. And these were a
reaction to the intrusions into privacy of the Nazis. Which were due
to the rise of an Adolf Hitler aggrieved by the harsh conditions of
the Treaty of Versailles. Which were imposed by the merciless French.
Nonetheless, it's the airline which is laying aside hundreds of
millions of dollars as compensation.
As I've said more than once, eye-contact is
essential in Spain but pretty rare in the UK. Even when you try it
here, there's usually no reciprocity. I find it hard to see how
things could be worse but someone has suggested that kids who spend
many hours a day looking down on screens will find it increasingly
difficult to raise their eyes for anything.
Talking of children . .
. A UK study finds that kids there are "missing out on
traditional childhood activities". Whether British kids are aware - or regretful - about this
isn't said but here they are, for the record:-
1. Splashing in puddles
and getting wet
2. Building a snowman
3. Walking through
squelchy mud
4. Playing in a
forest/woodland
5. Having a snowball
fight
6. Playing in a local
park or playing field
7. Building a
sandcastle
8. Having a picnic
somewhere other than your own garden
9. Going on bike rides
10. Playing in the rain
11. Planting their own
seeds
12. Climbing a tree
13. Paddling in the
sea/stream/river
14. Skimming stones
across a river/lake
15. Going plant/animal
spotting
16. Searching for bugs
and insects
17. Helping to grow
fruit and vegetables
18. Flying a kite
19. Making a daisy
chain
20. Looking for birds
21. Knocking conkers
off a tree
22. Going blackberry
picking
23. Having a conker
fight
24. Camping outside
25. Pond dipping
26. Playing with 'pooh
sticks'
27. Hunting for animals
in rock pools
28. Building a den from
sticks and branches
29. Going crabbing
30. Finding frogspawn
Back to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English
Usage . . . A reference to the section on the pronunciation of the
letter H at the beginning of words, reminded me of the old story
about F. E. Smith's response to someone who complained about having
and 'ell of an 'eadache': "You just need a couple of aspirates', said the great man.
And back to the NHS . . . A European study
confirms what I wrote recently, viz. that all other European healthcare systems
are financed by a mix of public money and private insurance. The
study criticised the UK for its "insular and inward-looking
attitude to healthcare" and added "Britain
is not the only country that has achieved universal access to
healthcare but it is probably the only country where this is
celebrated as a unique achievement." The net result is that
c.9,000 Brits die needlessly each year because the NHS is not as good
as other European health systems.
Finally . . . Heswall is a posh part of the
Wirral, which is the posh part of Merseyside. Loading my daughter's
stuff into my car there yesterday, to take back to Spain, I was
putting it on the back seat. "Shouldn't we be putting it into
the boot(trunk)", said my daughter. "Why?" I asked.
"Well, it is Liverpool" she replied. I suggested she keep
her voice down, if she ever wanted to see Madrid again.
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