Spanish irritants; The economy; Funny old English; UK nurses; & A lost Madrileño.

Much as I love both Spain and the Spanish, there are times when I still get annoyed. Like yesterday at the ironmongers, when I was waiting politely for the guy in front of me to finish telling a story to the 2 guys behind the counter. Whereupon in walks a woman, ignores me, ignores the story teller and loudly asks whether they sell safes. At which, one of the guys says Yes and leads her off. Devil take the hindmost, as they say. I'm just not devilish enough at times. though, God knows, I try.

Then there was the time - today - I was again nearly killed on a zebra crossing down by the bridge. It wasn't the driver who sped past as I trod on the crossing but the one behind him who presumably assumed all was clear and stopped within a foot or so of me. At least I got a half-smile and a raised palm.

More than one report recently have suggested that corruption has a significant negative impact on the Spanish economy, if only because contracts don't always go to efficient, productive companies. Here's The Economist on this. If it wasn't for corruption and the 'old friends network', Spain would be 20% richer, says El Economista.

English: There's an island called Tangier off the North American coast, whose inhabitants are known as Tangerines. As Wiki puts it: The majority of the original settlers were from South West England, and the tiny island community has attracted the attention of linguists because its people speak a unique English Restoration-era dialect of American English. You can hear some of them here. Quite odd.

Finally . . . A beautiful young woman today told me that her local maternity hospital has 20 nurses from Spain. A case of one 'world class' health service stealing resources from another. The question arises - If the aren't already enough nurses in the UK, where are the Conservatives going to get the many thousand additional nurses promised during the election campaign? Apart from Spain and Portugal, I mean.

P. S. At 8 this morning, I clocked a vast truck from Madrid heading towards the end of our cul-de-sac. I guessed I'd soon seen it coming back. And so I did, slowly and backwards, past all the parked cars. Another satnav error? Certainly a nuisance for those trying to get to work.