The funny Spanish; Corruption gallery?; Odd uni course; & Ageing.

Things you might not know about the Spanish:-

• They call their in-laws la familia política.
• Their Friday the 13th is Tuesday the 13th.
• They wear their wedding ring on the right hand.
• They sleep less than anyone else.
• Only a minority of them support bullfighting.
• Some of them live in a hot, dry, brown country and some of them live in a cool, wet, green country.
• They adopt English words and then pluralise them strangely: e. g. Un gay. Unos gais.
• They're the world's best at offering organs for transplants.
• They're the world's worst at being quiet. There's no word for 'whisper' in Spanish.
• They're tolerant of corruption but approve of the corrupt being punished. Or: "Spaniards don't punish corruption as they should, but they do applaud those who do".
• They use notaries instead of lawyers and can't believe that notaries play no role in other societies.
• They have 2 surnames - one from each parent. They think this is universal practice. Especially their computers.
• 25% of them think the sun revolves around the earth and 30% of them believe humans were alive at the time of the dinosaurs.
• Thanks to Napoleon, they're obliged to leave to leave a certain percentage of their patrimony to their spouse and child(ren).

That's enough for now. I'm not available for explanation of any of the above. But I will say there's talk of revising the law of obligatory bequests, at least in the case of maltreatment of the legator. I don't know whether it will be enough to accuse your loved ones of not visiting you for lunch every Sunday.

On corruption, such is the cavalcade, I'm pondering having a daily gallery of the latest politician(s) to be accused. Meanwhile, I'll just mention that sitting on the bench this week are directors from the CAM bank who face charges of looting a mere €43m, and destroying the bank in the process. You almost have to admire their chutzpah. And marvel at their conviction they could get away with it.

Locally, The university of Vigo has been fined for advertising a non-existent course in 'Political Science and Private Detective-ing', leading to the qualification of 'Criminology Technician'. They may have to pay back the deluded students.

Finally . . . What ageing does to you: Switching on the radio a minute ago, just the first strands of the mournful aria Addio al Passata from Verdi's La Traviata reduced me to tears! Worse, I'm prepared to admit it. You get past caring. A huge freedom.