There's a bit of a
media storm blowing through Spain's main holiday month. Rodrigo Rato
is an ex head of the IMF and, more relevantly, an ex Spanish Economy
Minister. After taking advantage of what he, naively, thought was a tax
indemnity, he's being investigated for fraud and money laundering.
Despite these clouds over his head, Rato was recently invited to come
in and see the Interior Minister for an hour's chat. The latter has
insisted this was merely about Rato's concerns had about his
under-threat personal safety and that this couldn't have been held in
any other way. More suspicious souls feel it might have been more
about, say, Rato keeping his trap shut.[Geddit? Rato. Trap. Never
mind.].
As anticipated, Madrid
has cranked up its Gib complaints another notch, accusing The Rock's
government of failing to cooperate with Spanish law enforcement
authorities. What next? That Gibraltar is full of brothels which are
corrupting innocent Spanish youths?
Bullfighting
and bull-running/baiting are different in a number of respects. One is that
the latter is free to watch. And another is that a lot more
(brave/foolhardy/stupid) people get killed doing it. Here's details
of the latest pointless death, one of 3 in the last 24 hours. Naturally,
all of the gorings were shown in all their glory and gore on the TV.
Frequently. The Spanish are not terribly squeamish.
Which
reminds me . . . I've just discovered there are major differences
between bunjee jumping and what I thought was the Spanish version -
puenting, or jumping from a bridge. For one thing, the puenting rope is not elastic. For
another, puenting isn't regulated. And thirdly - and not surprisingly
- more (brave/foolhardy/stupid) people get killed doing it. We had
the latest death - of a Dutch teenage girl - this week. Attitudes
toward risk are different here.
Q. How do
you say 'to sleep like a log' in Spanish? A. Dormir como una marmota -
'To sleep like a marmot'. And how do you translate El perro fue
sustituido por una gata? Is it:- 1. 'The dog was substituted by a cat'
or 2. 'The dog was substituted for a cat'? And if it's 1, how do you
say 2?
And
what, please, is "the ultimate curation tool"? Or any "curation tool" for that matter?
My friend
Eamon in La Coruña has sklifullly managed to reveal the face of one of the lady
doctors in yesterday's picture but didn't do so with all the others
as they were, he says, less attractive. I feel for the one who closed her eyes
just as the foto was snapped. She doesn't even get to see these. Not
that they're any different from anyone's else's. So, she can tell her parents she's any of the others and no one would be any the wiser.
I've
just come across this Galician blog. It's in Spanish and seems to be
aimed at cool folk - Es una edición online que recopila una
selección de lugares, proyectos, ideas, artistas y locales únicos
que vale la pena conocer en Galicia y sus alrededores. At least it's
in Spanish. Here's the Pontevedra province bits. Nothing about
Tiffintown.
Finally .
. . Here's the incomparable Peggy Lee's rendition of a song which
could be the Spanish national anthem, given that the chorus runs:
Is that
all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is,
my friend,
Then let's keep dancing.
Let's break out the
booze and have a ball.
If that's all there is
And here's
the version of the divine - and equally incomparable - Ms M.
You lucky people, as Tommy Trinder(?) used to say.
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