Ponters Pensées 6.5.16

The Spanish Summer: The Local says there are 10 signs that it's imminent. Hmm. You can judge for yourselves here. Some of these are rarely seen north of Andalucia, I suspect. Endorsing the view that most foreigners equate this region and the whole of Spain. Interestingly, the list doesn't include the temperature of 30 degrees we had this week in Pontevedra. Albeit not for very long. Thank-god.

Spanish Crime: For the last 10 years, the police here have been investigating the activities of the Russian mafia down on the Coast of Crime. Arrest warrants have now been issued for 12 Ruskis, for the usual offences. As all these folk are believed to be back home, no one is expecting any extraditions or trials. Which would be true even if they weren't all very close to President Putin. I'll let you know what RT News says about this development, if anything. So far - nowt.  Interestingly, though, this morning they referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as 'the Ukraine crisis'. Yes, well.

Driving in Spain: I may have mentioned that I recently saw diagrams in the local press giving (differing) advice on how to deal with roundabouts(circles). Well, the national paper, El País, has now entered the fray with this one. I leave it to you to decide whether it's helpful. One thing it seems to be saying is that you have to use the outside lane if you're making a U-turn – the complete opposite of earlier advice I've received.

As I've said, the only things you really have to remember is that it's a free-for-all – El País confirms there's no 'specific regulation' – and that if, on exiting, you hit anyone on your right, you're at fault. No matter how stupid the other driver is being. Is it any wonder that El País reports that Many drivers don't know how to approach roundabouts?

Which reminds me . . .

Earphones in a Car: The irony of me being fined – again – for having these (disconnected) in my ears, is that my phone emits podcasts at a volume more than enough for me while driving. Unless, I suppose, I'm giving a lift to 2-4 Spanish women all shouting at the same time. A frequent event in my life, of course.

Islamic Women: Jesus and Mo is a British cartoon series I love. Here's a nice one, worded in this case by another fan ('Andrew from Wakefield') and not the cartoonist:-

Facebook. It is, of course, imperative to hate this these days - if you have more than 10 brain cells. I've lost count of the number of times I've told them I don't want stuff, to have them 'apologise' and then do it again. And again. And again. Their capacity to irritate appears to know no bounds.
Has anyone found that Google + is an adequate alternative? Apart from it's terrific foto-swapping capability I mean.

Finally . . . A film(movie) I really must see - the life story of Florence Foster Jenkins, the self-financed, appalling opera singer mentioned in my post of 12 March this year. It stars - who else? - Meryl Streep as FFJ and I won't care if the reviews are dreadful. It's a must-see for me.