Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: Ponters Pensés: 15.8.16

Those Fat Spaniards: Can it really be true - as it says here - that more than a quarter of the people here are obese? Not for Pontevedra, I'd guess. As you'd expect, though, Some of the problem is thought to be related to the Mediterranean diet losing the battle against fast food and processed food, and the fact that the latest generation of adults has little experience in home cooking and are more likely to eat out, purchase takeaways or live off ready meals and frozen food.

Spanish Kids: Another non-surprise, from the same article: Spanish family culture means children are not brought up to be expected to do their fair share of the housework, meaning that by the time they leave home they are often ill-prepared for day-to-day housekeeping. My impression is that the children of the families on both sides of me do absolutely nothing to help their very busy mothers. The lovely Ester actually seemed shocked when I pointed out how she could make her life easier. Compare my own mother - who had a daily rota for both her daughters and her sons.

Brexit Fears: How many of these have materialised in the last 7 weeks or so? See here for one answer to this. A bit Panglossian?

English Syntax: A test for you: What's wrong with this sentence from the The Financial Times? . . . In an interview with the Observer, Jeremy Corbyn described claims of far-left infiltration of the party by Tom Watson as “nonsense”.

The Common Rosefinch: Reader Trevor the Baldie tells me these are actually quite rare, at least in the UK. Here's my pair, who were again chirping away in my garden this morning. And who are a great deal less nervous than the perennially skittish sparrows which live in my roof. Which I haven't bothered to snap.

Tarty male:

Drab female:

Finally . . . . The Worm Farm: I wouldn't want to give the impression this is a total failure. I get lots of little black millipedes. And there was a single small worm this morning. But the former don't appear to form part of the diet of slow worms. Unlike snails, it seems.

Of course, they aren't 'slow worms' at all, but legless lizards.

GALLERY

La Puerta Grande: This is a snap I took outside our bullring on Saturday night, having positioned myself for it well before the Spanish and Portuguese toreadors came out. Or, rather it isn't. As I stooped down to pick up from the floor a foto of the latter on horseback for my young visitor, Jack, I completely missed the scene. This picture is from one of yesterday's local papers:-

And here's the video Jack took when I was looking after his interests . . .

A RAPA DAS BESTAS

Yesterday afternoon, I took Jack, up into the hills to a place where we were the only foreigners in evidence. This was to see the docking of the manes and tails of wild horses, rounded up for the occasion. It centres on 5 or 6 youngish men wrestling down very reluctant horses so the cutting can take place on the floor. Galicia sees a number of these but every summer but I don't know whether they take place elsewhere in Spain. A few fotos:-

The corral:-