Pontevedra Pensées: 2.12.16

SPANISH LIFE/CULTURE

Xmas Traditions around Spain: Another list from The Local.

Bullfighting: Not an exclusively Hispanic profession, it seems. 

Cash Payments: As part of its half-hearted attack on small-scale corruption, the government has announced it's reducing the maximum amount you can pay in cash for a product or service - from €2,500 to just €1,000. I wonder if they'll be similarly reducing the amount above which the banks must tell the tax office when you make a transaction.

THE UK

Pensions: For the first time, the average pension in the UK is more than the average salary. Hard to see this happening in Spain for quite a while. If ever. Though I guess it's possible the average pension in one of the richer regions - Cataluña or the Basque Country - could eventually exceed the Spanish national average dragged down by poorer regions such as Galicia.

LOCAL STUFF

A Territorial Dispute: I actually live across the river from Pontevedra, in Poio. This is a very large barrio, which stretches far along the ría and up into the hills. And it just got bigger. Since 1931, Poio and Pontevedra have been fighting over a bit of land which Pontevedra 'stole' back then, in defiance of an 1889 resolution which gave it to Poio. It's now been returned by some court to Poio. Which could well mean a move for the city's fire-station, currently situated there. 

Beggars: As I've said more than once, Pontevedra is plagued with these as well as pigeons. I confine my charity to just 2 of them - an old, stooped guy and a younger chap who's so polite he's virtually obsequious. Of course, I regularly ask how genuine their situations are but have been prepared to give them both the benefit of the doubt. Until I saw the younger one walking down from the gypsy drug-dealing site yesterday. A third beggar - a young woman who hawks wire trinkets and then begs if unsuccessful - yesterday stopped and told me she'd never asked me for money before. Ignoring the fact that this was untrue, I replied that I'd seen her up near the gypsy encampment and that I wasn't willing to finance drug purchases. She took it well.

THE GALLERY

A topical cartoon:-

FINALLY

The Pope's Legions: For quite a while, my Google + page has been receiving notifications from this page. I've tried everything to stop this, while reporting each hit as spam. I even asked Google how it was happening but got no answer. Today I discovered I was a member of the relevant G+ Community. As I'm an atheist, it's inconceivable that I would join it. So, either someone signed me up - which is hard to believe possible -  or . . . . it's a miracle. 

Finally, finally . . . Something my elder daughter posted on her FB page:-

The Quotes of Steven Wright:

1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.

3 - Half the people you know are below average.


4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.


5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.


6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.


7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.


8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.


9 - All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.


10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.


11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... But she left me before we met.


12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?


13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?


14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.


15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.


16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.


17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.


18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.


19 - I intend to live forever ... So far, so good.


20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?


21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.


22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?


23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."


24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name


25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.


26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.


27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.


28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.


29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.


30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.


31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.


32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.


33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.


34 - If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.


35 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?