Dawn

Dawn

Friday, February 17, 2017

Pontevedra Pensées: 17.2.17

This Vogue article purports to tell us everything about Spain's lovely Queen Letizia. Strange, then, that, if I search the word 'suicide', nothing comes up about her unfortunate sister. Though admittedly I wasn't very surprised. Very possibly we don't need to know about it.

Teachers in Spain are reported to be the best paid in Europe. And most of us would regard their daily challenges as far less onerous than those of their opposite numbers in, say, the UK. But here's a video of one teacher who found it all too a bit too much. Apparently after he'd found a pupil trolling him during class. En passant, the Spanish for 'to troll' is, of course, trolear

I mentioned strange Spanish village names yesterday. Reader Paideleo wonders about Dead Cat (Gatomorto), so here's a screen shot of it:-


Paideleo also mentions the name Dead Ox (Boimorto) and I've seen more than one of these in Galicia, most frequently on an old rat-run from Pontevedra to Santiago through the town of Cuntis. But this one doesn't show up on Google Maps. I didn't realise, by the way, that the Camino de Plata winds its way through the village of A Mezquita, as described here: A que nos ocupa é o Camiño Sanabrés da Vía da Prata (ou Mozárabe), no momento que chega a Zamora sigue por os seguintes puntos: Tábara, Bercianos de Valverde, Villanueva de las Peras, Santa Marta de Tera, Rionegro del Puente, Mombuey, Puebla de Sanabria, Requejo, Padornelo, Lubían, A Mezquita, A Gudiña, Laza, Vilar de Barrio, Xunqueira de Ambía, Ourense, Tamallancos, Cea, Mosteiro de Oseira, Castro Dozón, Prado, Silleda, Bandeira, Puente Ulla e Santiago de Compostela.  Paideleo has corrected my translation of A Mezquita, saying it refers to a plant, not a mosque. I still prefer 'mosque'.

En passant deux . . . Plata doesn't mean 'Silver'. It's a corruption of a Latin word for 'wide', I believe.

Which reminds me . . . My friend Dwight ever so kindly informed me it was 22 degrees in Pontevedra yesterday. Decidedly unusual.

There's a great deal of fuss in at least the USA about gender-changers now using a different toilet. I couldn't help noticing yesterday that Costa's toilets were gender-neutral. Just as in private homes, everyone uses the same one. And no one seems to have complained about this at all. 

Talking of the USA . . . . 

1. Nutters' Corner: An evangelist pastor has announced that: What makes women stupid is college. Because college makes everybody stupid. Only the Bible makes them clever.

2. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, reaffirmed Mr Trump’s claims that nobody from his campaign had contact with Russian officials. There’s nothing that would conclude me that anything different has changed with respect to that time period, he said. For that alone this odd man should be shot.

Finally . . . My daughter told me yesterday that the front door bell wasn't working, probably because the batteries were flat. I suggested she replace them quickly as a couple of car mechanics were due to come and look at a car she's selling. Her response: No need to, dad. These days everyone has a mobile phone. So, why bother with a bell in the first place, as you probably don't want to see the people who don't have your number?

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