Pontevedra Pensées: 2.2.17

When it comes to spelling, Spanish – being phonetic - must be one of the easiest languages in the world. So this report on the failings of fireman applicants is actually even worse than it appears on the surface.

Here, yet again, is The Local's - fresh for 2017 – view of the 10 Best Beaches in Spain. If you're planning to swim off any of the Atlantic options, don't forget your wet/dry suit.

Perhaps more useful to most of us will be this account of how the Spanish use the word leche, or 'milk'. In a word, bizarrely.

Here's a comment from Lenox of Business Over Tapas on drinking habits there and here: 31% of Spanish adults smoke on a daily basis, and 10% have a drink. Asturias has the heaviest drinkers, Cantabria the lightest. The British (Europe’s heaviest drinkers) drink twice as much as the Spanish on average. I would guess that c. 75% of young women still smoke in Spain. Not so in the UK, where it's a class thing.

I've said many years times over the last 16 years – often to myself – that I doubt that the pedophilia statistics in Spain are much different from those of the UK. And yet there is no hyper-sensitivity bordering on hysteria in the former, where men are still allowed to talk to children. Contrast the UK, where the tabloid press has created a situation where I'd be afraid of being arrested if I went near the swings in the local park, if my daughter weren't with me. I was reminded of all this when reading last night that: Mr Trump has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants to "better inform the public regarding the public safety threats associated with sanctuary jurisdictions". Guaranteed hysteria. Or at least a total lack of perspective.

Another comment I read last night reminded me of life in Spain. It was of description of Trump's leadership style . . . Fire. Ready. Aim. Spanish(Galician?) drivers have an approach to indicators which I describe as. Slow down. Turn. Think. Signal when pointless.

Excellent news! The estimable Don Quijones has a new blog, The Rigged Game. Click here and sign up.

And now I'm off to Merseyside for a day of relatives and old friends. Google seems pretty sure of which way I have to go. As if I needed to check it . . .  

Have a great day.