Thoughts from Galicia: 10.4.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.

- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain.

Editor's Note: Friends - and Alfie Mittington - have told me there were problems accessing my post yesterday, as I did this morning. And the problem continues today, as access is sometimes possible and sometimes not. And I still can't insert the cartoon in it. So it's in this post, below, maybe. Sorry about that. Later: I've now found I can't access yesterday's post via either The Old Reader or Google+ but I can via Feedly. I have no idea why it's happening but I blame Google's Blogger. Or the boogie.

Here's The Local on corruption in Spain.

And Here's the estimable Don Quijones on why we should worry more than ever about the future of the euro. He starts by quoting the FT's comment that: Despite uncertainty over Brexit, central bankers from around the world see the UK as a safer prospect for their reserve investments than the Eurozone, a new poll reveals

I went to the lovely Portuguese city of Guimarães yesterday. And was amused to see the ranking of the 4 languages on the notice board in the Paço dos Duques - 1. Portuguese; 2. English; 3. French; 4. Spanish. The Portuguese know that the Spanish tend to look down on them and I guess this was a calculated insult. By the way, I wouldn't bother going inside the Castelo, unless you are very fond of granite or want to enjoy the views from the ramparts. There's nowt inside the place other than a marginally interesting exhibition on its history. But the Paço is well worth a visit.

Here's a rather sceptical take on Trump's knee-jerkism in Syria. I rather suspect the writer is correct to say: Logic and respect for facts no longer prevail inside Official Washington, nor inside the mainstream U.S. news media. By the way . . . Can anyone can tell me why it's so much worse to kill babies and children in one way than in any other.

What a world: In the UK at least, real fur is being sold as fake fur. On hats, shoes and the like. Rabbit, raccoon dog, mink and even cat. Mostly from China, I'd guess.

Today I received a letter from a company called ParkingEye advising me of a charge of €121.59(sic) for parking more than 2 hours at a Welcome Break service station on a motorway in te UK. Good luck to them with that. Nice to see the EU in action: An English company sends me a letter in Spanish demanding that I send money to a German bank account.

Finally  . . .  Yesterday's cartoon:-

This appeared successfully in an earlier draft but now doesn't . . . And now does . . .

I'm just switching off and then switching on, Miss.

Public Service: This is a site you can use to check whether a problematic web page is down or not. And here's another one.