Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Thoughts from Galicia: 28.9.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here.

Life in Spain
  • Cataluña 1: Here's Don Quijones on the latest developments and potential consequences of them.
  • Cataluña 2: Lenox Napier, of Business over Tapas, fears that next weekend will end in riots, rubber bullets and tears. Who's to say he's wrong?
  • You might have noticed DQ's reference to Liberbank in the above article. As he says, it's reported to be in trouble and might well be the next Spanish bank to fail – with or without the fallout from the Catalan mess. In Toledo last week, I was intrigued to see - in the museum dedicated to him - that one of El Greco's paintings was labelled the property of this bank. My immediate thoughts were, firstly that, its value on the bank's books might be more accurate that that of all the properties there, and, secondly, that the picture might not be in the bank's ownership for much longer.
  • Here's The Local warning us - again - of the various things it's unwise to do or say when eating in Spain, especially in someone's house. Sadly, they're mostly true. Which doesn't mean the 'rules' have to be obeyed. Especially given the Spanish attitude to rules.
  • This is a site which might be of interest to all expats living here in Spain. And here and here are pages relevant to only Brits and to expats living in Vigo, in Galicia. They haven't got round to Pontevedra yet.
Here's a report on (possible) EU taxation plans. I guess those who endorse plans for a superstate will regard direct taxation as not only logical and inevitable but also as 'a good thing'. Even if true representation will be minimal, at best. But, as we Brits well know, revolutions have been caused by this sort of thing.

Donald Trump, it says here, was mocked yesterday for referring to Mariano Rajoy as President of Spain, whereas – in a constitutional monarchy – Rajoy is only Prime Minister. But, this time, you can hardly blame Trump. Rajoy is the President of the PP party and, more to the point, is regularly referred to as Presidente here in Spain. To muddy the waters further, Wiki in English labels him Prime Minister, whereas Wiki in Spanish has him as Presidente del gobierno de España. And, as far as I'm aware, he has at least 2 Vice-Presidente/as. One of whom seems to be responsible for just about everything and talks to the media far more than Rajoy. But, if you've heard the latter talk, you'll understand why.

Strangely, Google Alerts offers me info from a wide range of media organs but I can't recall ever seeing anything from the BBCAl Jazeera, yes - inter alia - but the BBC never. Wonder why not.

Nutters Corner: This is a short video showing that Evangelist Christians are not alone in their craziness. But, then, whoever thought they were? Btw . . . it was a perfectly innocuous film.

Finally  . . .  In the UK, fear of knife crime has led to serious restrictions on the sale of anything that could be used to stab someone. In contrast, as these fotos show, in Toledo you can buy even a double-headed war-axe - amongst many, many other types of weapon. There are so many shops there dealing in these things, it's hard to believe they all turn a profit:-




Spain is (still) different . . . 

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