Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
-
Christopher Howse: A
Pilgrim in Spain.
Life
in Spain
Cataluña
1:
D Day nears . . . Both the Catalan and Spanish governments spout about
free speech and democracy. Yet both of them are ruthlessly controlling their
respective medias in their own political interests. Some
democracy. See here on this.
Cataluña
2: Needless to say, although the EU has
refrained from saying much, the UN
Commission on Human Rights has weighed in to say that Spain mustn't trample on the Catalans' right to free
speech. As is this is ever absolute!
Cataluña
3: Here's The
Local (again!) on how Madrid could – and
should – have engaged in more dialogue with the Catalans, most of
whom don't (Query: didn't?) support secession.
Cataluña
4: The best outcome – but not
necessarily the most likely – is that things will calm down and a
more sensible Madrid will allow the Catalans to have, like the Scots,
a legal referendum. But not very soon, as Madrid has surely assured
that more Catalans would vote for secession now than they would have
done 6 months ago. Or even 6 weeks ago. Maybe in 3 years.
Possibly 5.
Cataluña
5:
Here's the always estimable Simon Jenkins of The
Guardian
on the wider issue of secession. As
he rightly says: Secession is a concept
riddled with double standards. The only sensible
conclusion is to acknowledge the right of territorial groups to some
form of self-rule. That is why the issue is not secession as
such, but the state centralism that is usually its cause.
The conflict between Madrid and the Basques led eventually to
compromise and “autonomy-lite”. This must surely be the sensible
outcome of the Catalan dispute. How superior power treats inferior
rights has lain at the root of politics since the dawn of time.
Devolution is not an option but a necessity.
[En passant . . .As
someone has said, the (super)state
centralism of the EU is
a major factor behind Britain's 'secession' via the Brexit.]
The Basque Country:
Needless to say:- Thanks to Madrid's clumsy approach to the Catalan
challenge, the leading Basque party - the PNV – has withdrawn its support of the PP party's proposed
budget for 2018, leaving the Government in a minority. It will be
interesting to see what this means in practice. And the impact on
Spain's credit rating, etc.
Languages:
- Spanish: My friends at dinner last night confirmed that the phrase tener feeling has entered the language. But they stressed it means 'to get on well together' and can apply to heteros between themselves. So, 2 men or women can agree that tenemos feeling. Always in the singular, I'm told.
- English: Sologamy. Marrying yourself. See here. In the US, a website called I Married Me offers self-wedding kits. You couldn't make it up.
Galicia: I think
I've mentioned there's been a gigantic increase in Camino
Portugués 'pilgrims' in the last 10 years, from fewer than 7,000
in 2006 to 56,000 last year. And that 120,000 are expected in the
2021 'Holy Year'. Driving to Santiago this week on the 'old road'
(the N-550), I saw clear evidence of this, in the form of more than
100 walkers at those few points where the camino goes
alongside the highway for a short while. The tip of the iceberg,
then. When I first did this camino in 2009, we saw fewer than
20 fellow 'pilgrims' all week. Incidentally, a few of the walkers
seemed to have missed the yellow arrows taking them back on to rural
tracks, or to have decided to take the (normally) shorter route
alongside the main road. I didn't bother to say anything, as I've
walked the camino 'backwards' and it gets annoying to be
constantly told you're going the wrong way.
Talkwater seems
to be a better option these days than Google Alerts. It's given me
this blog on Galicia, for example. About being foreign here. Of
course, the word foreign here in Galicia means anyone not from
the region, including 42 million Spaniards . . .
Finally . . . My
elder daughter has sent me this diagram of wine flavours. It'll
surely come in handy when reading any fulsome – and otherwise unintelligible
– description of a particular bottle:-
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