Dawn

Dawn

Friday, September 08, 2017

Thoughts from Galicia: 8.9.17

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
  • The Spanish governent is to charge the latest generation of Catalan leaders over their plans to hold an independence vote on October 1. See here.
  • This is Laura Joyce, a a long-term British resident in Majorca:-


    She has been arrested, accused of setting up a massive tourist-sickness scam which goes back several years and is said to have cost Spanish hoteliers, at the very least, €10m. What surprises me is that it's taken so long to deal with this well-known, large-scale fraud on British insurance companies and Spanish hotel owners - the overseas equivalent of that other well-known British fraud, the claim for whiplash after a car 'accident'. Mrs Joyce's mother is Deborah Cameron, seen here:-


    Mrs C was aso arrested but later released without charge. She is said by The Times to be: well-known in the expatriate community on the island, and offers advice to entrepreneurs and tips about her “fantastic” life on her blog Rich Mum. It says the goal is to “have fun, make money, do good”. It adds: “My goal here is to encourage you to join me in my journey so you can create a lifestyle of your own that most people can only dream about.” She might just have overdone this with her daughter.
  • Unsurprisingly, some Spanish hoteliers have threatened to ban British package-holiday-makers, after a 500% rise in bogus claims since 2013. It almost makes you proud we Brits can compete so well in the Spanish fraud stakes. Not.
  • Assuming you're a non-crooked Brit traveller, here's The Local's list of nice Spanish places to see in autumn. Or 'fall', as they call it.
  • Good to see this tennis news
Based on my experience with Google Alerts, I'd be very worried about the company's ability to hone in on my target customers. I search under Galicia and Pontevedra and am tired of clicking the Not Relevant button in respect of a boat called Super Fast Galicia in the Caribbean; betting opportunities on Pontevedra FC; and some financial group with Galicia in its name. As with Facebook, the feedback seems to make no difference whatsoever to the bombardments. En passant, I might have posted this very pertinent article previously. On tech giant monopolies that threaten democracy.

A gentleman called Joris Luyendijk's - observing the British government in action – has opined that: One of the hardest questions surrounding its approach to Brexit is how much of the blundering is down to incompetence and how much to duplicity. My go-to commentator, Richard North of eureferendum.com is in no doubt: We are dealing with incompetence at an almost heroic level. Dr North stresses that there is nil harmony among the negotiators of both sides. Absent this, he concludes: It is hard to see how that the negotiations can progress. When every step generates controversy, we seem to be going backwards. That cannot continue.

The Spanish Language: Una muda is a moult or a shedding. But it also means a complete change of clothing or underwear. Who'd have guessed? I didn't.

Finally . . . I'm going on another camino next week. Amalgamating 4 different equipment lists, I noted that the one from the Spanish Post Office (Correos) is the only one I've ever seen which stresses what documents you'll need to take with you. A cultural marker, I believe.

Today's cartoon:



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