Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Thoughts from Galicia: 29.11.17

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.

Cataluña
Spain
  • Al Jazeera thinks the Catalan crisis has helped Spain's far right. Click here for this insight. BTW - It's one of Spain's boasts that it doesn't have the sort of right-wing party seen in France, Poland, Hungary, Italy and Germany. Cynics say it doesn't need one, given the origins and DNA of the PP party.
  • In the centre of Pontevedra yesterday, those enjoying the winter sun were mightily disturbed by a huge volume of noise from a drunk/drug addict/madman/all-of-these in a nearby small square. Except they weren't. Only I seemed to notice that he shouted, screamed and roared louder than I would have thought possible in a human for more than an hour. If - as I doubt - someone called the police, they never came. Or, if they came, they never did anything. I wondered if there were 4 factors at work:- 1. an extremely high tolerance of noise in Spain; 2. a post-Franco reluctance among Spaniards to invoke authority; 3. a widespread live-and-let-live attitude; and 4. a preference among police officers for claiming they've been insulted and disrespected rather than for dealing with a 'breach of the peace'. In fact, I wonder whether this concept even exists in Spain. One can commit a vast number of small offences here - especially in a car! - but breaching the peace doesn't seem to number among these  . . . What 'peace', some would ask. Spain is not exactly the UK. Or even (Iberian)Portugal . . .
  • A more amusing insight into Spanish society. Pretty accurate, as far as I'm aware.
  • And good news for the construction industry and the economy generally.
Europe
Brexit/The UK
  • Another corruscating post from Richard North of EUReferendum. This time the target of his - seemingly justified - vitriol is a journalist on the once-great Daily Telegraph. Extracts:  . . . plumbing the depths of stupidity combined with ignorance and prejudice. . . . ignorance, bound up with the arrogance. Great stuff.
  • So, a deal has been struck - maybe - around the 'divorce payment'. What a surprise!
Nutters Corner
  • More on the evangelist crook, Jim Bakker.
  • And on the guy who aims - maybe - to prove that the earth is flat.
The Spanish Language
  • I'm sure it's true – as asserted here – that post-Brexit British businessmen would be well advised to learn Spanish. I told my daughters that 20 years ago. And they listened!
  • Which reminds me . . . My GPS talks to me in Spanish. (At least the woman can pronounce the street names properly). Anyway, last week I kept hearing the un-Spanish word 'roundabout', logically enough when I was near or on one of these things. I finally concluded it was being used when I was being directed right round and then back on myself at the last exit. Can anyone Spanish tell me if this is right? If not, what?? It's pronounced roondaboot, by the way. Not as bad a paf for 'pub', though.
Galicia
  • I wonder if the EU will now ban exports of our ternera, after this revelation . . . 
Finally
  • Hard as this might be to believe, booking.com has managed to annoy me further - by continuing to send me emails despire the fact I've unsubscribed from their lists . . . 
Today's Cartoon

OK, your turn. But please don't say 'Something beginning with S' again . . .

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