Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
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Christopher Howse: A
Pilgrim in Spain.
Cataluña
- So, Carles Puigdemont has finally been arrested under the Spanish government's re-activated - but still misguided - international arrest warrant. In - of all places - Germany. By a government which has been protesting the treatment of political prisoners in Turkey. And where there's a bit of history around fascism. The inevitable result has been mass protests across Cataluña. In contrast to Germany, the Swiss government has said it won't arrest Catalan politicians there and the UK government surely won't arrest the woman who fled to Scotland and is now lecturing in St Andrew's university.
- Here's the conclusion of Tim Parfitt this morning on this issue, surely correct: Nine Catalan politicians are in jail and seven others are in exile for one simple reason: Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, refuses to accept the results of the Catalan elections that he himself called on 21 December last year. That, again in my opinion, is a disgrace. It is even more of a disgrace that the EU Commission has turned a blind eye to it. This doesn’t need international arrest warrants. It needs international mediation. And it now needs it urgently.
Spain
- President Rajoy says that Every single town and village in Spain will have access to broadband by the year 2021 and that, within three years, every home and business in the country will be able to get online with a minimum speed of 300MB per second. Given the record of the Spanish government with its infrastructure projects, I doubt there's a single person in Spain who believes this. Certainly not Sr Rajoy. The budget for this is said to be €500m. One wonders where this will end up and how much of it will be supplied by norther European taxpayers.
Life in Spain
- Post codes differ from country to country. The UK's have always seemed to me to be too complicated. In contrast, Spain's are simply 5 numbers. That said, I've seen 5 codes used in respect of my house – in tax documents, the local property register, the local list of property values (el Catastro) and the town hall. A quick search suggests the last 2 are no longer operative, probably superseded. And that the first 3 cover the (huge) Poio barrio and some of its parishes. I guess it makes sense to someone. Hopefully my postman most of all.
The USA
- Here's an entertaining article on why Fart has been on a 'firing spree'. I'm pleased to see the author agrees with me that the best strategy is to make Fart angry - Insult him, challenge him, put him under pressure as this brings out his worst traits. I've proposed the simpler strategy of greeting him everywhere with huge placards simply shouting, LOSER. And then watch him explode. Or is it implode? Who cares. One or the other.
Spanish/Spanglish
- Vodevil – Vaudeville.
Nutters Corner
- Well, Flat-Earther and Rocket Man - “Mad” Mike Hughes - finally did get off the ground, in a homemade steam-powered rocket built in his garage. But he only got 571 metres (1,875 feet) into the stratosphere. Sadly, nowhere near high enough to see the curvature of the earth. Or to give him evidence of anything. His next project is a "Rockoon," - a rocket carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon - to take him about 68 miles up, so he can photograph the planet from space. All strength to his elbow. He might well be mad but the world would be a poorer place without him.
Social Media
- Facebook: The latest 'revelation' - Facebook has collected detailed phone records of millions of users including who they spoke with or sent messages to and when. The company said it gained the permission of Android phone owners to gather this data when they signed up to Facebook apps and agreed to share their contacts. However, many users were taken by surpris
Galicia/Pontevedra
- There was a bizarre fatal accident in Pontevedra's bus station last week, when a coach hit a woman waiting at a bay and pushed her into a pillar. It's hard to see how this could happen and the initial explanation is that there was a 'misunderstanding' between the driver and an employee, who was waiting to hand over a package. Not surprisingly, the driver is said to be devastated. Sorry to be cynical, but I'd be surprised if fault isn't eventually ascribed to the woman who died. Which tends to be the norm here. Presumably because compensation is then limited.
Finally
- In a cobbler's shop, I asked for some brown shoe polish. The chap told me he didn't have any of the normal stuff and offered me something called grasa de cabayshos. This turned out to be Gallego for grasa de caballos. Or horse fat. I bought in on the assumption it was really saddle wax. But now I'm wondering whether it is actually made of equine fat.
© Colin Davies,
Pontevedra: 26.3.18
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