Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
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Christopher Howse: A
Pilgrim in Spain.
Spain
- An interesting development that might not go down too well here, even though it happened in Cataluña.
Life in Spain
- I was asked this week why I have a dashcam. This is the reason:-
- I know I keep banging on about the failure of (generally lovely) Spaniards to think about others but I can't resist posting this example:-
The baby thingy is blocking the way between 2 tables. I stepped over it 3 times within 10 minutes. The final time, the mother looked at me but said and did nothing. But I do know, of course, that if I'd smiled and said something – or even scowled and said something – she would have apologised profusely and quickly moved the buggy. But I didn't and she didn't. So . . . Me totally British and her totally Spanish.
The EU
- Político yesterday: Reality bites Macron-Merkel romance: Gone are the days when the French and German leaders could confidently hope to build a new Europe together. The reality of national interests has not disappeared just because of the goodwill of two well-intentioned leaders. . . . Other countries have sought to remind Paris and Berlin that the eurozone is a game with 19 players. Furthermore, the Italian election earlier this month gave a new reason for concern to all those hoping for quick advances on the way to a closer monetary union.
- Político today: After a meeting of their finance ministers a few hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated almost word for word what they have been saying for the past six months on the need to work together and build a stronger Europe. But they didn’t provide any evidence of progress on the main issues at hand.
The USA
- After reading of the latest example of Fart's managerial style, I have to admit that what I fail to get is how anyone with the experience, intelligence and wisdom to qualify him/her for a senior position under Fart would ever want it.
- Brennan, who led the CIA under Barack Obama, addressed the president earlier on Saturday, writing: “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history." Sums things up nicely. One is forced to conclude, though, that Fart sees himself as supremely competent. A deluded jackass, in other words.
Nutters Corner
- Pastor Gene Kim of San Jose Bible Baptist Church thinks the earth is hollow and Hell is inside it. He's posted a video that’s somehow even weirder than that. Short version: The Bible says all dogs go to Heaven but cats are the absolute worst.
Galicia/Pontevedra
- It's good to see our biggest and most profitable industry taking advantage of the upturn in the economy of our nearby neighbour, Portugal:-
- I think I've mentioned in the past the beaching of fully-loaded speedboats that are being pursued by the police. Here's one recently abandoned in Aveiro, down along the Portuguese coast:-
- And here's a super-speedboat ditched on one of our local beaches a few years ago:-
- Finally on this, here's an indication that some of my fellow-passengers on the ferry to the UK might not be up to any good. No wonder I get stopped regularly, as a single male who looks like a succesful narco:-
Social Media
- There is a British firm called Retweets Pro that claims to be the 'world’s No. 1 Twitter and Instagram marketing agency'. It offers a service that lets customers pay for any message they want to be tweeted up to 50,000 times — with no questions asked. You might imagine this could be abused – e g by a malevolent stalker – and, of course, it is. What a world.
Finally
- I know this will come as a shock to readers living here in Galicia . . . The relevant ministry is hinting that problems with completing difficult sections of the track might just mean we won't be getting the AVE high-speed train to Madrid by 'the end of 2019'. Or even during 2020. I seem to recall having forecast 2030. But now I'm beginning to doubt that. [Reminder: When I came here in 2000, the date was 2005/6. One of Spain's moveable feasts, then.]
Colin Davies: Pontevedra, 18.3.18
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