Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 22.9.18

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. Garish but informative.

Matters Spanish

• Thus do the gods play games with us. After writing yesterday of a very bad Thursday, I now have to stress that yesterday went pretty swimmingly. In fact, for the first time in 18 years, I got everything on my list done during the morning. And there were 6 or 7 items - of which I'd normally be happy to achieve 3.
• I think I cited a few weeks ago a report from a Chinese student of my daughter in Madrid that there's a huge scam of Spanish universities selling qualifications to Chinese folk, so they can get into a better college or university back home. Not only to the Chinese, it seems. The Italians are also in on the fraud in a big way. Another example of the 'low ethics' of Spain? Here's The Local on the general issue.
• Which reminds me . . . I still seem to be able to access items from The Local, despite its (alleged) paywall. Here, for example, are articles on Trump's Saharan suggestion, and the word duende. And here, here and here are more articles, from yesterday.
• More 'low ethics'? - phony retail customers 
• It's several months since I looked at the Amazon pages on Vincent Werner's coruscating book on Spain. Specifically at the reviews of it. Interestingly, there are only 5-7 of these on the UK and US pages and all of them agree with his criticisms, even if the writer lives in and loves Spain. On the Spanish page, though, there are 25 reviews and the book gets an overall rating of 3 stars, against 5 on both Anglo pages. Largely because some (very angry) Spaniards and some ('embarrassed') Dutch folk rate it only 1 star. The numbers for Excellent and Terrible are 40% and 36%, respectively. So, pick the meat out of that. Here's a quotation from one reviewer, with whom I suspect readers Eamon and María would heartily agree: On the factual content; Werner is spot on. After living in UK, Germany and now for the last 8 years in Spain I can only say that, in terms of service, Spain is deplorable. Particularly the water company, the electricity company, and banks are the worst offenders. They have absolutely no idea what service is. Not even the common courtesy to send an automated reply to an email to ensure the writer that the question is being dealt with! And a Spanish reviewer makes the valid comment: Mr Werner asks himself many times: "How can a country like this work?" Well, it does work (with many setbacks). There is an easy answer: there is a significant number of people who do not display his seven faults. People who have been educated on the Erasmus program or have worked abroad. Another way of putting this is the long-established one that: 10-20% of Spaniards carry the rest. How this differs from, say Germany, France or The Netherlands, I really wouldn't know. But I'd guess the numbers are quite different.
• As for me . . . As I've said, I found a lot to agree with in the (badly written) book but, even though I love living in Spain, I know that I'm far too short-fused to work happily here. I was the same when I laboured in the Middle and Far East, of course, but at least there I could tell myself it really was the Third World. And so I could more easily 'adjust my expectations'. Not logical, but . . .
• All this has reminded me that yesterday I saw a good example of the character trait here that annoys me more than any other – the anti-social disregard for others. Waiting for his woman, a man had parked his car in the unloading bay of a supermarket in a narrow street, causing a traffic jam while a delivery truck waited for the designated space. The woman/wife eventually emerged and the man/husband proceeded to pull out. Seeing me looking at him, he gave me a smile and a cheery little wave, just to show that he knew what he was doing and didn't give a toss what anyone thought of it. Possibly saw himself as Don Effing Quijote. Or at least Spain's favourite literary character type – un picaresco.

Matters European

• Did anyone seriously think that – given its track record – Brussels would not play hardball when it came down to the line?
• Anyway, if you want, you can read Richard North on Mrs May's humiliation here(yesterday) and here(today)
• Maybe it's time – in the light of Macron's role – to stop buying French goods. Because of their protectionist approach to - for example - foreign cars, I've done so for years. And haven't suffered.

Matters Global: O tempora, O mores:

• Who'd have thought it? 1: Independent analysis of tens of thousands of reviews on the world’s best-known travel website shows that supposedly top-rated bed and breakfast hosts at tourist hotspots have almost twice as many “fake” reviews as lower-ranked accommodation. Two thirds of reviews posted about top B+Bs in some hotspots are thought to be suspect. An undercover operation by the Times has caught venues trying to buy five-star TripAdvisor reviews — as well as negative reviews of rivals.
• Who'd have thought it? 2: Google has admitted that it gave access to client emails to companies which could search them via their employees not just impersonal computers.

Matters Galician and Pontevedran

• The German company Arriva says it'll have a train running from La Coruña to Oporto by mid next year. Let's hope so. Spain's national carrier, Renfe, is naturally upset about this development, preferring to retain its inadequate monopoly. Incidentally, I think Spain's rail system – under pressure from Brussels – was liberalised back in 2010 but this is the first attempt by a foreign company to enter the market. Though there is also talk of a French company running a train from Madrid to Montpelier.
• Talking of trains . . . The 'far left' Podemos party says the country should stop spending vast sums on AVE high-speed services and invest the savings in the existing rail network - local, regional and national. Which has to be right. So long as we still get the AVE to Galicia before I pop my clogs.
• Back to the issue of corporate responses . . . My neighbour, Ester, told me in astonishment yesterday that she'd rceived within a few hours a reply from a VP of IKEA to a suggestion she'd made to the company. Her incredulity was immense. But who could be surprised at that, given what she must be used to?

© [David] Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 22.9.18