Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, September 09, 2018

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 9.9.18

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
  • Another post Civil War development that won't please Spain's right wing. However justified it seems to the rest of us.
  • Nor this. A slap on the wrist for Spain around its treatment of North African would-be immigrants.
  • These are the top 5 regions (out of 17) for 'gifted kids' (superdotados). It's fascinating that Andalucia and Murcia top the chart. By a very long way in the case of the Andalucia. These are both poor regions and my instinctive (cynical) reaction is that there must be EU grants available for families/schools which produce these:-
  1. Andalucia 11.6k
  2. Murcia 3.7k
  3. Madrid 2.2k
  4. The Canaries 2.1k
  5. Galicia 1.6k
I haven't worked out the percentages per 1,000 kids. Which would surely change things. Galicia might just come out on top . . . For anyone who wants to do this, here's the populations-
- Andalucia 8.5m
- Murcia 1.5m
- Madrid 6.6m
- The Canaries 2.1m
- Galicia 2.8m
  • I've said that few people ever resign in Spain. But, 5 years after the accident outside Santiago that killed 80 people, the Director of Safety of the national carrier, RENFE, has just done so. Not before time.
Matters Galician and Pontevedran
  • Spain's judicial system is notoriously slow. So, things aren't helped when there's a long strike of court personnel, as there was here a while ago here in Pontevedra city. The result is a backlog of 20,000 cases and a suggestion that the courts will soon be working overtime. Maybe.
  • Residents of Pontevedra city are demanding that the council do something to regularise street musicians. God knows how they'd do this but one aspect they want dealt with is 'repertoire'. If this means the end of the bloody accordionist who drives me mad with the same effing 3 tunes every night, I'm right behind them on this.
  • Pontevedra is a city known for the number of its civil servants. This year has seen so far an increase of 8% in these industrious folk. Mostly, it seems, in said city and in Pontevedra province. I'm sure that's totally justified by demand for their services, even if economic growth is lower than the rest of the country. And the population is both ageing and declining. Maybe they're all care workers. Not desk-wallahs.
Finally . . .
  • I met 5 charming (North) American ladies in my watering hole last night. If any of them is reading this, my apologies for not wishing you all Buen camino as you departed. And I hope my advice about Caldas de Réis and Santiago prove(d) useful.
© [David] Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 9.9.18

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