Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain.- It says here that the (unfathomable) crisis in Venezuela has set Spanish politics on fire. This is news to me, probably because I'm not a big fan of Spanish TV. In fact, I'm not even a fan at all.
- I fear this might be something else I've previously cited. But no matter. I'm short of material. and it's a nice story.
- Perhaps I knew this but had forgotten . . . Thanks to a long article on prostitution in a local paper yesterday, I now know that a red-light district is known in Spain as un barrio chino - a Chinese quarter.
- Which reminds me . . . The bit of waste land where I park my car before walking across the river to town had long been home to 2 wrecked cars which served as home for a couple of people. Or at least for a woman who might well have been running a business from one of them. But, arriving there last week, I saw the black car had been burnt out and the blue one no longer appeared to be a desirable residence:-
- I wondered who'd set a match to the car - the neighbours, the couple themselves or even the police. I guess I'll never know. But I'm glad to see the back of them. I'm pretty sure it was the guy who relieved me of everything electrical in my car, after I'd left my (malfunctioning) window open. And who often begged for money whenever I arrived at the place. [You might recall that the Honda dealer quoted me €500 to replace the broken rocker switch in the door. I meant to see what the quotation would be in the UK but never got round to it. Probably because I suspected it would be even more. So, I still have to open the door every time I need to take a ticket or pay for a toll.]
- Another change that took place during my 3.5 month absence was replacement of all the wooden walkways in the marshlands I cross every day on my way to said waste land. Nice but not before time:-
- Still on local matters . . . This is the 'gypsy end' of Pontevedra's Sunday flea market. The illegal bit. Where no one wears the badge that was introduced a year or three ago, to stop this sort of thing. And where most of the traders don't bother with tables. This illegal selling had almost taken over the market when it was in Vegetables Square and, while the police do nothing about it, will surely continue to creep until it reaches the road at one end of this street:-
The UK and Brexit
English
- Richard North here lays into one of the 'WTO Rules' advocates of No Brexit. As usual, he doesn't pull any punches. Good stuff. North might well be a good friend but I'd hate to have him as an enemy.
- As RN says: The claims about most world trade being done on WTO terms, and UK trade with countries outside the EU being done under WTO terms, are completely false. But the British public has yet to be told this by the MSM. Or even the 'neutral' BBC. Which must say something.
- Some of the Brexit extremists/fanatics/cretins:-
- Odd old word of the day:- Gaudy loop. "A ceremony in which the bride was called on to leap over a stool or rope or bench at the church porch or gate. It's now supposed to mean that she left all her pets and humours behind her. But originally have been intended as a test of virginity."
- Writing about winter in the UK, a columnist opines:- Our capricious island climate has the endearing quality of never being quite as grim when you are out in it as it looks from indoors. I guess I'd go along with that. And add that it's also true of a similar - possibly even wetter - winter season here in Galicia. Even when the clouds /mist prevent me seeing not only Pontevedra city across the river but also the end of my garden, 5 metres from my window.
No comments:
Post a Comment