Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 20.4.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable. 

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spain

•  If you've ever wanted to know where those Semana Santa conical hats - adopted by the Ku Klux Klan - come from, click here.
• Spanish banks, says Don Quijones, have been rather cavalier as regards their investments in both Latin American markets and in troubled Turkey. (I would say caballero but we prefer the French-origin word in English). Anyway, DQ reports here that UBS asserts that the banks' recklessness poses a serious threat to the eurozone.
• More positively, Spain's political uncertainties contrast with a solid economic outlook. At least for the rich and those with permanent jobs, etc,. etc.
• The Prime Minister is said to have humiliated the national public TV operator. Quite an achievement, given the rubbish it pumps out.

The UK and Brexit

• The estimable Guardian columnist, Simon Jenkins, explains here that we're actually on the 9th Brexit.
• As for this one: Igor Judge: In the House of Commons today there seems to be a majority in favour of Remaining. That clashes directly with the majority in the referendum for Leave. So it’s rather like a circus, with two horses going round the arena, with a rider standing with one leg on each. Provided the horses are travelling in the same direction the skilful rider stays on. Our problem is that the two horses, referendum and assembly, travelled around the arena in opposite directions. The result is chaotic: hence all those headlines we have seen during the course of the negotiations, using words like “shambles,” “farce” and “laughingstock.”

The UK

• Incredible: There are 248 Brits who are over 100 and have a driving licence.
• All too credible: A resounding 65% of Brits believe that 'modern architecture has ruined Britain'.

The Way of the World

• I think I saw Monty Python's Life of Brian one afternoon in a rather empty cinema in the USA in the late 70s. If so, I can't recall why. I mention this only because of reading an article in which it's claimed that current tastes and sensitivities make it highly unlikely that a comedy group would even attempt making a film like Brian today. Dear dog.

Footnote: There were quite a few bannings of the film, local and national. In Sweden, the clever marketing slogan was: So funny, it was banned in Norway. 

Spanish

• Driblar = Regatear: To dribble, as in football. Not from the mouth.

Finally . . . 

• There was a 'pink moon' yesterday but I'm not sure if it rose during Thursday night or Friday evening. I took this foto from my sofa during said evening and it looked at least a tad pink as it emerged. But, by the time I got a new battery into my camera, it had turned rather yellow:-