Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 14.8.19

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

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spain

Sex, Drug and Rock'n'Roll

Sex:

• Recent trends in one of Spain's blights.
• Opera star Plácido Domingo is the latest celebrity to be accused of being too free with his invitations to a musical tête-à-tête. One can't be too careful these days. At least if you're male. But will power really cease to be the strongest aphrodisiac? Or will seduction methods simply change? Probably the latter.

Drugs: 

• Yesterday's local press reported on a massive bust along our coast. Not exactly a unique event. Various clans were cited but we already knew all about them. Especially the mansions in which they live.

Rock'n'Roll:

• This is the group - Broken Peach - who performed (too) near to my regular bar last night. What they might have lacked in talent they certainly made up for in energy levels and a deafening volume of noise. TBH, at a normal level of the latter, they might well have been enjoyable to watch and listen to.

Other things

• Good to see Spain joining in the rejection of nonsensical homeopathic treatments.
• Need a good zip? Then, head for Fuentespalda, in the Teruel province of Aragón.

The UK

• Grüner vetliner is the latest fashionable white wine there. It's grown in various countries, including the Antipodes and, would you believe, Canada. I'm betting it'll be years before it appears in a supermarket in Pontevedra. If ever. Foreign wines are conspicuous by their total absence here. Though I sometimes see vinho verde from nearby North Portugal.

The EU

• France: After a professional pianist's wrist was broken in a collision with the rider of an e-scooter, pressure for further curbs has soared. Prior to this, 3 people had been killed and about 50 injured in the past 3 months while riding e-scooters in the Paris region. A poll for Le Figaro last month found that 85% of the French wanted e-scooters to be regulated by the state. German-style regulation and restrictions are now being demanded. 
• The CEO of major e-bike company - Lime - moaned that: We've been the victim of our success. As if they never planned and expected it, with care-less disregard for the consequences.

Russia

• Moscow's Ffart:-

The Way of the World

• A couple of nice quotations:-

- You can never be quite woke enough for the woke Left.
- Had a technology specifically been constructed to cause maximum damage to the female psyche, it couldn’t have been more efficient than social media.

• A query: In these woke times, how could she have been so stupid?: Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s only MP, has apologised after her proposal for an all-female cabinet of national unity to block a no-deal Brexit was criticised for including only white politicians.

The USA

• Kim Jong Un has sent another love letter to Ffart. Possibly to tell him about North Korea's latest rocket launches. A nice send-off to the president's welcome vacation. Welcome to everyone else, that is.

Spanish 

• Word of the Day:- Picar

Finally . . .

• More on those social media 'courting' techniques. With many thanks to my Poio friend Sarah:-

- Ghosting: No goodbyes and no further contact. Aplicar la ley de hielo. Or Bloquear comunicación.
- Submarining: To resurface after a long time, possibly after having ghosted the other party. Efecto submarino. Submarinismo.
- Hatfishing: To wear a hat in your profile foto, to hide your hair, or lack thereof. Pesca de sombrero??