Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 20.8.19

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

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spain

• A bit more on Benidorm . . . The highest of its many skyscrapers is Intempo. Standing 198m tall, it looks like a massive letter M with gold façades and, since it was built in 2006, has never been occupied - a reminder of the Spanish property debacle. But now it has new owners and there are plans to offer flats in it costing up to €1m. Surely, if you can afford that, you would want to live somewhere a little more appealing, But I guess it's true what they say; there's no accounting for taste.
• Which reminds me  . . . It's sad to see people sinking - or floating - to this level.
• Galicia boasts a fair number of public wash-places - lavaderos - where one can still see village women washing clothes. Sadly, one such woman was found drowned in a local tank last week. No foul play is suspected. Possibly because her name isn't Epstein

The UK

• Elton John says he's paid to 'carbon offset' the trip of Duke and Duchess of Sussex via a private jet to his French home. How does this work, then? Thousands of trees planted somewhere? A huge vacuum cleaner built at his expense to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere?

Europe

• Still all on holiday. Nothing happening anywhere.

Russia

• Putin, sporting his tie a la Ffart . . . Dictator chic.

The Way of the World 

• Why even contemplate doing this? . . . What it's like to see the Mona Lisa in its new 'holding pen' at the Louvre. . . After 22 seconds I was told to move on.
• A new reason to worry about the way things are going - Amazon is testing a new tool which 'detects human fear'.

The USA

• Imagine these people happily accepting Ffart as their new leader . . .  But, as the author says, it'd be fascinating to watch .
• Fox News tell us that 36% of Americans approve of Ffart's handling of the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton shootings. Some folks must be very easy to please.

Spanish 

• Words of the Day:-

1. Trapo
2. Imán: Magnet. I wondered whether this word was Arabic in origin but, no, it comes from the French un aimant. I had thought this meant 'a lover' but this, of course, is un amante. Same root, I guess - attraction.

BTW: If you're looking up a Spanish word in the Royal Academy's dictionary, you need to know that, if you don't put on the relevant accent, it won't find it. Which seems strange, even wrong, to me.

Finally . . .

• It's very, very odd. I'm used to a fair amount of birdsong - especially blackbirds - in my back garden, and some strange bird sounds from the trees in front of my house. But last evening I realised there was absolute silence, both front and back. Not a sound of a bird anywhere. Even stranger, not a single bird in sight. Not even one of the seagulls which normally appear within minutes of me chucking bread on the lawn. Nor the ever-present collared doves or wild pigeons. And especially not the greenfinches and the sparrows which spar for the seeds in the feeder. The food I put out 3 days ago, I now realise, hasn't been touched. It's as if a plague of hawks descended and devoured them all. Or some bastard with a shotgun blasted them all out of the sky. But, hang on, there was a raucous magpie(urraca) in the garden this morning. But surely that can't be responsible for this avian dearth. Maybe - it being August and this being Spain - they've all packed up and gone on vacation. Or at least to the beach.
• Even odder . . . Later in the evening, there were no birds in sight on the terrace where I take my evening tiffin. And then a thought struck me . . . We've had fireworks at midnight 3 times in the last 8 days. Maybe every bird within a few kilometres has been frightened off. At least for a while. Not a question of bird brains, then.
• But the bloody dogs are still barking. 
• And the rats are still stealing the bread.

Postscript: There were 3 thrushes - or maybe female blackbirds - in my garden this morning, making a liar of me. Fleetingly.