Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain- I can't recall exactly how many general elections we've had in the last 4-5 years but we certainly seem to be heading for another one in November. The UK's not the only country in Europe in a political mess.
- I think I might be on record as wondering if everyone in Spain was middle class. This article certainly gives the lie to that, in reporting that the middle class has come out of La Crisis badly, but less so than classes above and below it.
- I guess we've all struggled with these rather useless items.
- Something we all need to take note of.
- How many of us Brits are there living in Spain? Some say over a million. The official number, based on those who register with their town hall, is around 330,000. But Madrid suspects Brexit panic will flush out at least another 400,000. In whom the Hacienda might well be very interested. A tough call. The Devil or the deep blue sea. Or vice versa.
- I cycle into and out of town every day on the new camino variant, alongside the river Gándara. Apart from the hundreds of 'pilgrims', this is used by the local cyclists, joggers, walkers and dog owners. Some of the latter are in the habit of leaving little black plastic bags below the bushes. I was going to take a foto but I guess you know what these look like. And what they contain. I've taken to wondering what these people think is going to happen to them. Do they think the town hall offers a special Dog Crap Collection service, for example? Or do they just not care?
- After all the fun in the parliament, the show has now moved to the courts. Virtually everyone in the country is praying for the curtain to fall, one way or another. Hopefully on top of some people.
- Watching a BBC program on the rise of the Nazis, it stuck me that, if the cultured, highly educated Germans could see Hitler as the answer to their problems, it must surely be possible for Ffart to get a second term. If so, I will give up writing on the USA. Promise.
- Un after: An 'after-hours'. 'A club or disco which opens in the early hours of the night'. Or maybe this.
English
- A new approach to language, from Ffart: We are keeping even more promises, by far, than we made, or than we promised. So many more. So many more. Sooo many more.
- I knew that words such as travelling had been simplified in US English to traveling but this morning I came across worshipers (plus worshiped and worshiping). The difference is that, in the latter cases, this would change the pronunciation for foreigners who are trying to follow the rules (such as they are) of English pronunciation.
- So, it's only my bête noire . . . One recurring complaint among foreigners in Spain is the locals’ haphazard understanding of the rules for driving inside a roundabout. Allegedly, this is all you need to know about how to do this. Interestingly, the Tráfico driver on Tuesday using the outer lane to take the 3rd exit was disregarding the advice of the Guardia Civil. But totally in accord with my expectation.
- A propos . . . In today's Business Over Tapas Lenox Napier warns of cars cutting across you from the left. But I'd add that you need to look in both directions, specifically for drivers like the Tráfico one who is in the outside lane when they shouldn't be. And remember that, even if they are wrong, you're always considered to be at fault if you're hit by a car coming from your right. Just be aware of all possibilities and use your mirrors to the max . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment