Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain
- I confess to ignorance of Luis Buñuel and his films but, after seeing Lenox's reference to it, I'm now determined to see at least his film, Viridiana
- The Spanish, says Lenox, are masters at getting round pettifoggery, giving the example of doctors who are circumventing the (cartel-driven) restrictions on buying and prescribing analgesics you can get in supermarkets in the UK by terming their (constantly re-presenting) patients as 'chronically ill'.
- One of Spain's minor 'scandals' is said to be collusion between publishers and teachers which compels parents to lay out a small fortune for 'revised' textbooks every September. I've seen reports of this amounting to €3-400, out of a total return-to-school of as much as €8-900.
- I've noted that many Spanish families appear to be able to afford a chica - a woman who comes in to at least clean but possibly to do a lot more. It's reported that only Italy has more of these than Spain and that the latter accounts for more than 30% of the EU total. Many are South Americans and I imagine this situation is only possible because of never-ending supply of (usually) women who are prepared to work for a wage '59% below the national average'. And be treated virtually as slaves.
- Talking of cheap things . . . Lenox reports that low cost coach companies such as Flixbus and BlaBlaBus are prevented from operating in Spain by those who benefit from existing concessions. Another of Spain's many cartels. But I've seen Flixbus passing through Pontevedra en route to Oporto and Lisbon, so I wonder under what conditions they do so.
- I mentioned yesterday that those with assets had benefited far more from the post-Crisis recovery than others. El País confirms here that: The ultra-wealthy have benefited from the economic recovery to a greater extent than other citizens. The Olive Press also reports on this here, stressing that the poorer have actually got poorer. A bigger scandal than expensive text books, of course.
- Oh, shit! Or, if you like. Oh . . . shit.
- No one knows how the parliamentary circus will end or which group of hypocrites will win the day but it't good to know that, should the British government (under whomsoever) seek yet another extension to the Article 50 timetable, France has warned that President Macron could veto another delay to Brexit because the demand for a new extension “would not solve the problem”. But I'm guessing that - in some circumstances - this wouldn't happen.
- In the light of reports like this one, I'm always amused/bemused by the tendency of some in the West to always give Russia the benefit of the doubt: As world leaders gathered in Poland to commemorate 80 years since the start of World War II, Russian officials were outraged that they were not invited. The reason this hasn’t changed since 2014 - as the Poles made clear, it's thanks to the Kremlin's habit of arriving uninvited in various countries. Of course, instead of reflecting critically on Russia's aggressive stance towards its neighbours and why this might discourage celebratory invitations, Kremlin officials predictably directed their ire at Poland. In what seemed like an orchestrated and shameless attempt at historical revisionism, Poland was incriminated by pro-Kremlin media and politicians, accused of provoking Germany to attack in 1939 and being the main instigator of WWII. While it may be a high-profile attempt to portray Russia's role in World War II as unaggressive, it's a historical fact that the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact directly resulted in German and Soviet military aggression against Poland in September 1939, ultimately leading to its full occupation by Germany and the USSR.
- You have to congratulate Ffart on his ability to constantly outdo himself. He declined to attend the Polish event commemorating the 1939 invasion by Germany and instead sent his 'Congratulations' to Poland - A great country, with some great people, with him we have a great relationship, etc etc. One wonders if he'll be sending his congratulations to the survivors of the next mass shooting in the USA.
- Word of the Day: Complicidad. Apt.
- From my experience on the camino and on the pavements of Pontevedra, I had assumed bicycle bells weren't sold in Spain. But yesterday I saw some on sale in a supermarket and promptly bought one. You'd don't get much for €1.70, so I wasn't overly surprised that it makes more of a clack than a ding. But, either way it might help me as I, too, take the pedestrian way. If you can't beat them . . .
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