Dawn

Dawn

Monday, September 23, 2019

Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain:23.9.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   
                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish politics
  • The latest poll results ahead of [weary sigh] November's general election. The PSOE would gain votes. But enough to form a government??
The Spanish Economy
Spanish  Life
  • I'm not sure I'm convinced by this article on a particular brand of jamón . . .
  • Potentially very bad news if you can't get Spanish or another EU nationality ahead of or after a hard Brexit.
  • I read that there are 500 pickpockets working the Madrid metro. I've no idea if this is true or not but I am sure that some of these are young foreigners who can do this with impunity under Spanish law.
  • Here's how some folk in Barcelona are trying to deal with its petty crime problem. Though not everyone is happy about the development. Apart from the crooks, I mean.
Pontevedra  Life
  • Here are fotos of the zebra crossing I mentioned yesterday. Not good for short-sighted drivers. Or their victims:-



  • And here are the new railings of the 'modernised' O Burgo bridge, hugely disliked by at least me and reader Perry:-

  • Easy parking on the semi-rural northern edge of the city:-

The USA
  • An unusual morning. No Ffart stupidity to report. Perhaps he was playing golf all weekend. Or I've missed something and will catch up tonight.
Spanish
  • Words of the Day, for those with troublesome kids:-
  1. Pataleta: Tantrum
  2. Colapso emocional: Meltdown.
  • Since I wrote that, my daughter has told me that berrinche ('tantrum'; 'hissy fit') and rabieta ('tantrum'; 'hissy fit', 'temper') are more common in Madrid.
English
  • The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words. The winners are:-
  1. Coffee (N.), the person upon whom one coughs.
  2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
  3. Abdicate (V.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
  4. Esplanade (V.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
  5. Willy-nilly (Adj.), impotent.
  6. Negligent (Adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
  7. Lymph (V.), to walk with a lisp.
  8. Gargoyle (N.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
  9. Flatulence (N.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller
  10. Balderdash (N.), a rapidly receding hairline.
  11. Testicle (N.), a humorous question on an exam.
  12. Rectitude (N.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
  13. Pokemon (N), a Rastafarian proctologist.
  14. Oyster (N.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
  15. Frisbeetarianism (N.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there. 
  16. Circumvent (N.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
Finally
  • Checking on how mint grows, I discovered that the fashionable chia seeds come from a plant of the same family known as Salvia Hispanica, or Spanish Sage. 

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