Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish Life
- Want an Andalucian village?
- Only in Spain? In nearby Vigo, actually
- More here from our Oz friend enjoying the country life. I must say I've never seen the corujo/firewater sprinklers she talks about. Maybe it's a rural thing, for farmers who need an early-morning lift-me-up, like the brandy drinkers of Andalucia. BTW, it's chupito, not chupita, if you're going to be asking for one. Here's the lady's recipe for Galician mulled wine. Enjoy!
- Back to healthcare . . . As, I guess, in any country where it's free at the point of delivery, doctors and hospitals here suffer from an appreciable percentage of no-shows. Instead of imposing a small charge to incentivise them, the Xunta plans to invest in SMS reminders. That's bureaucrats for you. More work for them.
- Way back in 2006 - having become aware that beautiful old properties were disappearing from Pontevedra - I toured the city, taking fotos of those at risk. Yesterday, I walked down the street where I'd snapped this:-
and concluded that it'd been replaced by this:-
And that this, as predicted, has also disappeared:-
Tomorrow I'll show what could have been done by way of restoration.
- Meanwhile . . . More local colour. This shop - at the bottom of Vegetables Square - has been displaying a variant of this sign for as long as I can recall. Maybe 15 years. Rather like the DFS perpetual sofa sale in the UK:-
- I park my car across the river from the city on a plot of waste ground, belonging - I think - to the Galician government, the Xunta. It's not tarmacced and so is at the mercy of the elements. Right now, it's pitted and pot-holed more than ever and some of the pools are deceptively deep:-
I've never regarded it as part of the highway system but this new sign, at the entrance, suggests that someone does. He/she is addressing Pontevedra's mayor, famous for his anti-car campaign of the last 20 years:-
No, I don't know why there's a comma after Pagamos.
Portugal
- Somewhere in the video I posted yesterday there's the risible claim that the cost of living is higher in Portugal than in Spain. But the rest of it seems reasonably accurate. Well, except for pronouncing fado as fadó. Also pretty laughable. But very American.
UK Politics
- There's a nice profile here of Nigel Farage, a man who craves power but is unable to delegate or share it. People who disagree with him are cast out and crushed.
- At the other end of the spectrum . . . If you're interested in what happened to the 'People's Vote' Remainers who spectacularly fell out with each other, click here. Taster: It's a tawdry tale of political shenanigans and clashing egos; of leaks, smears, charges and countercharges; of startlingly vicious infighting that spiralled so hopelessly out of control that 40 energetic, experienced and deeply committed young campaign staffers found themselves sitting in a Thames-side pub in Pimlico as the general election gathered pace, trading legal threats with the multi-millionaire head of one of Britain’s top public relations companies, instead of battling for the nation’s votes.
The Way the World/The USA
- The World Trade Organisation’s court is crippled because of Trump’s refusal to approve judges. The system for settling global trade disputes is in disarray after pressure from Trump led to the shutdown of the WTO's top court. So, not only creating havoc at home.
Spanish
- Translation of the Day: An indispensable phrase in Chueca: 'He minces': Anda el con pasos menuditos. But there might be a better word for 'to mince' in Spanish and I await advice on this.
Finally . . .
- It took me days of searching on 3 computers to find the fotos of the houses at risk of disappearing from Pontevedra city. Rather ironically, I eventually found them in the dissertation on my Galicia web page, here.
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