Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Note: A few of the items below have been borrowed from Lenox Napier's Business Over Tapas of yesterday.
Spanish Politics
- This verdict from an EU court won't go down well here.
- And neither will this.
- It might well be good news that the deceleration of the economic growth is slowing down but I feel sure this can be expressed in a better way.
- Here and here are reports on the immense difficulty faced by young people here in getting on the property ladder and moving away from the family home. Ever harder than ever.
- There's an amazing total of 71 planes abandoned in Spanish airports, left by their owners. Going free?
- I was surprised yesterday by a message from Amazon Spain telling me they were repaying me €0.99 postage on a book which arrived a day after the promised date. But no such message from Amazon UK in respect of a book which was 4 days late last week.
- Brexit's impact on Brits in Spain:-
- The Spanish government website La Moncloa has a full section here (in English) on How to Get Ready. It covers what will happen both with and without a Withdrawal Agreement.
- And here's something relevant from The Olive Press.
- Below are comments from 2 letters to Business Over Tapas which strike an optimistic note for residents in Spain, regardless of what happens at the end of 2020.
- A friend in Vigo was telling me on Wednesday just how successful the city's Xmas lights were in attracting visitors to the city's hotels and restaurants. So I wasn't surprised to read this in Business Over Tapas: While the Christmas lights brightness-prize must go to Vigo for its enormous wattage, the city of Valladolid appears to be the most tastefully illuminated.
- I had lunch with this friend in a restaurant in Vigo which only serves organic food and drink, including the wine. I won't be going there again, if only because the menu del día was entirely vegetarian. The only consolation was that the first dish - a mixture of carrots and turnips - took me back to family Sunday roasts. Albeit without the accompanying meat.
- Well, the lights on the crossing at the city end of O Burgo bridge don't seem to make much difference. Last night, I was again almost hit by a car when I was halfway across one side of it. As it passed within a foot(39cm) of me, I was able to hit it with my umbrella, which, of course, didn't do it - the umbrella - much good. As the driver went on his way, I noted the statutory raising of the hand in pointless apology. Is this really only happening to me?
- Talking of danger . . . For the 6th year in a row, our region has the most perilous road in the country. Indeed, it has 3 of the top 7. The 'winner' is a stretch of the N541 between Pontevedra and Ourense, here:-
The USA
- Guess who this reminded me of:- Utopian leadership [a la Chairman Mao] selects for monumental narcissism and ruthlessness. Its leaders are possessed of a certainty about the rectitude of their cause and an impatience for incremental reforms or on-the-fly adjustments guided by feedback from the human consequences of their grand schemes. Stephen Pinker: The Better Angels of Our Nature.
- Words of the Day: -
Anegado: Waterlogged; Flooded
Apaño: Stitch up; Fix.
Finally . . .
- An 'ideology' is defined as 'a system of ideas and ideals'. I was amused yesterday to hear an Anglican priest talk of terrorist violence being the consequence of ideologies. As during a thousand years of Christianity, perhaps.
- Here's my younger daughter's latest vlog - How to Tidy your Home without Tidying! A bonus - it features a mention of me both my her and by my lovely granddaughter, Grace. Please subscribe. It's free and you don't have to watch them. But don't tell her I said that.
- What does the draft Withdrawal Agreement mean for us? You've almost certainly read about the possibility of a second cliff edge if the government fails to negotiate a future relationship/trade deal by the 31 December 2020 and there's no extension to the transition agreement. This is often referred to in the media as a second no deal point. If this should happen, the UK would automatically default to trading on WTO terms. However - and this is important - the Withdrawal Agreement would remain in place as an international treaty and the rights that it includes for us would remain covered. They cannot be removed even in the absence of a trade agreement. Once the Withdrawal Agreement is in force, we will be covered by it for our lifetimes whatever happens with future negotiations.
- I would mention that the Citizens’ Chapter of the Withdrawal Agreement, while far from satisfactory, does give both Spaniards in the UK and Britons in Spain the protection of an international treaty. I think it’s important to point that out for people, many of whom are very worried about their future in both countries.
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