Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 6.12.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spanish Life 

• The Traffic Department has announced that e-scooterists will be liable to a fine of €200 for riding through a pedestrian area. But local councils will be left to decide whether or not to oblige riders to wear helmets. No mention of e-bike riders. I assume they were never allowed to ride in pedestrian areas or on pavements(sidewalks). In theory.
• Yesterday I read of increasing sexual attacks, which were referred to as Delitos contra libertad sexual. Which literally means 'Offences against sexual freedom'. So, I wonder what the correct rendering would be.

Galician Life 

• Pontevedra's main square - Plaza Herrería/Praza Ferrería - is not really a patch on others around Spain but is impressive in its own way. Essentially by being quintessentially Galician. Here's how it looked a century or so ago:-

And here's how it looks now, from the same spot:-

Hard to believe that the bench is the same one, though the metal bits might be. Less hard to believe that the one-storey houses along one side have been replaced by 2 five-story flat blocks. Nor that the White house on the left now has 2 more floors. But at least the red-roofed place hasn't been given the same treatment. Anyway, this foto show the entire facade:-

Can the trees in the foreground only have grown that much in 100 years?

• The O Burgo bridge: One side of it finally has its (ugly) new railings:-

But work has yet to begin on the other side. So, no surprise at the announcement that work will continue over the Xmas period. Which really means that the road at one end of the bridge will stay half-closed, which was unplanned and which will cause serious traffic flow problems over a busy shopping period. In retrospect, my mistake was to assume that, when the council said the bridge would be finished by October, I assumed they meant in 2019, not 2020.

• More evidence that Galicia's healths service might not be up to the level of that in other regions:-

• Galicia's winter dish - cocido. Not my favourite:- 

The UK

• Richard North: The crucial questions which should have been addressed and answered during the course of the election campaign have been unresolved. So now we are left with a scrappy, messy, jumble of noise which has totally failed to do anything but render the so-called "Brexit election" a charade.  Effectively, we will be going into the polling booths blind – those of us who intend to vote. Votes will be cast on the basis of incomplete information, forcing the electorate to take a leap in the dark. Well, not me; I'm not entitled to vote in general elections in either the UK or Spain, despite paying taxes in both. Americans revolted for this reason. Though they were actually British when they did so, of course.

USA

• The trouble with Trump is that he's self-satirising. 
• And all his accusations of others are confessions. Here's how he criticised the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, and - in doing so - himself of course.
• Jimmy Kimmel: No one has never met more people than Donald Trump.  
• When asked about the place of the British NHS in trade negotiations, Trump decided to interpret the question as though he was being asked whether he would like to buy the whole of the NHS, ship it back to America and re-erect it in the Arizona desert. “Never even thought about it,” he replied. Americans already had “private plans that they absolutely love. We wouldn’t want it even if you handed it to us on a silver platter; we want nothing to do with it.”
• Given that many  psychiatrists have noted signs of cognitive deterioration, it's a chilling thought that, if Ffart is re-elected next November, he'll be almost 80 at the end if his 2nd term. Unless the Republicans get shut of him before then, of course. Which they surely would.

Spanish   

• Phrases of the Day: 1. Jurar en arameo. 2. Decir tacos. To swear/curse. Quite a lot of this goes on in Spain, shocking even Spanish-speaking South Americans.

Finally . . . 

• More success with my metal detector - a 4 metre rod and a can ring-pull. The good news is that both were 5-8cm below the surface.
• People have rather liked my daughter's vlog on Hygge. So here it is. If you like it, cheer her up by subscribing. It doesn't cost you anything and will greatly brighten her day . . . .