Dawn

Dawn

Monday, January 20, 2020

Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 20.1.20

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   
                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish Politics
  • A showdown is looming between Spain’s conservative language academy and its newly elected socialist government over proposals to rewrite the nation’s constitution using gender-neutral language, says The Guardian here. Fascinating and guaranteed to make the Vox dinosaurs furious. The paper's final para is a nice comment: The language issue may seem odd to some British feminists. On the one hand, Spanish activists want to replace the generic masculine by doubling up. On the other, they insist on denoting gender in words like juez/jueza (judge) and alcalde/alcaldesa (mayor), precisely the sort of distinction – mayoress, conductress – that their British counterparts have opposed as unnecessary. 
Spanish Life  
  • Governments everywhere are proving slow in getting on top of this curse. And Spain is no exception.
  • Sentencing policies can be inconsistent around the world but I find it odd here that, if you drive recklessly, mount the pavement and kill a pedestrian you'll be sent to jail for just a year, whereas if you defy the state you'll get at least 12 years. As it happens, I've read this morning that the UK government is considering life imprisonment for the former offence. Quite a difference
Galician Life
  • You might be surprised to learn we have ski resort in Galicia, in Manzaneda. I drove through it one winter when there was hardly any snow, Anyway, the temperature there this morning was minus 7C. Which is cold.
  • And which reminds me of an odd experience yesterday . . . Leaving town under a strong sun, the wind was piercingly, cold, especially - I guess - because I was a little off-colour. On the first half of O Burgo bridge, the wind howled through the new metal railings like a banshee. But, halfway across, it died. Not just a little but completely. And I walked the rest of the way to my car in summer-like heat.  
The Way of the World
  • We are all feminists now. In fact, men of the early 1990s had attitudes that were more feminist that those of women of the 1970s.
Spanish  
  • Words of the Day:
  1. Zafarrancho: General cleaning
  2. Agazapado: Crouched; Lurking
Finally . . .
  •  An old favourite:-

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