Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 8.1.20

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

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spanish Politics

• Now that, by the skin of someone's teeth, we have a government, below are the 10 challenges that El País sees it facing.
• Getting back sovereignty over Gib must be number 11.

Spanish Life

• A foreign journal has said of the appointment by the deputy PM of his wife as a Minister that in other democracies this would be worthy of public comment or even criticism. Or, at the very least, a mention. But not so here in Spain.
• Back to public healthcare . . . After 27 hours in Santiago hospital, I can list the positives as:-

- Very good facilities
- Excellent level of cleanliness, including in the toilets.
- Two vending machines that worked, one of which gave me change, though the other only a bit of useless 'credit'.
- Food that's basic but fine. Chicken and fish. Plus soup and a dessert. And, of course, bread.
And the negatives:-
- Minimal night care. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to (try to) sleep in a reclining chair next to my friend.
- Inefficiency 1: Duplication of the morning medication.
- Inefficiency 2: Bringing breakfast when he was to have nothing after midnight.
- Frightfulness. A nurse with a streaming cold attending to patients in a respiratory ward.

Believe me, my criticisms are nothing compared to the locals whose husband/father was in the next bed. My point . . . The Spanish healthcare system shouldn't be looked at through rose-tinted glasses. And one shouldn't ever generalise from the particular.

Galician Life

• Another couple of contrasting fotos, of the Paseo Antonio Odriozola, down one side of the main square, Plaza de Herrería:.

• A new camino in the making? . .  Or at least a new stage. El Camino de la Pedronía. From Padrón (which already has the Camino portugués) to Santiago, passing through the townships of Ames, Teo y Reis, for 25km. Enriching various proprietors along the Way. And why not?

Spanish  

• Word of the Day:- Un comino; A fig; A toss; A Shit; A flying fuck, etc. As in: "I don't give a . ."
• Phrase of the Day: A solas: On one's own; By oneself; Unihdlaterally

Finally . . .

• If you can prevent your kids from taking too much nicotine and alcohol, you'll have done them a big favour. And they should outlive you.
• If you've got this far,  you'll probably have realised why this post is so late today.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT'S 10 MAIN CHALLENGES 

1. The Catalan situation
2. Budgets and financiation
3. Pensions
4. Labour reforms
5. New organic laws (euthanasia, universal justice)
6. Impunity for those guilty of corrupt
7. Renewal of the Constitution and Judicial oversight
8. Elimination of ancient rights to trial in limited courts
9. Educational reform
10. The law on climate change [presumably just the man-made one]