Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
The Spanish Economy- Essential reading for those who want to (try to) understand the Spanish labour market and recent reforms of it.
Spanish/Galician Life
- So will I eventually be able to take a high speed train from Liverpool (HS2) to Pontevedra (the AVE), on a train bound for Oporto and Lisbon? In my dotage possibly.
- There's excessive tourism, and then there's excessive tourism. Though it's not clear that the denizens of this village object to it greatly.
- Talking of tourism . . . This can't be good for it. And is, to say the least, very disturbing.
- Whenever there are fotos of the civil guard or police in the Spanish press, their faces are pixillated out. Not so for a British police officer involved in the recent stabbings in London. Which raises a question or two.
- The Spanish government has made start on limiting the activities of the hugely profitable (and greedy) gambling firms. More measures will surely follow.
- So . . . How long will it be before something serious is also done about the eyesore of the abandoned e-scooters which litter Madrid?
- Tim Parfitt in 'A Load of Bull': The Spanish didn't like to finish anything, as though any sign of closure was to be mistrusted. Take the simple task of saying goodbye, 'adios'. Easy, no? Well, not for your average Spaniard. It was never just 'adios'. It was 'adios' to the power of 3. You can see this at any airport. Or any street corner in the country.
- Good to read that Pontevedra city is the first in Galicia to have a Global Games Jam. Whatever that is.
- Last week I got the Minutes of a meeting in my Community of last September(sic). Odd to see that 3 families are happy to be fingered for not having paid their monthly community fee for between 2 and 6 months.
- Modern research shows that earning other languages not only improves attention and the ability to take other people’s perspective: it also leads to a better understanding of one’s own language. This comment comes from a Times (paywalled) article on how the children of immigrants are now out-performing English kids in tests of capability in the latters' native language
- Things are not looking good for the German engine of growth.
- Words of the Day:-
- Toronjil: Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
- Desplante: Rebuff
- I went to a nice but slightly disappointing Breughel exhibition yesterday. For the 3rd time in a couple of years, I was left wondering about the accuracy of the text next to a painting. This time, the 'bird trap' of raised planks was said to be on the left, whereas it's clearly on the right:-
So, . . . Do Arts graduates have difficulty with the concept of left and right? Or do they look at foto negatives when drafting a description?
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