Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish Politics- Progress on the Spanish budget depends, it says here, on the prime minister's ability to resolve the real problem of the bitter rivalry between Cataluña's two leading separatist parties. Good luck with that. There's nothing like the antipathy between left-of-centre parties/factions - around the issue of 'purity' usually.
- This will hardly be unaffected by the slashing of the EU's growth projection for this year.
- An odd tale about how referees used to be addressed here and how they are now, thanks to Franco's 'pettiness'.
- Following the example of - inter alia - France and the Netherlands, Spain, is introducing a law against the sort of sexual harassment that takes place on the street and in bars. The problem, of course, will always be in implementing it, and I expect that louts will continue to act with a large degree of impunity.
- I'm still struggling to avoid a packet of books being sent back to the Netherlands. I emailed the customer service people last night and merely got back a status report I already had. Then nothing this morning. So, now it's the phone line. Premium charge, of course.
- Parfitt's Say of the Day. About something I became familiar with quite soon after moving to Pontevedra: The obsession with 'buena familias' is an echo of the old Spanish obsession with the thoroughbred pure race - 'pura raza' - and pure blood - 'pura sangre'. Perhaps things have changed in 19 years. Maybe.
- A seaside town council has said it's considering stopping the use of its famous and popular (humanly personned) mascot because of all the rules and regulations surrounding Jolly’s use. Progress? Anyway . . . Here's the 1930s poster it's based on:-
The EU
- More here on that book about Deutsche Bank and its connection with, inter alia, the orange fraudulent clown ('OFC').
- Covid-19:
- All the myths addressed here.
- How do you know you've got it? The symptoms: The virus can cause pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties.
- Phrase of the Day: No me trae la pairo: Something like: 'I'm not remotely interested in what you're saying. FFS shut up.' (There's a young woman in this bar I'd really like to say this to, given the volume of her uninterrupted narration of her views. I don't expect anything resembling silence, of course. Just an absence of above-normal shouting.)
- Word of the day: Reinvindicarse: To defend/justify oneself. Which I 'd give her the chance to do, before shooting her.
- If the Covid-19 symptoms really are those of just a common cold or mild flu, what do you do to confirm that you have it, without giving it to hundreds of other people by going to the GP's surgery or the crowded waiting room of a hospital? Well, in the UK you call NHS 111 and, I guess, go through a questionnaire with them. And then either survive or die. In Spain, it seems to be the normal national emergency number - 112. Which I never can remember . . . Not as easy as 111 or 999.
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