Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
Living La Vida Loca in Spain/Galicia
It's hard to believe any Spanish bank is anything other than greedy and duplicitous but here's a puff piece on health insurance from one I've never heard of, Holabank. Which claims it's specifically organised to cater to the needs of expats and second-home owners from abroad. In fact, Holabank is a subsidiary of the Catalan Caixabank, and the insurance comes from the well-known company, Adeslas. It seems to be something Caixabank inherited from Barclays, after its purchase in 2014.
Illegal searching for shellfish - by furtivos - isn't exactly unknown along our coast but these are the legal, licensed folk, waiting to be told they could start, in Combarro a week or so ago:-
And here they are engaged in the work:-
As I understand it, the numbers are limited via a daily lottery draw, though participants must have purchased a licence first. But I might not have got this entirely correct
María's Falling Back chronicle Day 18
Portugal
Always great value for money! These are our glasses of vinho verde last Saturday night, at least twice as much as you'd get in Spain. And at a cost of only €1.50 . . .
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Incidentally, one of our objectives in going there was to enjoy leitão assado à bairrada, or suckling pig. But we had to visit 4 restaurants before we finally got exactly what we were craving. On our way home in Viana de Castelo . . .
The UK
Sic transit gloria mundi . . I see the ex Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is reduced to appearing in Spanish press ads . . .
The USA
During that 'debate', Trump said there'd been 'no negative effect' from his rallies. God laughed and gave him the lurgy. Or that, at least, is what his Evangelist Christian fans should be saying. But aren't, of course.
I wonder if they've treated him with hydroxichloroquine and/or injected him with bleach. You'll recall he once claimed he was taking the former daily but there's just a possibility this wasn't totally true.
The Way of the World
There's a long-running arbitration case in London over 9-10 billion dollars being claimed from the current Nigerian government by a company with only 2 employees, no web page and no track record in the field of the contract signed with a previous administration. Some say it's a sophisticated money laundering scheme under which money stolen from Nigerians will end up in London, cleansed and tax-free. If so, it begs a lot of questions re London-based professionals who are either complicit or stupid.
English/Spanish
Three more less-common refranes:-
- He that would have the fruit must climb the tree; El que algo quiere, algo le cuesta.
- He who excuses himself accuses himself; Excusa no pedida, la culpa manifiesta
- Honour buys no meat in the market; Con esperanza, no se come/Con la honra no se pone la olla.
Finally . . .
One of Richard Ford's less controversial observations: Fine weather is the joy of the wayfarer's soul, and nothing can be more different than the aspect of Spanish villages in good or in bad weather; as in the East [a comparison Ford is obsessed with], during wintry rains they are the acmes of mud and misery, but let the sun shine out, and all is gilded. It is the smile which lights up the habitually sad expression of a Spanish woman's face. The blessed beam cheers poverty itself, and by its stimulating, exhilarating action on the system of man, enables him to buffet against the moral evils to which countries the most favoured by climate seem, as if it were from compensation, to be more exposed than those where the skies are dull, and the winds bleak and cold.
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.
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