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'*
Covid
Europe is turning into a patchwork of rules and regulations as local, regional and national authorities grapple with the second wave of the pandemic. Bar closures and restrictions on social interactions are high on each country’s new rules but there are key differences in implementation. Everywhere, however, the political norms are being stretched.
Amid the confusion, the EU has agreed a “traffic-light” coding system to act as an advisory guide for governments or people wanting to rate the risk of travelling across the continent. EU governments have agreed to provide information to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to produce a weekly map with countries coded, green, orange or red.
Living La Vida Loca in Spain/Galicia
Twice in the last week I've had the problem of people trying to find me in a computer being confused by my non-Spanish single surname and 2 forenames. I see from my 2000 diary, this has been going on a long time. As if I didn't know. Anyway, as I lay dozing this morning, my brain asked: Why don't they just use your effing ID number? They all have it in the machine? I had no answer to this. And still don’t, now that I’m fully awake.
I wonder if anyone here would be surprised by these headlines in a local paper:
I confess that I am surprised that many Galicians don't apply for the dependency benefits they're entitled to. Which the regional government puts down to 'the influence of attachment to their surroundings and family reluctance'. Which I don't understand either.
The EU/Germany
In his 2011 book How Civilisations Die, David Goldman (`Spengler’) went so far as to predict that, on current trends, Germany - having reached the point of no return on the road to senility and depopulation - would gradually cease to function. And in the 22nd century would even 'cease to exist'. Some felt this is why Mrs Merkel invited in 1 million refugees a couple of years ago And maybe this is the first bit of evidence for the validity of Goldman's fears/predictions: The population of Germany has fallen for the first time in a decade, as a dip in net immigration compounded the effects of a long decline in the birth rate.
The USA
A morsel of good news: Florida’s tide of grey voters is turning against Trump.
From one of these: If you’re still voting for Trump in 2020, you’re one of 4 things: a racist, a bigot, a greedy son of a bitch — or just stupid. Can anyone gainsay this?
The Way of the World
Anyone who's asked for a glass of wine in a UK pub will be aware that: In Costa Coffee; medium is the smallest they do. As with T-shirts, we’re all medium, large or extra large. 'Small' is too downbeat for the marketing psychologists.
Oh so predictable. . . Apple customers will have to pay extra for a charging adapter and headphones when buying the new iPhone, as the company will no longer provide them in the box.
Finally . . .
Interesting comment: Syncopation has been defined as the slight, calculated violation of what would otherwise be a metronome’s mechanical beat. You can make an adult smile, or a toddler laugh with delight, with a syncopated beat. I believe there are pathways in the brain between rhythm and humour, rhythm and suspense, rhythm and surprise. Who can gainsay that?
And another one: Humour, whether satirical or surreal, depends on perceiving absurdity in people or situations. the modern workplace is a hostile environment for humour. Po-faced office culture is killing our sense of humour.
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.
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