Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 5 .10.20

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

The WHO has admitted it doesn’t know why Spain has Europe’s highest incidence of Covid-19.  I wish I could help them out but I’ve no idea either . . .  

Living La Vida Loca in Spain/Galicia

Spain is paying a hefty price, says Bloomberg here, for its broken political system, and is rapidly becoming the euro’s problem child. 

Hmm. Madrid authorities warn that the government’s coronavirus restrictions will cause ‘chaos’. My daughter returns there on Wednesday, hoping that her son's nursery will remain open - the only factor in favour of going back to Madrid right now.

Last Thursday, I learn, was International Coffee Day. Por si acaso, here's some of the many variations of the basic drink you can get here in Spain. A bit of advice - avoid the torrefacto stuff, for reasons given here. Incidentally, my daughter is lucky enough to live a few doors away from Toma.   

On the Lerez side of the O Burgo bridge, they've decided to ape the mayor of Pontevedra and change the one-way direction of the main thoroughfare. Which is confusing, and more than a tad irritating, as it lengthens my journey home from the Mercadona supermarket there.

I noted this vehicle in a public car park yesterday and naturally wondered who'd taken all the wheels, the owner or a gang of thieves:-

María's Fallback chronicle: Days 20 and 21.  

 

The USA

Anyone surprised that: Donald Trump's drive-by during treatment was 'insanity', says a health expert?

English/Spanish

Three more less-common refranes:-

- Hunger is good kitchen/Hunger is the best sauce/Hunger never saw bad bread: A buena hambre no hace falta condimento/A pan de quince días, hambre de tres semanas.

- I don't care what people say as long as I get what I want: Dame pan y dime tonto.

- If you don't have what it takes, you won't get on in the world: El que nace para medio nunca llega a real.

 

Finally . . . 

Someone invented the foot-operated toilet door a couple of years ago. Needless to say, at the time of a very infectious virus, it's come into its own. Not that I've actually seen one yet. . .     

* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.