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 Galicia/Spain
Well, at least this year Galicia got a bit of the big money from the vast Xmas lottery: The number 72897 won the 'Gordo', the €4m top prize. It was sold in many different parts of the country, including - in Pontevedra province - O Grove, Vigo, and O Porriño. But not in Pontevedra city . . .
Blogger Mac75 bring you 50 things you might not know about Spain, here. Number 47 should read 'would worry about' or 'object to having', not 'would care to have'.
My bloody passport: My morning saw a flurry of messages from various DHL employees, all saying how sorry they were for inconveniencing me and assuring me the package would be delivered after 3.30. And, indeed, it was. But was I, in fact, asked to sign for it, as had been stressed in every communication? I think you know the answer to that. I wasn't even asked for my ID number. IGIMSTS.
Which reminds me . . . When a company has a premium phone number for its customer service department - the norm here - and then makes you wait several minutes before you talk to someone, it's actually profiting from its suboptimal resources and inefficiency. The very opposite of customer orientation. But because they all do it - unless legally obliged not to* - they don't suffer any competitive disadvantage. Just like the banks with their several undisclosed charges. Spain still has some way to go in this area.
* The utility companies and the companies listed here.
Here's María's Riding The Wave: Day 39 That lottery.
The USA
Here's Trump, on rejecting a Congress-approved Covid relief package: Maybe the next administration will be me. Not 'mine. Says a lot. Though perhaps not as much as his Fin de Siècle pardoning policy - the latest evidence that, in the 'liberal democracy' of the USA, a president has more rights and power than an autocratic king ruling by 'divine right'!
At least the USA will never again have the excuse of bringing a superior system to another country, when devastating it with the latest weapons. I fancy Putin must be a tad smug right now. Perhaps he's financing it all.
Historical note: Mr Trump will be far from the first president to face criticism over pardons. Article II of the US Constitution enshrines a president's "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States" except in cases of impeachment. The provision itself came under fire when it was written. The first controversial presidential pardon issued was by George Washington to organisers of the Whiskey Rebellion at the end of the 18th Century. Others have included Gerald Ford's pre-emptive and unconditional pardon of his predecessor Richard Nixon after Watergate. And on his last day in office Bill Clinton issued 140 pardons, including highly controversial ones to a fugitive Democrat donor charged with fraud, and his own half brother over past drug convictions.
I'm not aware that Queen Elizabeth II has pardoned anyone. Nor the British government, unless after a judicial review.
The Way of the World
Rather a lot of good news . . .
But WTF . . .
Finally . . .
A Spanish friend asked me yesterday when would it be convenient to pop in for a drink. I said 5 to 7, as I plan to go out at 8. He turned up at 8.45. And, of course, never mentioned his lateness. As, for him, it didn’t exist. . . .
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.
6 comments:
And don't be taken in by that nifty expression "I'll be there in a ratito".
Why were you still home at 8-45? You were supposed to be somewhere else at 8-00 & had you gone there, you'd also have been late in the Spanish fashion
Selective editing, Senor Colin? President Trump said he will veto the relief bill, if Congress does not triple the cheques from $600 to $2000. Sounds eminently reasonable to me, The President said it had "taken forever' to get the bill passed and called the outlined terms a 'disgrace".
Please pass these two link to Mondelez.
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/ & https://queens-english-society.org/
Perry, the checks were at $600 because the Republicans in Congress baulked at higher amounts. Trump said he wanted to increase the amount, but also change other things in the bill. As a response, the Democrats immediately drafted an amendment to increase the amount of the checks.
Plus Perry, that's not really the point of my commenr . .
What will they think of next? 'Humaning'. Another noun, converted to a verb that is ridiculous!
Tennissing. Careering. Christmasing. Medaling (Olympics).
Happy Hols!
So, we wait to learn whether President Trump signs on the dotted line & the left wing media can invent other things with which to castigate a President who oversaw wages rise by $6,000 in 4 years for the average US worker, unlike the paltry $1000 rise during the 8 abysmal years of the Obama Diktat.
Be careful what you wish for. More government intervention means enslavement.
There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism - by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.
Ayn Rand.
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