Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 30.1.21

 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. 

Covid

Another telltale sign of the virus - 'Covid tongue' 

 

Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain

Madrid seems a tad confused on the issue of the week:-

1. Editorials published on Thursday in conservative-leading El Mundo and left-wing El Pais, Spain’s two biggest newspapers, criticised the bloc’s handling of the vaccine program

2. Spain made clear on Thursday it supported the European Union’s handling of a shortfall in COVID-19 vaccines after a leaked document suggested the health ministry was blaming Brussels

Forced back into line, I suspect.

Clarification of the need (for Brits  of a licence from the Defence Ministry for some rural plots around the country, including our coastline - here, here and here. This has always been the case for non-EU citizens such as North Americans. I'm told the size of the plot make a big difference. For larger ones, it all goes to Madrid but for smaller ones, Valladolid. Where they're quicker. At least they have been in the past, when the volume was lower.

Taxis. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive of the 56 cities studied is a whopping 125%. The most expensive cities are Tarragona, San Sebastian and Vitoria. The cheapest - Las Palmas and Cádiz. At last, some good news for us up here . . .The cheapest minimum daytime fares are found in three cities in Galicia in the far north-west – Lugo (€1.88), Pontevedra (€2.09) and Ourense (€2.10). More here.

Marìa's New Year Same Old: Day 29. Another bad experience with what she calls a  'consented monopoly' acting in bad faith.  

  

The EU

Time to remind ourselves of 4 things:-

1. There's a price to pay in speed and efficiency for acting, in an emergency, like a committee that needs to satisfy 27 members whose interests might not be identical.

2. The bureaucrats/technocrats who run the EU don't fully understand the huge complexities of the Irish/British relationship.

3. These bureaucrats/technocrats can't be voted out of office. However incompetent they are. Or not by the affected public at least. 

4. In my view at least, the EU has no long-term future, as it will eventually collapse under the weight of its internal contradictions. A view that this week's events has naturally endorsed. But could still be wrong, of course.

The UK and the EU 

Needless to say. AEP is not impressed by the EU's current attitude and actions. Invoking powers that would allow the European Council to seize intellectual property and data from pharmaceutical companies would be madness. Since he wrote this late yesterday, the EU has (wisely) backtracked on its threat to ban vaccine exports into Northern Island. Which infuriated not just the UK but also Ireland.

Richard North today: After its relatively sure-footed performance during the Brexit and trade negotiations, the Commission seems determined to snatch a humiliating defeat from the jaws of its previous victory. By common accord, Brussels seems to be in turmoil on this issues and even its friends seem to recognise that it is losing the public relations war. By contrast Johnson, for once, is having a "good war", while many former Remainers are being driven reluctantly into the Brexit camp. One can only admire the skill with which the Commission has managed to convert a winning position into a train-wreck in such short a space of time.

It must have struck in North's craw to say anything positive about Johnson, whom he detests.

The Way of the World

'Ho' was, I think, American slang for 'prostitute', from 'whore'. God knows what else it means now. But, anyway, you have to laugh . .  Facebook apologises for flagging Plymouth Hoe as an offensive term, after it mistakenly labelled posts referring to the Devon hillside as misogynistic. And these people now rule the earth.

 

Finally . . .  

I stumbled across these marvellous examples of colouring old fotos, here and here.

I shopped early in Carrefour this morning and noted only 1 of the 12 tills was open at 10.05. By 11.10, though, all of them were busy. I don't like Carrefour but am forced to shop there as I'm not allowed to leave my barrio, where a local chain - Froiz - prevented the opening of a Mercadona shop. Two main reasons:- 1. There are so few staff around, there's usually no one to ask where things are; and 2. They still don't do veg and fruit weighing at the check-out. It's irritating when you have to go back and weigh something. And truly annoying when you have to do this a second time . . But if you're someone who likes Marmite, they have this. Plus something that cheered me up . . . Heinz baked beans. So, the hour had its high points.

BTW . . . Beats me: Ordinary porridge oats, €1.50 a kilo. Gluten free (German brands), €8.