Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 24.5.21

 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

- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here.  

Covid 

As we approach the debut of the EU's White List, here's the death per million rates for selected venues. In all of these, this is falling:-

Portugal: 1  

Israel: 3

The UK: 6 

Sweden: 7  

Switzerland: 7

The Netherlands: 13 

Belgium: 20, from the highest in the world last year.

Spain: 31  

Greece: 51  

France: 137  

Italy: 144  

Germany: 178

Turkey: 216  

The USA: 553 but slowly falling - One of the legacies of Trump? Choose your state. Oregon’s is only 5.

Here's what's said to be complete guidance for Brits on the consequences of Spain's Amber status.

Cosas de España/Galiza

That extra 6 months to change your British driving licence for a Spanish one, if you've got the right paperwork . . . Maybe not in our town. 

I confess to being amused at the thought of senior Brits being taught to negotiate roundabouts(circles) the way Spaniards do. Which I've never seen in the any of the 20+ countries I've driven in over the decades.

Lenox Napier talks about books here.

Paella to be an item of 'cultural heritage'. Really?? How about Irish stew, then?

María's Level Ground: Days 49-50. Spot on re Eurovision. 

 

The UK 

Click here if you want to understand how and why the UK got its initial reaction to the Covid threat so wrong. For which Johnson's government - thanks to massive investment in vaccines and 'going it alone' - seems to have been forgiven. Much to the chagrin of the opposition Labour Party. A week is a long time in politics, as an ex-leader of this party once said.

  

Finally  . . . 

Here are 3 questions to rest your ability to analyse, as opposed to rationalising. Answers tomorrow:-

1. Suppose a baseball and a baseball bat together cost $1.10, and the bat costs a dollar more than the baseball. How much does the ball cost?  

2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? 

3. In a lake, there's a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?