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
The UK: As Freedom day of 21.6 is delayed for 'up to 4 weeks', there are now real fears that - unless the next month proves 'successful' against the Delta variant - mask wearing and distancing will remain through the autumn and winter months, until next spring. The government, it seems, has made exactly the same mistake with Delta as it did with the original variant early last year; it acted too slowly against a known threat, allowing many thousands of people to arrive from India. But this time round, the vaccine success might well not offer the protection it has done to date.
Spain: Here, the question is: What will be the national effect of Delta taking hold in Madrid? The recent - Vox arranged - demonstration there against lockdowns surely won't have helped.
Cosas de España/Galiza
The latest chapter in the Pardons saga. This time, the leaders of the other right-of-centre parties were not so dumb as to be snapped standing next to the leader of the the far-right Vox party.
Advice on travelling to Spain. This week's anyway.
Cultures and customs differ. Spaniards are amused by the British 'obsession' with Please and Thank-you. I was reminded of this when leaving my first Pilates class, when I was the only one of 12 students to say Thanks to the instructor. Everyone else just said See you. But, then, the British say Thank-you to the driver of their bus as they get off. Which even I find excessive. But still sometimes do it. . .
Life is virtually back to normal here in Pontevedra city. Hence the denuncias against excessive noise and raucous binge-drinking down in the old quarter over the weekend. The young are making hay during our lighter-than-they-really-should-be evenings. Not that the light really is a factor in this.
Which reminds me . . . Even before Covid, there was talk of the government doing something about Spain’s mad horario, which means some folk arriving home from work after 10pm and watching TV until 1am. Covid and its early closures then raised the question of whether any of the enforced changes would be retained - with diners eating at, say, 8 rather than 9 or 10. But I see nil evidence of this and wonder if anyone has.
The UK
There were some teething problems with the new GB News both last night and this morning. I took a look at 7am but won't be watching again, as some some reporters spoke with regional accents and one of them said 'An increasing amount of cases', instead of 'an increasing number'. . 
The right-of-centre Times, though, said GBN's approach to the news will have been music to the ears of those viewers who believe TV news is 50 shades of Left. Which is surely correct.
France
I mentioned Macron's need for a geography lesson. Here's one.
In revenge, I cite the 1513 Battle of the Spurs, so called because these were the only things used by the French cavalry as they fled from the English troops. Thereafter, said French cavalry (the gendarmerie) was known throughout Europe - for a while at least - as The Armoured Hares.
Religious Nutters Corner
Thank god not all Catholic priests are as insane as the Spanish one who's said the culpability for the murder of 2 young girls by their father lies with his unfaithful ex-wife.
Quote of the Day
It would seem we're no longer allowed to die of anything. Perhaps, as a consequence, we'll all live for ever, but without even a scintilla of enjoyment.
Spanish
Encajar is one of those Spanish verbs which can mean a lot of things. I’m currently trying to work out what Encajar los hombros means. ‘Push them together’, I think . .
English
It's football time again. With ex-footballers as commentators who say things like: He's took up a great position and He done well there. Who was it said there's a standard English imposed on everyone by class considerations?
Finally . . .
Lenox Napier has kindly sent me this on the topic of modern music, a subject I rather danced around yesterday. As I’m aware older folk always tend to disparage the music of previous generations:-
5 comments:
Encajar los hombros perhaps means to square them into a military posture.
I agree about the rapper.
With reference to your comment about HMG allowing many thousands of people to arrive from India, this morning (15th June) Dr North had this to say;
"--- But it does seem that, at official level, the epidemic paradigm under discussion has not materially changed.
This especially seems to be the case when it comes to the distribution of illness. The small print is telling us of a new(ish) phenomenon, labelled "middle super output areas" (MSOAs) – small geographic units with an average population of 8,000.
There are apparently more than 6,000 of these in England, and analysis reveals pockets with very low levels of protection in every region. Without being told, we have to infer that some of these (if not most), are communities of Indian origin which, through the lax travel controls, and the equally lax quarantine rules, have become reservoirs of infection for the Indian variant.
Where there are also crowded conditions, multi-generational families in the same dwellings, and low vaccine uptake amongst qualifying groups, this creates conditions which are more than sufficient to sustain the levels of illness observed, without the rest of the country being affected."
When you heard about the increasing amount of cases, I do hope you were already sat down at the time.
I'm inured to it, James. With my daughters, I still pretend to be annoyed but this is because they expect me to be . .
Thanks, Maria. I sort of eventually guessed this . . .
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