Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, November 05, 2017

Thoughts from Galicia: 5.11.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain. 

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here.

Cataluña
  • Things are quiet right now but Sr Puigdemont is trying – albeit from Belgium - to muster his disparate nationalist forces ahead of the December elections. During which he might or might not be in clink, along with his mates.
  • Meanwhile, the developments in Cataluña have made the US late-night comedy scene.
  • Just in case you're not totally au fait with developments in the region/nation, here's an explanation of them from The GuardianThe most accurate sentence?  The only certainty is that the Catalan crisis is very, very far from over.

Life in Spain
  • The massive Gürtel corruption case has possibly ended. Rather conveniently for the massively compromised PP government of Sr Rajoy, this event has been somewhat overshadowed by the mess he and Sr Puigdemont have together created in Cataluña
  • Readers of this blog will know that, while I love living in Spain, I'm not blind to the fact that, as it says here: Spain is still one of Europe's most corrupt countries. I should stress that, true as this is, citizens in Spain are very unlikely indeed to come across corruption in daily life - by having to pay a bribe for a document, for example. No, the vast corruption there is confined to the business and, particularly, the political classes. A quote from the article just cited: It has been argued that the underlying problem is not a party political one, but rather a system which does not require transparency in the award of contracts. Spain occupied the 40th place in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index of 2013 (having dropped from 30th place). In 2016 Spain´s first anti-corruption commission began work. Suffice to say, Spain had dropped a further place, to 41st, in the 2016 TI Index.
  • I've just recalled this map, cited by Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas a while ago. It shows the number of indicted politicians by region. Lenox commented that it was probably inaccurate. I assume he means that it understates the problem. You'll notice that, to say the least, Cataluña is not exempt from the charge of widescale corruption. Witness the Pujol case.
  • To be more positive, here's a nice place in Asturias. I might just go and see it on my way home to Pontevedra tomorrow afternoon. 
The USA: In British slang, the verb 'to trump' means 'to break wind'. Henceforth, then, I will be referring to Donald Trump as 'Donald Fart'. It's the least I can do in the struggle to topple the man/beast. BTW . . . As this site says, generations of British kids have sniggered at reading or hearing 1 Corinthians 15.52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Nutters Corner:
'Right wing activist' Mary Colbert: Christians who oppose Fart because of his use of rough language must also have a problem with Jesus because he spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees and said, ‘You vipers, you snakes.’ He referred to Herod as a fox and then there is the account of the woman he called a dog. So if you want to find offense, you’ll find offense in anything. God chose a brawler like Fart because He knew that America could not survive with a mamsy-wamsy, love and peace kind of a president. Well, that certainly explains a lot. Though I confess to still finding it hard to understand the workings of God's mind. I've given up on Mary Colbert.

Galicia: Percebes - harvested along Galicia's Coast of Death - are molluscs known as goose barnacles in English. They're a huge delicacy in Spain and can cost up to €300 around Xmas time. This has always mystified me, as – to the huge disappointment of my host – I described my first experience of them as akin to eating bits of rubber dipped in sea water. But here's a more favourable view of them. It helps to know that – like other unappealing foodstuffs – they're said to be an aphrodisiac. Before this [fake news?] was discovered, they were only fed to animals. But then the marketing men came along. And the rest, as they say, is profit.

Finally . . . When they work well, satnavs(GPSs) are a true godsend. When they confuse themselves and send you round and round the very congested A40 on the outskirts of London, they most decidedly aren't. Especially when they finally decide where to deposit you and it isn't where you said (nay, insisted) you wanted to go. 2 Hanger Green instead of 2 Hanger Lane, for example. As per this map . . .

Today's Cartoon:-

"Don't expect them to be full of beans. There's an 8 hour time difference."

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