This is ten seconds of it. Now try to imagine 10 hours, starting at 8 in the morning, the equivalent in Spain of 6 in the UK.
It's
such a shame that the construction industry hasn't entirely
collapsed. But thank God it's just the one property and not an entire
development. The one on the other side of my house had the
granitepecker operating for at least 2 years. Pointlessly, it turned
out, as the houses remain unoccupied. Unsold even.
There's
a grain of comfort for the besieged Spanish government this week as
it stares, aghast, at the growing momentum for ('illegal') Catalan
independence – Support for Scottish independence is at an all-time
low of 30%, and the No vote is 21 percentage points ahead. In fact,
no one now expects the referendum there to result in a majority for
independence. As I've always said, the Scots are just too damn canny
to fall for it.
And
talking of peoples' attitudes . . . Here's a surprise – except to
those of us who predicted it - “Public
confidence in the EU has fallen to historically low levels in the six
biggest EU countries, raising fundamental questions about its
democratic legitimacy more than three years into the union's worst
ever crisis. . . . Figures from Eurobarometer . . . show a
vertiginous decline in trust in the EU in countries such as Spain,
Germany and Italy that are historically very pro-European.”
'Raising' here presumably means 'endorsing'. You can read more here,
in the Europhile Guardian.
Walking
into town as the primary schools were coming out midday today, I
noticed just how many of the kids were being taken home by grandparents,
who play a vital role in helping Spaniards to manage their crazy
split-day timetable. Will things ever change? Possibly but not in the
next 10 years.
I
once stood next to Gwyneth Paltrow in the Oxford Union, when her
then-boyfriend was talking there. I didn't know it was her until my
daughter later told me and my recollection was that she'd been a
pretty ordinary-looking young woman. But now People
Magazine
has adjudged her the world's most beautiful woman. I wonder what
she's on. Or with whom she's made a pact.
I
never understood why Arsenal let Van Persie go. Perhaps they had no
choice as his contract was at an end. Anyway, he's scored some
tremendous goals for Manchester United – one of them against
Everton – but at the weekend he volleyed home what may be his best
ever. You can see it here (scrolling down the article)
Oh,
dear. Déja-vu. Borussia Dortmund thrashed Real Madrid 4-1 tonight,
following the massacre of Barcelona by Bayern Munich last night.
Spanish football appears to have peaked. And German teams are now
cocks of the walk. As I said the other day, this ain't going to go
down well and I'd advise Mrs Merkel to stay away from Spain for a few
years.
Mrs
Merkel, by the way, says that she doesn't like the word 'austerity'.
"I call it balancing the budget." she said. "This term 'austerity' makes it sound like something truly evil."
Well, I guess it depends on where you're standing. And whether you're among the 27% of the working age population who's not working.” That infamous euphemism “Arbei macht frei” sounded pretty innocuous too. "Balancing the budget" is little but a EUphemism.
Mots Justes
“Writing
is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private
and wash your hands afterwards.” ― Robert A.
Heinlein
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