Is this a first
for Spain? The Justice Minister has resigned after the President
announced the long-expected abortion of the former's abortion bill,
which found favour with a mere 20% of the electorate. Was the sword
he fell on supplied by Opus Dei, I wonder.
Walking around a
small parish cemetery yesterday, there was the usual evidence that
some names were pretty common among the females of the community -
the most frequent being Maria Carmen, Rosa, Rosalia, Maria and
Manuela. On the other hand, there were single examples of old
(Catholic) names that you don't hear these days - Hortensia,
Prudencia, Josefa and Concepción. Then there were 1 or 2 odd names, such as Primitiva, Ermitas, Herminia and (would you
believe) Generosa. And, there were 2 names which my Dutch friend,
Peter, says are of Visigoth origin - Edelmira and Cumersinda (also
Gumersinda). He may be right; he sometimes is. Of modern names, there
were just 2 - Susana and Emma. The latter is odd, as double letters
are not common in Spanish and the second M isn't strictly necessary. A foreigner, then?
One other odd
thing in the cemetery was the refrain "Here lie the ashes of .
. ." on gravestones or niche walls. My friend Peter (again) said
that the word 'ashes' (as opposed to 'remains' or 'bones') was also used in
English. This is certainly true of, e. g. , Dorothy Parker. But,
then, she was cremated.
There are said to
be around 3,000 'ghost' villages in Spain, places which have been
abandoned to nature. A hundred of these are for sale as a job lot, of
which a fair proportion are here in Galicia. Anyone interested can
contact me.
Nice
phrase I saw today:- The
hystero-sphere of Twitter and Facebook.
Finally, a bit of good
news from Spain: August tourist numbers were a record, at 9% more
than last year. Thank God for foreigners. Unless they actually move
here. As Lenox regularly reminds us, this seriously diminishes their
importance, no matter how much money they bring or generate. Especially
those who buy houses in the south. Ask the Priors.
Finally
. . . Britain is generally regarded as a place of good manners.
This article - by a Brit - would suggest, though, that things are in
serious decline, thanks to "spitters,
seat-hoggers, queue-jumpers, excessive phone-users and please and
thank-you abusers". The British, says the author, have become a nation
of poorly mannered ingrates. Comments welcome.
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