Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

I had an experience at the library today which nicely encapsulates the formal/informal, insane/sane dichotomy that underlies Spanish bureaucratic tendencies. I gave the assistant written details of two back editions of local newspapers I wanted and she handed me a form in which I had to write exactly the same data, plus the date. Having done this, I told her I couldn’t give my membership number as my card was at home. No problem, she said, and promptly got me the papers. I rather think that, back in the UK, they would have accepted my scrap of paper but declined to respond in the absence of my membership details. The other way round, in other words.

All of which reminds me, I did in fact invent an identity number the last time the postman demanded it. But I still got the letter. So, as I suspected, it’s all quite pointless. I suspect it’s rare in Spain for anyone to be commended for telling his or her boss that elements of the job are quite unnecessary. No wonder the Spanish government is concerned at the country’s low [and declining] productivity relative to the rest of Europe. Especially as the German economy continues to fall apart, raising fears that taxpayers there will eventually refuse to continue financing growth in the poorer EU members.

I forget yesterday to mention the worst aspect of the Miss Spain programme. Halfway through the announcement as to which young ladies would and wouldn’t go through to the second round, one of the judges leaped up to say that they’d got it all wrong. So, some of the girls who had been painstakingly and humiliatingly rejected were now re-instated and, worse, some of those who had gone through were now even more agonisingly rejected. Talk about Reality TV! The mistake was put down to a printer error. Of course. These pesky modern printers with a mind of their own!

WordWatch

Un momento de relax – A rest or break
Una casa de relax – A brothel
Un piso de relax – A [smaller] brothel
Un club - A brothel

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