Dawn

Dawn

Friday, March 19, 2010

Some time late last summer, I posted a foto of the Casa da Luz in the old quarter of Pontevedra, in anticipation of its scheduled opening in September as the new HQ of the municipal tourism office. And then, some time in January, I showed it in the allegedly final stages of renovation. Well, it finally opened its doors this week, some six months later than originally announced. Or at least that’s the rumour. I’ll be checking it out next week.

I would, in fact, have done this today but Pontevedra had assumed the death-like stillness and silence associated with public holidays. This time in honour of St José (Joseph). And, of course, of all fathers in Spain. Some of whom might have received a card from one their daughters.

Anyway, as with all public holidays, this has been an excuse for a party next door in Toni’s house. As ever, this appears to have been a question of getting a lot of his relatives together so they can all then shout at each other. It could be worse, I guess; they could all play a musical instrument. Cacophonously, of course.

Finally . . . When I called my car insurance company yesterday, I was dealt with my someone with a strong Indian accent calling himself Juan Carlos. Needless to say, he had some difficulty pronouncing the name of both my street and barrio. But, woeful as his attempts were, they paled besides those of the woman on my friend Mike’s sat-nav as we drove up from Madrid on Wednesday evening. The words Plaza de España, for example, were utterly unrecognisable and appeared to be composed of a set of discrete southern English syllables put together by a dumb computer. Which presumably they were. However, things reached rock bottom when we got onto the Autovia de las Rias Baixas. Which I leave to your aural imagination.

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