Dawn

Dawn

Friday, May 11, 2012


Galicia is said to abound in myths, none greater, of course, than that of the body of St. James pitching up at Padrón, all by itself in a boat made of concrete. Coming close in the ridiculous stakes must be the one I read about today - that the village of Noia was founded by the grandchild of Noah. Harmless but also witless.

Talking of stupidity and villages in Spain . . . Pioz, in Guadalajara province, boasts some 3,000 inhabitants. Each of these is now obliged to pay 5,000 euros, in order to pay off the town hall's debt of 16 million euros. How, I hear you ask, can a small village run up a debt of this order? God only knows, would be my response. But, somehow or other, it's been calculated that Pioz will need 7,058 years to clear the debt.

Talking of debts, Click here for a glimpse into the murky but comfortable world of Spanish banking.

Red sandstone is a beautiful material and one very widely used on the Wirral Peninsula, from which I hale. One of the best examples of its use is Chester cathedral - the organ of which, incidentally, was used by a certain Mr Handel to practice The Messiah, before he went off to give this work its debut in Dublin. But why do I mention this? Well, because two good friends recently showed me deep grooves in the sandstone wall at the end of their street, where medieval archers used to sharpen the points of their arrows. And it struck me today they might be able to cash in on the archery craze stimulated by a recent blockbuster film. Stranger things have happened.

Coincidental spam: I mention the name Penny in correspondence and the next day I get mail from a company with Penny in the name. I guess this is what Google meant about linking all their services. Or whatever obfuscating terminology they used.

The EU: Greece: France etc.: My erudite friend Alfie Mittington has virtually blown a gasket around the latest developments. Which makes for very entertaining reading. Here.

You couldn't make it up: The Olympic flame was taken from its source in Ancient Olympia today, igniting a torch that would begin its journey to London. Except it didn't, as the 'unextinguishable' torch was blown out by a gust of wind before it could get going. Happily, there was a back-up torch behind a pillar. Probably supplied by the IMF or the ECB.

Wayne Rooney seems to be as good at picking horses as he was in selecting whores. His nag trailed in last in a race at Chester yesterday.

Amazing. Two references to Chester in one post. Well three now.

Finally . . . A plea for help. I have a Garmin 265W satnav. And it's stuck on the Iberian Peninsula. By which I mean it won't give me any countries other than Spain, Portugal and Andorra. Plus France above and Gibraltar below. I've tried everything to get it to change countries to the UK, without success. Anyone got any ideas? Please send them here.

Finally, finally . . For reasons unknown, some comments (Moscow and Victor) are arriving in my email but are not appearing as Comments below the relevant post. Very sorry about that. Nowt to do with me.

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