The
Crisis: You know things are really serious when countries pull
out of the Eurovision Song Contest, pleading not good taste but
poverty.
The
Spanish government has said that “all necessary safety measures are
in place” ahead of implementation of its proposal to raise the
maximum speed on the nation's autovias from 120 to
140kph(88mph). Since there aren't too many straight stretches on
Galicia's motorways, I'm rather dubious about this. For one thing,
there are numerous places where the limit is reduced to 90kph. Will
these now go up to the (previously dangerous) 110 or will they stay
at 90? The government's motivation is, of course, purely financial –
more fast driving equals more tolls – and it's astonishing there's
been no public resistance to a measure which can almost certainly be
guaranteed to lead to more deaths.
Talking
of driving . . . A recent international survey suggests Spanish
motorists are more
likely to fail their driving test than any other Europeans. A
total of 43% fail, compared to 32% on average on the continent.
Possibly answering a question I've had for years – viz. Why hasn't
he/she switched their bloody lights on? – the survey also found
that almost 50% of Spanish learners claimed they'd received no
training for driving in the dark. I make no further comment
I
mentioned to an Anglo friend of mine today that Spaniards seemed to
take out a legal suit (una denuncia) at the drop of a hat. “To
true”, he said, “I've been in business in several countries but
have never once been taken to court. Here - ten times. After
football, it's the nation's favourite sport.” I'm guessing there's
no punishment here for what would be considered frivolous actions in
an Anglo system. And I wonder if all these petty cases contribute to
the infamous gluing up of the Spanish judicial system.
Another
odd feature of Spanish life is that, according to a survey by the
ESCP business school, only 20% of jobs are advertised. The rest are filled either from the company's CV-stuffed files or via
contacts of an existing employee. Which does little to suggest that
one is living in a meritocracy, I believe.
Galician
bread is nationally famous. I know this because El Corte Inglés
features it on their Madrid shelves. But now Pontevedra's bakers have
gone one better and introduced pan de vila ('bread
of the town'). I'm not yet clear exactly how this is superior
but it must be as it's 15% more expensive.
Finally
. . . My lovely neighbour, Ester, has now got the results of her
radon test from her husband. The safe maximum is 600 units and their
basement came out at 2,000. (I should mention that there are two
systems: 1. The USA, and 2. The Rest of the World. These numbers are
from the latter and need to be divided by 137 to get an equivalent US
measure). Anyway, Ester is obviously less worried than she was
several days ago and I can only think it's because her husband's now
taking things seriously. As is my other lovely neighbour, Amparo,
whose boys play a lot in their basement. I suppose I should now get a
test kit for mine. As I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, it'd
be ironic if I died of lung cancer.
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