Being
importuned by beggars is a risk taken by everyone who takes a coffee
or beer in Pontevedra but rarely have I found myself, as I did today,
being panhandled by 3 at virtually the same time. Including the gypsy crone who
hasn't bothered me for more than 10 years. A sign of the times, no
doubt.
God
knows why I haven't come across this expression before since it
encapsulates life here but here it is - Saltarse las normas a la
torera. 'To flout the rules'. Torera itself means a bolero
jacket or a female bullfighter but I've no idea how the idiomatic
expression comes about. Perhaps someone could oblige. If anyone
knows.
It's
good to see that the Spanish president and the leader of the
Opposition can come together in a cross-party agreement to tackle an
issue in a non-partisan way. But it's a shame this had to be
opposition to Brussels rather than, say, tackling corruption or
reforming the political system to cut out surplus layers. In other
words, they can get together to talk and oppose but not to take action. That's
politics, I guess.
A
week or so ago, the Spanish national rail carrier, RENFE, introduced
a raft of cancellations to its services. The thing is, though, they
didn't bother to give out any details in advance. Leading to a degree
of chaos, as people arrived to take trains that no longer existed.
Hard to imagine a better(worse?) case of poor customer orientation.
The
latest development in the Is-princess-Cristina-a-crook saga, is that
some whistleblower has admitted that the 15-16 employees on the
payroll of the company used by her husband to move pubic money into
his private pockets were fictitious. The other development is that,
whereas one part of the Tax Office is saying she's got no case to
answer, another is saying she certainly does, as her annual
returns were, well, imaginative. All the more surprising, then, that
she took part in a public engagement this week. The first for quite a
long time. Perhaps she's been assured she's untouchable.
Finally
. . . A milestone has passed in the UK. There are now politicians
there who are aspiring to be party leader and who use the
modern(kiddies') pronunciation of modúhl and not the correct
one of módel. Ditto hospitúl and hóspital. And several other assaults on my ears at least. The impact of Estuary English, I suspect.
Newsreaders next, I suspect.
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