At the moment, there
seems to be only one builder's crane in operation in Pontevedra. And this is constructing not a block of flats or a comunidad but just a
single unifamiliar (detached) house. Unfortunately, it's just
below mine, as you can see from these fotos:-
The
distant view, via my bedroom bougainvillea.
And
the zoom view, which (ironically) is rather more true-to-life:-
Readers
of my post of 24 April may recall that work began about that time
with the noisy cracking of the granite subsoil. In other words,
around 3 months ago. My understanding is it's not uncommon for a
house to be completed in this time in the UK, whereas my suspicion
has long been it takes nearer to 2 years on average here. Or 6 years for
the houses - finished but still unoccupied - right behind mine. We will see
with this one, on which - it has to be said - work is episodic.
In
honour of his recent death, I'm re-reading one of Tom Sharpe's novels
- 'Ancestral Vices' - one of only two I've got left on my shelves
after friends have 'borrowed' the others. I've read many funny novels
in my time but, as far as I can recall, only Sharpe can keep a smile
permanently on my face as I read. Augmented by a regular belly-laugh.
An amazing writer, whom I highly recommend.
Spanish
Corruption: As the governing PP party's strategy of just
shrugging off the serious accusations made against it hasn't worked,
they're now on a new tack - trying to undermine the judge who's
presiding over the initial interrogation stage of the (long,
long) judicial process. Their other strategy is to close ranks to stymie the parliamentary process of a a motion of censure against the
government, with no one from the party - except Rajoy's long-standing
antagonist, Esperanze Aguirre - willing to say anything at all about
the accusations. En passant, the most black money is said to have
been channelled not to President Rajoy (a mere 350,000 euros) but to
a consultant called Pedro
Ariola(who he?), whose sticky hands pocketed 1.5m euros. True, Rajoy was the second largest beneficiary but there's no real comparison. I wonder what the
explanation is. Was Ariola a friend of the conduit in the dock?
Finally on this, I read this morning that Rajoy isn't obliged to
speak during the censure debate: he can delegate this to one of his
faithful lieutenants. So, a wide choice. Democracy is not yet alive
and well in Spain, though it's only a young creature after all. And
hasn't yet learnt to walk.
Talking
about closing ranks (or rallying round) . . . One Spanish phrase for
this is hacer piña. Or 'to make a pineapple'. Soft inside,
hard outside. I was reminded of this yesterday when the lovely Ester
used the phrase copa del pino, or the 'top of the pine-cone'.
Meaning something huge, dreadful. I think.
For
Spain's ship builders, the bad-to-terrible news is that the EU
Commission has decided they must pay back millions and millions
(if not billions) in 'illegal' subsidies received from the
government over the last 5 years. It could've been worse: it could've been 7 years. If this happens, it will - allegedly - bankrupt
the industry and throw tens of thousands of people out of work. So I
wonder whether it will happen and what the EU will do when it -
almost certainly - doesn't happen. I mean, has Spain yet paid the humongous
fine imposed on her after the flax scandal of the late 90s?
Finally
. . . I saw an article yesterday authored by someone called Gabriela
Cowperthwaite, which struck me as an odd combination of exotic Latin
and down-to-earth Yorkshire. I was close but not close another. Its
origins lie in the other side of the island, in Cumbria. The red
rose, not the white.
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