Spanish
Justice: Right, here's El
País in English on the Brits who
sued their banks successfully. And miraculously. A new era has dawned. To prove it, here's another Brit court victory. It'll be a flood soon. Though
possibly still too little, too late to calm prospective purchasers
of Spain's countless empty properties. And notice the golf club's
payment-avoidance strategy.
Spanish
Corruption: So endemic and engrained
in the business and political spheres it ain't even worth talking about it?
Words:
The writer who brought us scofflaw
earlier this week has now produced polder.
Which is - A
piece of low-lying land reclaimed from a sea or river, protected by
dikes.
Assuming ´dikes' here means embankments, it strikes me Holland
should really be called Polderland. Thanks to reader Perry, by the way, I
now know that scofflaw
is not an old English word but a neologism invented in the
USA in 1923.
More
Words: Why has it taken all my life
for me to see the word 'can't' written as 'carnt'? Wouldn't happen in
the USA, of course, where the A isn't long but short. As in 'ant'.
Incidentally, why do southern Brits pick and chose between long and
short A sounds? So 'bath' is long but 'canal' isn't. Twice.
Which reminds me of the time my elder daughter (whose mother is
a Londoner), told my Liverpool-born mother that "My mum says
baath", only for her to vehemently reply - "Well, in this
house we say bath!" Whereupon Faye took, at 3, to using
different vowel sounds in respective houses. Sort of bi-lingual,
then.
The
Spanish Coastal Law
is an utter mess and has been for years. The original law was passed
in 1989 but did next-to-nothing to stop massive illegal development.
It was amended under the pervious PSOE administration - to tighten
things up - and is now being amended again by the current PP
government - in some ways to tighten it and in some ways to loosen
it. For an insight into the mess, click here. About the only thing
that can be known for certain about the law and its application is
which properties have been demolished and which haven't. The latter
include a massive, repulsive hotel built - illegally - right on the
beach. Which may now escape the wrecking ball.
The EU: Not
content with financing a TV news channel that no one watches, the EU
government (the Commission) has decided to spend a small fortune (of
not-their money) on setting up and running an 'independent' press agency. This, says the Commission, will take a more informed and serious approach to EU
matters, without in any way being influenced by EU mandarins. Money may be tight elsewhere but not in Brussels, it seems.
Finally . . . Pamplona: If
you've ever wondered what the song is that's chanted each morning
before the Pamplona bull-runs, here it is:
A
San Fermín pedimos,
por
ser nuestro patrón,
nos
guíe en el encierro,
dándonos
su bendición!!
Or
To
San Fermín, we ask that
-
as our Patron Saint -
you
guide us during the bull-run,
giving
us your blessing!!
Here's
this morning's run and, if you navigate this site, you can find each
evening's corrida
streamed live at 6.30pm. And you can discover that a bullfight can be
every bit as boring as a cricket or a baseball match. Just a bit more
sanguinary. Meanwhile, you didn't miss much this evening, according
to the El Mundo
correspondent. Chicken bulls again. Spoilsports.
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