Dawn

Dawn

Friday, October 25, 2013

Corruption 1 & 2; Public anger; Roman non-remains; Non-shops; Nicknames; and Family fun.

Corruption 1: Well, we now have a full house. The sole Spanish Cabinet member not yet accused of corruption has lost this distinction and stands accused of financial skulduggery involving each of his two wives. I assume this is in series and not in parallel.

Corruption 2 :The princess said to have blatantly benefitted from the sham company set up by her husband to channel taxpayer funds into their account(s), is now reported to have used her company credit card to buy rather expensive furniture and fittings. As things seem to change regularly, I'm not sure what legal status the princess currently has but it seems she hasn't yet been arestada, acusada or imputada. Possibly because the Public Prosecutor keeps telling the investigating judge to lay off her.

En passant . . . I've just noticed that said minister - who has the Education portfolio - glories in a surname, Wert, which comprises 4 consecutive letters on my keyboard. Any others? In any language? (Except proto-Sanskrit, Trevor).

The Spanish public, it seems, is so fed up of the staggering levels of corruption at local, provincial, regional and national levels that it's switched off to both politics and politicians. Approbation levels for the latter are at an all-time low and only a minority of the populace say they'd bother to vote if there were an election today. If this passive disapprobation and inertia is all the crooks have to fear, there can't be much chance of them going straight and cleaning up the House. The only thing likely to reduce the quantum of funds swindled will be the continued collapse of opportunities brought about by La Crisis. After all, governments will always raise and spend money and, where there are sticky hands, some of it will always be lost to 'seepage'. Especially in a culture where it's seen to be normal. At a non-staggering level anyway.

A while back I mentioned an archeological site down near one of our bridges, on the Portuguese Way(camino) to Santiago. And I said that, not only had excavation been stopped for lack-of-cash but it was being filled in with sand and then seeded with grass. Well, now comes the coup de grace - they've installed a kiddies' playground on top of the grass. Though I guess this is welcome if you live in the nearby flats and need to distract your little rugrats. Or, more likely, your grandkids. Foto tomorrow.

Talking of fotos . . . Here's one of the shop which replaced a well-frequented café and which is widely seen as providing a laundry, rather than a retail, service. I intend to check from time to time whether anything is moving from the rails. Or at least from those visible through an open door. If I stop writing, you'll know I've upset someone.


Yesterday I came across the diminutive female name Charo and was told it was from Rosario. Like me, you'll be wondering at the logic of this. And here's the (one?) answer:- No se trata de un diminutivo (sería más bien Rosarito) sino de un hipocorístico. Esto es la versión infantil y familiar de "Rosario". Los niños que rompen a hablar manejan unas pocas sílabas y se atienen a las palabras de una o dos sílabas. De ahí Charo (Rosario). Yes, well.

Finally . . . I wrote years ago that there was a serious downside to being told by someone Spanish that you are now like a member of the family - it means you can be tapped for dosh. Well, it's happened again - different family - and I hope this time it doesn't take 2 years to retrieve the principal.

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