As
I've said, there's a lot of rude words and phrases (palabrotas)
in Spanish. Perhaps one of the more versatile is Cago en . . .
Or I shit on . . . Basically, the object can be modified to
cause maximum irritation to your listener. I shit on your mother,
or I shit on the Pope, as the case may be. And then there's
the blasphemous I shit on God. As I say, very versatile. And
possibly shocking, if you're not Spanish. The Catalans, by the way,
appear to have something of an obsession with defecation. Their Xmas
cribs are adorned by various squatting celebrities, one of which this
year will be Gareth Bale, the footballer who went from Tottenham to
Madrid at possibly a record price.
Interesting to note that, if
current trends continue, then Spain
could:
1.
have a declining
population by 2017, and
2.
overtake Italy as the EU's second largest exporter of food and drink
by 2020.
Yes,
Spain's birth rate is expected to fall below its death rate in 2017
and by 2023 the population is forecast to have fallen by 6% to 44.1m. MInd
you, it rose by 10% during the boom years, which came to an end in
2007/8.
There
was a column in yesterday's El País bemoaning the fact that
Spain had hardly moved on from the 70s in respect of the
still-powerful Catholic Church. Also in the paper was a report on a
legal spat between a leading Archbishop and an association which had
inherited some valuable tapestries. The association wanted to sell
them and to use the ample proceeds to help the needy. The cleric
wanted them to adorn a cathedral in Madrid. Is it any wonder that the
vast majority of Spaniards are antipathetic to the Church? And what
is the new riches-averse Pope going to do about this emblematic
struggle? Or indeed about the obscene wealth already in the hands of
his prelates. Not to mention the Vatican itself. A second
Reformation, but this time top-down?
Carlos
Fabra, the man responsible for Castellón's (non)airport has been
sentenced to 4 years in gaol for money laundering/tax evasion.
However, he was found innocent of influence peddling and bribery. Now
comes the appeal. And then quite possibly a pardon. Will he ever
languish in gaol? I suspect not. My bet is the sentence will be
reduced to 2 years on appeal, meaning he'll never have to serve it.
Ya veremos.
Since
it fitted with my own sad observations, I wasn't surprised to read
that young Spanish women smoke more than their male counterparts. Or
indeed than anyone in Spain. Or all of the EU and OECD countries for
that matter. As if that weren't bad enough, Spain has the highest
percentage of 15+ smokers in the entire world. That, of course, is
the Spanish circle of Hell - a small room where
all the women and many of the men are smoking their lungs out and
everyone is - between drags - shouting at each other simultaneously, by way of conversation.
That's why I always carry a cyanide pill. Por si acaso.
Finally
. . . The redstart in my garden the other day was on its way to
Africa for the winter but is unlikely to make it. Millions of the
feathered voyagers are brought down by Spanish hunters every autumn. The rest of the year they presumably enjoy themselves by shooting fish in barrels.
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