If
there's one certainty of Spanish life it's that, however low the
public's opinion of its politicians might be right now, something's
bound to come along to reduce it further. Which makes it all the more
ironic that, as David Jackson reports, the political establishment is
now Spain's largest employer.
Which
reminds me . . . El País had this to say in an editorial
yesterday - Manipulation of the news, croneyism, rubbish programs,
sex scandals and the squandering of money - TV Valencia is closing
its doors, a faithful mirror of a time and a place. The nice thing about this comment is that implies things will get better in the future. At least in Valencia.
The
Spanish tax office doesn't seem awfully capable of tackling the big guys
such as crooked politicos and businessmen but, like every tax
authority in the world, it's damn good at persecuting the soft target
of the small fry. So it is that it's treating all Spaniards returning
home with a pension as crooks who are hiding something.
In
a satirical piece about Ryanair's intention to change its poor image, David Mitchell cites, as an example of
its poor customer orientation, the fact that it
only accepts complaints via a premium rate phone line. That made
be laugh; here is Spain you can't contact any company for even customer or technical service except via a premium
number, never mind to complain. I've yet to deal with a company which
competes by offering normal (or, God forbid, free) phone lines when
you need help. Offhand, perhaps Línea
Directa.
I
had a sort of English-class-cum-intercambio on Saturday
morning, with two young ladies who work in my favourite tapas bar.
One of them had called on Friday evening to set this up, which was a
bit of a surprise to me, as she'd said she'd do this the previous
Friday and hadn't. But life in Spain is replete with surprises, some
good, some bad. Anyway, I was impressed they'd both been to the
nearest stationers and stocked up on relevant materials.
And
they certainly dedicated themselves to the lesson, taking copious
notes of my meanderings. Which afforded me the opportunity to see how
they transcribed English sounds into Spanish, my favourite being
gveik for 'wake'.
Talking
of Spanish . . . The very un-Hispanic word
kermesse seems to be now just a synonym for 'fiesta', having reached us from Holland via South America.
Finally,
I think I've mentioned that these steel posts have been installed
around Pontevedra city, essentially where drivers might consider
parking on - or driving over - the pavement. And even where this
isn't possible. Ferrolano suggested Pontevedrans might demolish them
but, so far, the only bent one I've seen is the one in this picture.
These
€100-a-time posts are now so ubiquitous I'm tempted to conclude
somebody's relative owns the company which makes them. But that's how
you get here, after a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment