Dawn

Dawn

Monday, August 25, 2014

Invitations; Life in Spain; Changing English; Ice buckets; & My new BBQ


Invitations: When I first heard the phrase Significant Other, in 1986, I thought it was a joke but, talking of my daughter's upcoming wedding, my young visitors today acquainted me with the important distinction between this label and that of Plus One. The latter is someone with whom you're not in a relationship but who's still allowed to come with you. If you're a johnny-no-mates, you just get an invitation for yourself alone, I'm told.

Life in Spain: There are (large?) parts of Spain where tourism is still the cheap and cheerful variety. Perhaps, then, it's not too surprising that the country comes quite high - 5th - in someone's survey of countries visitors most moan about. Ahead of Spain at 10% were the Dominican Republic(12%), Egypt(15%), and Turkey(17%). But garnering most brickbats was the cruise ship option, which upsets a huge 27% of its customers. Most of the complaints relate to health, hygiene and food standards, it seems. The last thing you want to be doing is eating a badly-cooked hamburger in a dirty swimming pool, at sea.

Changing English: People of my generation say either bored with or bored by. Today's generation seems to say bored of, which I guess we now have to accept as the authorised version. I've just found this reference which confirms this - "It represents a perfectly logical development of the language and was probably formed on the pattern of expressions such as tired of or weary of. "

This morning I was subjected to my visitors to the ice-bucket ordeal. They adamantly refused to pour a kettle-full of hot water into said bucket - to avoid a heart attack - and, instead, poured in a few trays of the obligatory ice. I was quite relaxed about it but found it worse than I'd feared. But the aspirin I gave to one of them to administer should I suffer an infarct wasn't necessary and, happily, one of my guests had a towel and a glass of wine to hand. Plus the sun was shining. There is a video but, as my language turned as blue as my face, this can't go on general release.

Finally . . . My new BBQ duly passed its debut test today, even though I hadn't used either the spanner or the screwdriver which the diagrams indicated were necessary. I will tighten up everything one day. Maybe. There's an awful lot of it to be done. And first I have to find out whether the contraption really is foldable.


House for Sale in Pontevedra

My neighbours are moving to Madrid and selling their lovely house. Lots of pictures here. Brief description: South west orientation. Completely renovated. In a development with swimming pool, extensive green areas, place for parties, excellent community environment. €395,000.

Details
4 floors
322 sq m constructed, 283 sq m usable
5 double bedrooms
3 bathrooms
Plot of 336 sq m
Terrace of 336 sq m plus
Garage
Completely furnished
Excellent condition
5 built-in wardrobes
Lumber room
Covered laundry room
Central heating
Private garden

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