We
now know what 'continuing the Catalan referendum process' means; the
region's president is appointing a committee to plan what's to be
done on Nov. 9. Predictably, the Spanish government has said it will
appeal this at the Constitutional Court. And so the slow dance of
something continues, in the general direction of a total standoff. Or
civil war. Either way, I'll be on a ferry boat to the UK on the day
in question.
A
strange experience in my midday tapas bar today. I was chatted up - I
think. By a lively lady, who asked about my book as I was leaving.
And then invited me to join her and her (female) colleague at their
table. Among other things, she offered to find me a flat in Vigo,
where she lives. Only one drawback - She's in her 70s and I'm not. Or
she's had too much sun and smoked a fair bit. Does that sound
ungallant?
Talking
of age . . . There are quite a few women on Spanish TV who look 20
years older than they did 10 years ago. Like Carole Vorderman in the
UK. The doyenne of these is undoubtedly the Filipina Isabel Preysler,
whose husband has just died. La Isabel is said to be 63 but looks
younger than her 20-something daughter. She puts it all down to 'soap
and water', which I've tried but without the same degree of success.
I'm told Miss Preysler rarely appears on TV because she's 'not good
at that sort of thing'. Which is praise indeed in my book.
There's
a widespread belief in the UK that the National Health Service was
not only the first such in the world but is still "the envy of
the world". It isn't, of course, but politicians of all stripes
cynically play along with this nonsense, especially in the months
before general elections. And so all parties in the last week have
promised 'a billion pounds extra' to the NHS in the next parliament.
The LibDems took the idiocy biscuit with their reference to the 'jewel in
the country's crown'. Paste, presumably.
Cutting
the grass this afternoon, I heard a robin chirping away. So I put on
a recording of a robin singing, to see if it would react. It
certainly did, flying to a tree close to the open door of the house
and issuing either a romantic greeting or a nasty warning.
Finally
. . . I rather liked this comment on a famously fast young Spaniard:
While
Alonso is widely regarded as the finest driver on the grid, his
decisions over any period of time longer than a split-second have
been dubious at best.
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