Spanish facts; Spanish expressions; Spanish coffee; Saudi women; & Readers.

Some Odd Spanish Facts:

• Murcia accounts for more than 25% of drug hauls in Spain, which is disproportionate to its size. The head of the special Drugs and Organised Crime unit there has recently been sent to prison. so, one can only imagine what the percentage would have been if he hadn't been in charge.
• Down near Toledo a couple of guys were recently nabbed doing a bit of bullfighting by moonlight - holding their own little corrida without the owner's permission. And risking the health of some very expensive animals. Not to say their own.

Some Spanish Expressions

1. Featuring the word leche (milk):

Estar de mala leche: To be in a bloody awful mood.

Tener mala leche: To be a complete bastard.

Esto es la leche!: This is the absolute limit!

Correr/trabajar a toda leche: To run/work like hell.

Estar con/Tener las leche en los labios: To be wet behind the ears.

2. Featuring the word uva (grape):

Estar de mala uva: To be in a bad mood.

Tener muy mala uva: To be a nasty piece of work.

Estar hecho una uva: To be as drunk as a lord.

Entrar por las uvas: To take the plunge.

Ir de uvas a peras: To change the subject for no reason.

De uvas a peras: Once in a blue moon.

I had a couple of visitors from Portugal yesterday, one of whom is a coffee entrepreneur. He surprised me with the comment that, though you might be able to get 42 different types of coffee here, the coffee supplied to the cafés and bars is of poor quality. This, he said, was not only the opinion of the Portuguese but also of the (even more expert) Italians. Since I never drink my coffee as café solo (or even cortado), this has clearly passed me by. Nor have I ever had any torrefacto, which is just as well as this, he says, is banned in Portugal for being injurious to health. Anyway, I've just done a bit of research and the first thing that came up was this article of a place in my daughter's street in Madrid which she loves. The owner explains why they don't serve torrefacto. I was a bit disturbed to find that, though I never buy this and never ask for it, most places in Spain serve a mixture of this and natural coffee in all their drinks. Hmm.

As you know, in Saudi Arabia women aren't allowed to drive, despite having been permitted to ride camels. Here's a video of a chap who thinks he has the (priceless) solution to this and to the risk of rape by their male drivers. And of the wonerful reaction of his (female) TV interviewer.

Finally . . . Readership of my blog yesterday was almost double the norm. I'd like to think this was because of the fotos of Ravachol but I fear it was really because it featured the word 'sex'. Logically, this would mean that today's gets the same readership but history suggests this won't happen. Beats me.