Dawn

Dawn

Monday, April 11, 2016

Ponters Pensées 11.4.16

Spanish (non)Government: As the likelihood of a June second general election get ever greater, the prospects of the caretaker right-of-centre PP party seem to improving. The FT thinks it's even possible that Sr Rajoy has been prematurely written off as a continuing President. God forbid.

Spain's Fiestas: Sevilla's Feria de Abril is reckoned to be second only to Valencia's Fallas of last month. (They start early down south). It looks very Spanish and there's more on it here.

Spanish Banks: These are (in)famous for doing all sorts of nasty things to their customers. Or victims, as they should be called. And for being inefficient, always in their favour. One of their tricks is the floor-rate clause in their mortgage contracts. Here's Don Quijones on the subject. As he/she says, 'Variable mortgages' are only really variable in one direction: upwards! But the Supreme Court, one hopes, has dealt these a death blow. And ordered repayment of all the gains ill-gotten in the last 3 years.

Funny Spanish Names: HTs to Lenox of Business Over Tapas for the first of these and to my friend Dutch Peter de Santiago for the rest:-
  • Socorro. Or 'Succour', I guess. Rather than 'Help'.
  • Digna Marciana
  • Burgudófora Cancionila
  • Iluminada Nínfodora
  • Cilina Renería
All of Peter's come from a place called Huerta del Rey, which I've just researched. The list of its odd names is far too long to reproduce here. So here's the link. Enjoy.

The Franco-Spanish Wine war of 2016: Some details on this here, from The Guardian.

Facebook - The Latest Irritation?: Not only inserting unwanted RELATED items but making them un-deletable.

Domestic Trivia: Electricity: This is the equivalent in light bulbs to one hour of each of the following:-
  • Hob 37
  • Drier 36
  • Hair dryer 25
  • Dishwasher 18
  • Oven 17
  • Iron 17
  • Microwave 15
  • Hoover 12
  • Washing machine 9
  • TV 2
  • Fridge 0.4 (but on 24/7)
Finally . . . Funny Acronyms: George Mason University in the USA is re-thinking the name of its Antonin Scalia School of Law, after it was pointed out that it might result in questionable acronyms such as ASSoL or ASS Law.

A couple of cartoons from recent Private Eye issues:



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