Dawn

Dawn

Friday, December 22, 2017

Thoughts from Galicia: 22.12.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain. 

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here.

Cataluña
  • Well, no clarity, no certainty, no stability, no mandate for either this or that, and no-one truly happy with the outcome. And a huge blow to Spanish pride. Congratulations Sr Rajoy. You've proved the accuracy of all the negative adjectives levelled at you over the last 10 years. But, hang on. Maybe you're a genius. Possibly you saw long ago that the only way to solve the problem you created 10 years ago was to force events along to such a point that you could say to your PP colleagues: “Look, we have no choice now but to backtrack to 2006 and give the sensible Catalans the greater devolution they wanted back then. Assuming this will be enough, given that in the interim I've so successfully jacked up the demand for secession by causing many of them to forfeit their common sense”. Vamos a ver if you can carry this off, Sr R. Assuming, of course, you're allowed to stay on as leader of the PP party and not given the boot because you really are the idiot many of us have long thought you were.
  • Meanwhile . . . Some accurate Guardian observations:-
- Catalan pro-independence parties have held their absolute majority, dealing a severe blow to the Spanish government, which had called the polls in the hope of heading off the secessionist push.
- Much will now depend on what the pro-independence parties agree. Puigdemont is facing arrest if he returns to Spain and fractures have appeared between him and Junqueras, who has appeared to take a more moderate line on independence.
- The vote is the latest chapter in Spain’s worst political crisis since its return to democracy four decades ago. The results will be bruising for Rajoy and will do nothing to heal divisions in the region, which remains deeply and evenly divided over the independence issue.
- Any solution to the vexed question of Catalan sovereignty remains as elusive as ever.

Spain
  • See Cataluña above.
The EU
  • Says The Guardian here, vis-a-vis the problems with recalcitrant Poland: Brussels clearly needs to rethink the rules by which the EU is governed. Those currently in place lack any realistic provisions for dealing with a member government that rubbishes the fundamental principles the union was built on, while continuing to take its cash. So long as this keeps flowing, even the most anti-Brussels politicians in Poland will want to keep it in the EU. The government there does not need to be unduly worried about the triggering of article 7 for this is merely the first step in a long process that would eventually require the approval of all other EU members for actual sanctions to be imposed on Poland.
The USA
  • President Fart has insisted he'll lose money as a result of his tax reforms. Others, possibly more knowledgable than him, say that he'll save up to $15m and that his son-in-law will save up to $12m. So . . . Who to believe?
  • Life expectancy in the US has reduced for the second year running, largely down to the opiod crisis that Fart seems to be unworried about. As opposed to, say, maintianing the country's incredible gun laws
The Spanish Language
  • The Royal Academy has issued un update to its dictionary and has included these words, inter alia, for the first time:-
Táper – Hermetically sealable plastic container. From Tupper?
Cracker – Internet pirate
Postureo – From posturing
ClicarHacer clic. To click on.
Posverdad - Post-truth
Aporofobia – Fear of poor folk
Bombín – Bicycle pump
Pasada - Something exaggerated. Abnormal.
Británico – Ironic, sarcastic humour.  Caracterizado por la ironía fina y el sarcasmo disimulado atribuidoa a los británicos .
Audiolibro – Audiobook
Machismo
Sexo debil – Weaker sex
Sharía -

But not, inexplicably, selfi . . .

Nutters Corner Xmas Special
  • From this fabulous site: It is not possible for me to know for certain, but I strongly suspect that Christian counsel have made it known to the president the truth about Israel from God’s perspective. Thankfully, Mr. Trump has wisely listened to such counsel, it appears. America stands in much better stead with the Almighty with this fulfilled, presidential promise. . . . The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting.  The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however,it is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture.  You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture. 
  • From elsewhere: The Mormon Church has performed post-mortem baptisms of at least 20 Holocaust victims, as well as the grandparents of well-known figures like Donald Trump. The list of those baptized over the past 5 years also includes the deceased ancestors of Hillary Clinton and Steven Spielberg. And on Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe; the mother of Queen Elizabeth II; and grandparents of Kim Kardashian and Carrie Fisher and US politicians Joe Biden, John McCain and Mike Pence. Interestingly enough, these proxy baptisms don’t just target Holocaust victims and well-liked celebrities. Mormons also attempted to baptize O.J. Simpson, who is still alive, as well as Charles Manson.
I guess it makes sense to someone. But how heart-warming to read in The Times that: For the first time since the Black Death a majority of Britons are not religious. I fear it'll take quite some time for the US to arrive at this point. Possibly centuries. Unless President Fart continues to besmirch the reputation of Christian Evangelists. Which wasn't terribly good in the first place, of course.

Galicia
  • For some reason I've noted down the site of this Galician 'contemporary' restaurant in Barcelona. In case you want to hazard a trip there.
  • Talking of food, here and here are pages on an enterprising young woman in Galicia who's offering English to the increasing number of locals who have to deal with the growing guiri hordes in Santiago and elsewhere. I've asked her for a Spanish or English version but await her reply. Octopus to the party is, by the way, a reference to the common crap translation of Pulpo a la feria/Polbo a feira. I suspect she's spent some time acquiring humor británico in the UK. . .
Finally
  • It appears to be not uncommon for unhappy women to marry themselves. Sologamy, it's called.
Today's Xmas Cartoon


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