Cosas de España/Galiza 

The far fight Vox party – a legalised version of Francoism sans repression and executions – is now part of the regional government of Castilla y León and will likely soon become part of the government of Andalucia, after imminent elections there. Spain used to boost of being one of the few EU states without a far-right party but those days are now gone.

Incidentally,  the new regional parliament of Castilla y León has a Vox Speaker who gets around €15,000 more a year than the Prime Minister despite having no political experience whatsoever. Nice work if you can get it, at €102,000 a year. Plus perks.  

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for news of this FB campaign group for non-resident Brits with properties here which – post Brexit – they can only use for a limited number of days a year. Portugal, Sweden and France are said to have models that Spain could follow.

Sky News this morning featured an English guy resident in Spain moaning about the driving licence situation. He’s been in Spain for 30 years and admitted he’d known all this time that driving on his British licence was illegal and that he should have changed it. His excuse for not doing so was that the police in his village had never prosecuted him. I find it impossible to have any sympathy for him, especially as there was plenty of notice in both Spanish and English about the need for resident Brits to change their licence before the deadline. As with the rage-rousing tabloids, this wasn’t mentioned by the Sky News interviewer.

The other current example of British media nonsense is the reports on ‘mass pandemonium’ caused by Spanish officials enforcing a ‘controversial’ 6-drinks-a-day’ rule for all-inclusive holidays. I also find it hard to sympathise with people who need more than 3 beers or glasses of wine with both lunch and dinner. And it’s good to see Spain moving away from previous tourism models.

One of the large groups of ‘pilgrims’ passing through Pontevedra last week might well have been the recovering alcoholics featured in today’s local paper. First time I’ve heard of these folk walking the camino en masse. The paper calls them ‘exalcohólicos’ but, of course, there’s no such thing. At least not until they die, which is sadly the case with 2 of my closest friends.

The UK

True Brit: In Thomas Hughes’s classic novel, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Tom’s father expresses the hope that his son will emerge from his boarding school “a brave, helpful, truth-telling Englishman”. More than 150 years later, we still define our ideas about the mysterious quality known as “character” in terms of courage, kindness and truthfulness. These are the virtues we expect from our elected representatives, and our dismay when they fail to live up to them, is intense. And, yet, look who the UK has as king of a rotten castle . . .

On the theme of British society in the 21st century – The rise of Cruel Britannia.

Russia

It’s getting increasingly hard to understand what Russian leaders mean by the word Nazi. Perhaps it’s what everyone in Spain means by the word Fascist – Someone who disagrees with me and opposes my agenda.

The USA 

The End of the American Century  . . . and its consequences

The end of the American century

English 

Working from home or   . . Shirking from home? As in: Taking out a mortgage from bank staff shirking from home was a nightmare. It seems that the bank staff had hit on the Spanish practice of demanding just one more document, as they didn’t want to send a message to their superior about whether what they had was enough.

In a 1993 segment on National Public Radio, listeners were challenged to construct sentences that used only 2 consonants, such as “Can Connie, a nice niece in Canaan, can-can on a canoe in uncanny innocence?” The winner was “See Tess taste-test Sissy’s sassy tea to attest to its tastiest status.”  Other impressive entries are below.

Finally . . .

Kim Kardashian has appeared in public wearing the glittery, clingy dress Marilyn Monroe sheathed herself in to croon Happy Birthday to (her lover) President Kennedy decades ago. I guess it’s either been altered or is highly expandable in the tushy area.

Trigger warning: If you really need to know what ‘tushy’ – US slang – means, don’t put just ‘tushy’ in your search engine unless you’re very broad-minded. Put ‘define’ before it’.

For new reader(s): If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there. 

THE OTHE ENTRIES  

Beddy-bye, baby boy! Bid Daddy bye-bye!  

Babs’ boss, Bobb, sobs as Bea’s base beau, Bubba, abuses sea bass.  

A good guide dog did guide Dad.  

Did dull addled Lady Della deal old ally, idle loaded Daddy Leo, a leaden dolly load o’ dilled eel?  

Dear Radio Reader: Did Eduardo, a rodeo rider, dare ride a rare red doe, or did Dario, a dour dude, roar “I rode a ruder, redder deer”? Adieu, Dierdre. 

At tea, a tattooed idiot did ode to a dead toad (a tad odd!).  

Otto, Thea! Out to the auto to toot to the heath! Tote the tot that hath the teeth to eat the hat! (Uh-oh, it hit Thea.) Aha, tie the hat to the tot! Ta-ta!  

Sally, a sassy lass, says “Susie is a souse — also loose”. Sly Susie says “I’ll sue!”  

A little tale to titillate — title: Lolita.

Name me: I am anyone, I am no one; I’m an anima, a meanie, a ninny, a mommy in a muumuu, a nun in a mini; I am many; I am one ­– I am Man.  

At a roar in a ruin near our nunnery, I ran in a rare noon rain. 

Sue supposes Pa possesses poise as Pa passes Sue pea soup. Sue, pious as a spouse, passes Pa pie. 

“Wow,” we roar, “we are aware we wore wire a wry way. We’re a wee raw! We rue!”