Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
Covid
Excellent news: The Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine may stop asymptomatic infection, in a crucial sign that it could provide herd immunity. The team behind the drug today became the first to provide preliminary evidence that theirs did more than just stop illness.
Spain. Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain
Passing 2 popular tapas bars in a narrow old quarter street at midday yesterday, I gained the impression not all places are obeying the current regulations re both (external) table occupancy of 50% and of distancing. With impunity, it seems. Odd. And it doesn’t bode well for January.
A HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for these 2 items.
Forbes says the 25 most influential people in Spain of 2020 are all women. See here and here. I actually recognise some of them.
VozPópuli says that : A six million euro radar-system to detect boats off the Canary Islands has been languishing in a warehouse for 5 years. Ongoing bureaucratic problems in the purchase of a plot of land so far have prohibited the activation of surveillance from the north of Lanzarote, the area closest to the coast of Morocco, a crossing which is used by the mafias to reach other islands in the archipelago.
Here’s some of the results from research among 15-64 year olds in 23 OECD countries, averages of course:-
Paid Work; UK 3h55m Spain 2h56m
Sleep: UK 8h28 Spain 8h36
Housework UK 1h35 Spain 1h29 [Hmm. Spaniards think British houses are dirty . .]
Shopping: Uk 2h13 Spain 2h21
Personal care: UK 58m Spain 51m
Eating & Drinking: UK: 1h19 Spain 2h06
TV & radio: UK 2h13 Spain 2h09
Seeing friends: UK 47m Spain 51m
Other leisure UK 2h05 Spain 2h16
Total Leisure: UK 3h25 Spain 3h36
Paid work: Most: China 3h35 Least: Italy 2h29 (just below France and Spain)
You can see the article and all the data here. Just 2 paras here:
- The first thing that jumps out from this chart is that there are many similarities across countries.
- Cultural differences are likely to play a role. The French seem to spend much more time eating than the British – and in this respect the data actually goes in line with stereotypes about food culture. People in France, Greece, Italy and Spain report spending more time eating than people in most other European countries. The country where people spend the least time eating and drinking is the USA (63 minutes
The USA
A real estate agency is appealing to the president's fans to buy Donald Trump's childhood home in New York for $3 million and offer it to Mr Trump as a gift. Who'd be surprised if they did? Quite normal for a cult. Along with the best private jets. Prosperity theology.
The Way of the World
A senator has presented a bill to Argentina’s National Congress to put the face of Diego Maradona on the country’s $1000 peso banknote. The other side would feature the 2nd goal Diego Maradona scored against England in the 1986 World Cup, dubbed the ‘goal of the century.’ And why not, if it makes the Argentineans - a not-very-lucky group of people - feel good about themselves.
Finally . . .
My latest passport foto - the 10th - was unacceptable to the computer, as having insufficient kilobytes. This turned out to be because is it was sent to me from my friend's camera via WhatsApp, which automatically reduces them. The original foto - my 11th - has now been submitted and I await the verdict on it of a human.
Amusing aphorisms No 10: If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.