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'*
Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain
More on the overdue eviction of the Franco’s from their Galician mansion. Or one of them at least.
A nice blog post on winter weather in the south of Spain.
And another on traditional Spanish Xmas sweets. I’d hazard a guess several of these originated in Arabia or Persia. Certainly the peanut nougat, hard and soft.
Driving in Spain: These are the 2 signs at the ends if the bridge I recently wrote about.
Being confused by them, I went on line and found that the first one means you have the right of way and the second means you don't. So, I was right that the police officer forced the wrong driver to back up last week. Who'd have thought it?
Here's Marìa's Riding the Wave: Day 27
The UK
In the Independent newspaper, a columnist compares Trump and Johnson. Trump, he says, is a liar but also a fantasist - an unknowing liar who's long stopped being able to tell the difference between the truth and his own version of it. But Johnson is no such thing. 'All his lies, and they are many, are full-throated and real', avers the columnist. Quite possibly true. But in a quest for what? Popularity? Love? Don't laugh, this has been suggested as his primary motivation, stemming from life under a crap father.
The UK & The EU
Dear dog . . . In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the Royal Navy Police will be given the power to arrest French and other EU fishermen who illegally enter Britain’s waters. What could possibly go wrong?
The Way of the World
I talked to my daughter yesterday on WhatsApp - owned by Facebook - about buying a guitar for her son. Shortly thereafter, Youtube - owned by Google - was offering me videos from guitar makers.
John Wesley - the founder of Methodism - wrote, when single, a book which extolled marriage as the perfect state. After he'd married and been 'dragged round the parlour by his hair' he changed his mind somewhat and wrote a second book, highlighting the virtues of the single life. Pretty understandable. But he retained his belief in a deity who'd put Charles II the throne after the end of the Cromwell experiment. Which must have pleased his god.
Spanish
This melody is called ‘Forbidden Games’ in French but ‘Spanish Romance’ in English. Wonder why.
Finally . . .
Amusing aphorisms No. 13. I run like the winded.
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.