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
Spain: Not good news at all . . . As a 4th wave looms, only half of 80 year olds have been vaccinated, with Galicia having one of the poorest records so far.
Germany: Continuing ructions between Berlin and the regions on how to prevent another wave.
Cosas de España/Galiza
During my walks in the forest behind my house, I regularly come across low granite walls half (or more) hidden by undergrowth, such as this one:-
So, are they merely (expensive)boundary markers? Or are they evidence of habitations long abandoned?
I didn't peruse the Diario de Pontevedra yesterday so was pleased to receive this report from Lenox Napier, of a local driver who's beaten the national record for the total of on the spot fines? He might just be one of the 2 people who pulled out right in front of me at separate junctions yesterday morning . . .
Talking of things that annoy me . . . As I passed a restaurant yesterday, a woman came out of it on my left, fell in behind me, passed me on the right and then crossed within inches of my face to get to her front door on our left, not 30m from the restaurant. If this sort of thing didn't happen every day, I'd have concluded she was, at best, absent-minded or, at worst, downright rude. But as it is, it was merely yet another confirmation that the Spanish 'have no concept of personal space'. And that we foreigners just have to inure* ourselves to this. As I might before I die.
Maria's Tsunami: Day 57
Germany
The advance of the Greens towards power, courtesy of a civil war in Mrs M's party.
The USA
The US's inequality is a reflection of the deep racism that built this country, says the chap interviewed here.
The Way of the World
If you're not familiar with transhumanism, click here. And be afraid . . .
Spanish & Galician
A month or three ago there was a bit of a debate around what letters don't exist in Gallego. The most obvious ones are J and Y, which become X and I. Yesterday, after seeing kilo written as quilo, I checked on the letter K. In fact, there are just over 40 words in the dictionary of the Galician Royal Academy, just as there are in that of the Spanish Royal Academy. But all of these are foreign words. The letter K is clearly not native to either Spain or Galicia. But, given that the word for the Basque language is Euskera/Euskara, I imagine their Royal Academy's dictionary will feature this letter quite a lot. The dictionary of the Catalan Royal Academy - yes, they have one too - seems to contain around 120 words featuring the letter K. Again, all foreign as far as I can see.
English/Spanish
To separate the wheat from the chaff:-
Separar el polvo de la paja
Separar el grano de la paja
Separar el trigo de la paja. I wonder if this one isn’t just a literal translation. So not in use in Spanish.
Finally . . .
Worth quoting: My favourite line from Hancock’s Half Hour is when, as chairman of the jury, his ignorant but hilarious summing-up begins: “Magna Carta! Did she die in vain?”
*Just for Perry: To inure: To accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant.