SPANISH
SERVICE: It's a global truism that the best thing about Spain is the
Spaniards. Seeing how friendly they are, it's sometimes impossible to
imagine there could ever have been a civil war here. In fact, it
would be hard to imagine them even arguing with anyone, if it wasn't
for the fact they're always arguing with each other. Especially on
the TV. But, anyway, one wonderful aspect of this is how personal the
service can be in places were you go regularly. So it is that the guy
in the shop where I take my sewing challenges (la costurera) treats me as a long
lost friend, greeting me as 'David'. Because I use this instead of
'Colin', for at least 2 reasons. Yesterday, I noted he'd given me a
receipt with both my forename and surname on it – 'David David'.
Which was nice. But it could have been 'David Son of David',
following my explanation to him last time of what Davies(Welsh), O'David(Irish) and
MacDavid(Scottish) all mean.
LOCAL
CORRUPTION: In my Thoughts from Galicia blog today, I quote Baltasar
Garzón on municipal corruption. What I don't say there is that he
cites these as the town halls which refuse to provide details of
their expenditure: Algeciras, Badalona, Benidorm, Cáceres, Córdoba,
Elche, Guadalajara, Huelva, Jaén, Las Rozas, Leganés and
PONTEVEDRA. One wonders why. But I did see the police carting away boxes of documents from our Ayuntamiento a few weeks ago.
PENSIONS:
Can anyone tell me how come the average pension in As Pontes is €1200
per month but is only €580 in Quintela de Larado? Are these things
decided at the very local level? And do they depend on the very local
economy or the state of the very local finances? Is there no national
norm or minimum?
FINALLY:
Don't overlook my other - less locally focused - blog – Thoughts from Galicia.
For the
Pontevedra English Speaking Society, contact Dylan on 607 803 151 or
986 861 070. Calle Echegaray 16 3D.
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