Simply because the page is looking rather drab and I think these are absolutely glorious:
Of course, they aren’t the wild caléndulas that sprout up all over the grass in spring when we aren’t looking; these (growing in a flower border down by the piscina natural) are so startlingly vivid that I am tempted to think about planting some.
Category: spain
of gender and generalities
There’s a general strike planned in Spain for this coming Wednesday and this advert appears in El Público today:
The call to action comes from the Izquierda Unida, the main left wing party in Spain (as opposed to the PSOE – the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party – currently in power and not half as left wing as the name might lead you to expect).
Whatever my sympathies might be for the left, and for those who intend to strike, I object to the phrase nosotras y nosotros.
Continue reading “of gender and generalities”
out of its element
I came across this monstrosity sitting in the local river this morning, and the word bulldozer wandered through my mind looking for something to connect with.
It reminded me of a transformer; a shape-shifting earth-shifter. I’m not sure what it was doing there other than looking slightly uncomfortable and as if someone had mistaken the nearly dry river bed for a parking space.
Continue reading “out of its element”
a knotty solution
Well, the problem with my phone and internet connection was finally identified: apparently you can’t hope for a telephone to work when the cable is totally unattached.
I have my suspicions about which of the ‘technical’ guys was responsible, as there have been no more high winds since last week when it was fixed temporarily, and I don’t think the eagles that the village is proud to claim have started frequenting the area have been trying to perch in my orchard, so I can’t blame them.
Perhaps the most worrying thing is that the photo shows what is considered to be a solution. Just what do they think is going to happen to those exposed wires the next time we have a storm?
be careful what you wish for
Where British Telecom users often say ‘Telecon’, Spanish customers of Telefónica refer to the company as ‘Timofónica’, and I suppose most other national telecommunications companies have similar nicknames.
Currently, I’m debating whether the situation is best described as tele-non-communication or being tele-incomunicada.
A fortnight ago, the router was destroyed by a mains glitch during a storm. Well, we weren’t actually here when it happened, but that seems the likely explanation as some hundred routers round the village needed replacing.
Then we had high winds and the internet connection kept waxing and waning and eventually the phone line died completely.
Continue reading “be careful what you wish for”
don't confuse the narrator 