The Spanish press has been full of politicians making comments about poetry recently.
Or perhaps not. More exactly, Esperanza Aguirre (Partido Popular, presidenta de la Comunidad de Madrid) picked up on something I think Gallardón (her closest rival, also from the PP) said a while back, and referred to herself as el verso suelto dentro del poema.
“The unconnected line in the poem.”
What exactly does that mean?
Continue reading “political poets”
I’m in the city for a couple of days and spending the morning working at the computer in our fourth floor flat. There’s no one else around and I thought I’d have a few hours of peace and quiet to get the year end accounts organised ready to take to the accountant next week. Instead, it’s only just eleven o’clock and I’ve had to buzz open the main building door three times already – and all for postmen. Well, ok, postpeople, perhaps.
Continue reading “going postal”
It’s nearly Christmas, so it must be time to dust off the decorations. Not for me the tree and the tinsel, the baubles and ornaments that figured so importantly in my childhood. 
As most people do, I started off with the central stable scene – referred to here as the pesebre (manger), nacimiento (birth) or Misterio (mystery) – but as the years go by I’ve added figures and scenes and now I feel the display really does warrant the term “belén” which is the Spanish name for Bethlehem.
Continue reading “oh little town of Bethlehem”
Ten sounds that make it impossible to forget that you’re in Madrid:
1. The neighbour beating eggs to make a tortilla española.
2. The squeak of the washing line pulley in the patio interior. Often closely followed by:
3. The sound of a clothes peg falling into the patio interior. (The only sound associated with the clothes that are dropped is the exclamation of the housewife who’s hanging them out.)
Continue reading “sounds of Madrid”
Si has llegado aquí buscando un plano del metro, encontrarás algunos enlaces útiles aquí. – Añadido agosto 2008.
“Metro de Madrid se sale del mapa” dice el anuncio, y suena mucho mejor en castellano que en inglés. A mí me cuesta no interpretarlo como “los políticos se salen con la suya y el Metro de Madrid se ha perdido” pero en realidad es una referencia al nuevo diseño del plano del Metro. Después de tanta carrera para inaugurar el mayor número posible de estaciones antes de las elecciones, ahora han inaugurado un mapa nuevo para que quepan todas en la misma hoja.
Y, sinceramente, a mí no me gusta.
don't confuse the narrator 