Thursday, July 27, 2006
Spanish Rural Houses
One of the unheralded delights of Spain as far as tourism is concerned is the "Rural House". Deep in a forgotten valley or high up a hillside they provide a look into everyday spanish life, a chance to meet the natives, explode places that most tourists will never see and all at a fraction of the price of hotels.
The state-run paradors are OK for a visit with lots of stone staircases, paintings, history, and the occasional knight in armour and of course, everyone speaks english. They're all on the map with pretty signs but where's your sense of adventure and your love of meeting ordinary spanish people. Try a Rural House. There's lots of books out there giving pictures and locations and there's also plenty of web sites as well. They're usually old houses that have been renovated and because the local Tourist board fund a percentage of the changes the quality of workmanship is very high. And unlike a parador every room that you book will be different adding to the experience.
But as I'm sure you'll appreciate there's nothing in this life worth doing that comes easy. You have to make an effort. No pain, no gain. So it is with Rural Houses, if you happen to be a foreigner and your spanish is not that good.
So how to start on this adventure. The first issue, not a problem please, will be the actual booking. Even on the web sites there's few that allow you to book online. Here's one that does dormiren casas rurales. For the majority, it means using the phone. For the non-speakers amongst you, I've included a few basic phases but if you're really serious you really should buy a phase book.
The second problem, sorry issue, and possibly the more serious is actually locating the place. Signposting in Spain is a lost art. They all know that you'll be impatient with looking and dying to ask the nearest native "where is so-and-so?" Therefore the name you will be looking for will rather be a second thought and will be small, possibly in a local language, behind a tree, and will be noticable from only one direction. Give yourself plenty of time, make sure you have a good map and show lots of determination. Believe me it'll be worth it.
So here's 5 very good ones to get you started.
Casa Elizetxe, Guernica, Bilbao
High up in the hills above Guernica ( and if you've never heard of this place, ask Picasso ) it is very hard to find. We gave up the first time after driving pass the 2 inch square sign a couple of times. But believe me this is one of the best. Every room is different and has its own theme, there are birds making their nest in the high corners of the porch and there's lots of pleasant walks with wonderful scenery. An old church and the bar belonging to 86 year-old Beatrice are added sites.
Casa Perriola Etxea, Villanueve de Arce, Roncesvalles, Navarra
This one is easy to find as the village is small and the road ends just outside the house. A beautiful salon with a small terrace overlooking a lovely valley and near to the historical Roncesvalles where the pilgrims start their spanish walk to Compostela.
Los Castros, Covarrubias, Burgos
A lovely village very near to Santo Domingo de Silos where the famous chanting monks live. A house belonging to a nature photographer, every inch of the walls are covered in the treasures from his travels and his photographs. All of the rooms are done in a different colour, ask for the blue room, its the best.
Casa Pepa, Santa Columba de Somoza, Leon
A newly renovated house very near the Camino de Santiago. The dining room is very rustic and if you stay during the week you may well have it to yourselves.
Posada de Langre
Some regions of Spain call rural houses "posados". This one is near a lovely secluded beach and only 30 mins from Santander. You can enjoy a walk along the cliffs and watch the boats pass by and see Santander in the distance. Hurry before this wonderful area is spoilt like the south coast.
You'll notice that they are all in the north as that's where we prefer to travel. Less tourists.
A few easy phases to help:
Where is?: Donde esta?
Can I book a room?: Tiene una habitacion?
Single/Double: Sencilla/Matromonio
For one/two/three nights: Por una/dos/tres noches
With Shower? Con Ducha
The state-run paradors are OK for a visit with lots of stone staircases, paintings, history, and the occasional knight in armour and of course, everyone speaks english. They're all on the map with pretty signs but where's your sense of adventure and your love of meeting ordinary spanish people. Try a Rural House. There's lots of books out there giving pictures and locations and there's also plenty of web sites as well. They're usually old houses that have been renovated and because the local Tourist board fund a percentage of the changes the quality of workmanship is very high. And unlike a parador every room that you book will be different adding to the experience.
But as I'm sure you'll appreciate there's nothing in this life worth doing that comes easy. You have to make an effort. No pain, no gain. So it is with Rural Houses, if you happen to be a foreigner and your spanish is not that good.
So how to start on this adventure. The first issue, not a problem please, will be the actual booking. Even on the web sites there's few that allow you to book online. Here's one that does dormiren casas rurales. For the majority, it means using the phone. For the non-speakers amongst you, I've included a few basic phases but if you're really serious you really should buy a phase book.
The second problem, sorry issue, and possibly the more serious is actually locating the place. Signposting in Spain is a lost art. They all know that you'll be impatient with looking and dying to ask the nearest native "where is so-and-so?" Therefore the name you will be looking for will rather be a second thought and will be small, possibly in a local language, behind a tree, and will be noticable from only one direction. Give yourself plenty of time, make sure you have a good map and show lots of determination. Believe me it'll be worth it.
So here's 5 very good ones to get you started.
Casa Elizetxe, Guernica, Bilbao
High up in the hills above Guernica ( and if you've never heard of this place, ask Picasso ) it is very hard to find. We gave up the first time after driving pass the 2 inch square sign a couple of times. But believe me this is one of the best. Every room is different and has its own theme, there are birds making their nest in the high corners of the porch and there's lots of pleasant walks with wonderful scenery. An old church and the bar belonging to 86 year-old Beatrice are added sites.
Casa Perriola Etxea, Villanueve de Arce, Roncesvalles, Navarra
This one is easy to find as the village is small and the road ends just outside the house. A beautiful salon with a small terrace overlooking a lovely valley and near to the historical Roncesvalles where the pilgrims start their spanish walk to Compostela.
Los Castros, Covarrubias, Burgos
A lovely village very near to Santo Domingo de Silos where the famous chanting monks live. A house belonging to a nature photographer, every inch of the walls are covered in the treasures from his travels and his photographs. All of the rooms are done in a different colour, ask for the blue room, its the best.
Casa Pepa, Santa Columba de Somoza, Leon
A newly renovated house very near the Camino de Santiago. The dining room is very rustic and if you stay during the week you may well have it to yourselves.
Posada de Langre
Some regions of Spain call rural houses "posados". This one is near a lovely secluded beach and only 30 mins from Santander. You can enjoy a walk along the cliffs and watch the boats pass by and see Santander in the distance. Hurry before this wonderful area is spoilt like the south coast.
You'll notice that they are all in the north as that's where we prefer to travel. Less tourists.
A few easy phases to help:
Where is?: Donde esta?
Can I book a room?: Tiene una habitacion?
Single/Double: Sencilla/Matromonio
For one/two/three nights: Por una/dos/tres noches
With Shower? Con Ducha
Thank You: Gracias
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Israel 4 United Nations 0
Not a surprising result as Israel continues its fight with the rest of the world with 4 UN observers from those belicose countries, Austria, Canada, China and Finland, being easily "defeated". I'm sure their families will understand the difficult situation and will manage to surpress any anti-semitic thoughts that threaten to overwhelm them.
Further Statistics show the values in their usual reversed fashion:
Further Statistics show the values in their usual reversed fashion:
Civilians Killed: Lebanese 400+ Israelis 18
The numbers in the Actual Troops Category are:
Hizbullah Killed unknown, Israelis Killed 24
While the Kidnapped And Detained Category reads:
Miscellaneous Palestinians, Arabs, etc: 1849 ( latest figures traced as of Aug 2005 ) Israelis 3
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Here Comes the Cavalry
Come on, you know how the story goes.
The wholesome settlers, desperate to find a new home, are being attacked by those nasty dirty savages with their bows and arrows all upset that new people have arrived and are walking all over their sacred burial grounds. Things are bad and couldn't look any worst. Then at the last minute when all hope seems lost, over the hill can be heard the sound of the bugles and into view ride the men of the Seventh Cavalry.
You're seen it a hundred times in various guises and its always the same ending.
Well, as you all know children there were bad men who traded secretly with the savages and sold them guns and so the cavalry thought it a good idea to give the settlers some improved weaponry as well, the odd helicopter gunshop and several thousand state-of the-art tanks. APC's and self-propelled guns. Not forgetting pilotless drone planes and night-vision helmets. Oh, and atomic warheads, a couple of thousand of them, and a few thousand F16 fighters.
So now the settlers with their limitless arsenal, are teaching these savages a lesson they won't forget, just like the last time and the time before that. In case you need updating the current settlers with the problem of indigenous leftovers are the Israelis and they have, of course, been given several more days to bomb, destroy and generally terrorize, sorry can't say that, I mean attack and murder the people it should really have got rid of last time and the time before that.
The wholesome settlers, desperate to find a new home, are being attacked by those nasty dirty savages with their bows and arrows all upset that new people have arrived and are walking all over their sacred burial grounds. Things are bad and couldn't look any worst. Then at the last minute when all hope seems lost, over the hill can be heard the sound of the bugles and into view ride the men of the Seventh Cavalry.
You're seen it a hundred times in various guises and its always the same ending.
Well, as you all know children there were bad men who traded secretly with the savages and sold them guns and so the cavalry thought it a good idea to give the settlers some improved weaponry as well, the odd helicopter gunshop and several thousand state-of the-art tanks. APC's and self-propelled guns. Not forgetting pilotless drone planes and night-vision helmets. Oh, and atomic warheads, a couple of thousand of them, and a few thousand F16 fighters.
So now the settlers with their limitless arsenal, are teaching these savages a lesson they won't forget, just like the last time and the time before that. In case you need updating the current settlers with the problem of indigenous leftovers are the Israelis and they have, of course, been given several more days to bomb, destroy and generally terrorize, sorry can't say that, I mean attack and murder the people it should really have got rid of last time and the time before that.
And its not really the cavalry arriving its only Condi Rice who finally managed to get a ticket to the Middle East after 12 days of trying. She's finally turned up to talk of what should be done to ease the problem. Sorry can't be a ceasefire, there's too much hate around for anyone to agree to that. Maybe a multinational force or two, maybe NATO, or someone else, we'll arrange something just give us a while longer. How much longer do you want? Oh and do let me have the weapons requirements for the following year. Can't have you going short, can we, in this Global War Against Terror. It's costing you how much? 111 millions Euros a day, sorry, what's that in dollars. Don't worry, stick on next years budget, will you.
But Condi can't stop. She's now in Lebanon with the hopeless task of trying to teach these silly Lebanonese people that its not enough to have democracy; its also necessary to vote correctly in future and not have these nasty savage people in their parliament or come to that even on your land. Can't you just lock them up in a prison somewhere?
Meanwhile, there's someone called Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, hopefully asking for 150 million dollars in humanitarian aid to help an estimated 800,000 civilians whose lives have been disrupted by the Israeli bombing of Lebanon.
So the bill is about equal really, lets just say 300 million shared equally shall we. At least that will keep the accountants happy, and it does mean that something, somewhere, does add up.
But Condi can't stop. She's now in Lebanon with the hopeless task of trying to teach these silly Lebanonese people that its not enough to have democracy; its also necessary to vote correctly in future and not have these nasty savage people in their parliament or come to that even on your land. Can't you just lock them up in a prison somewhere?
Meanwhile, there's someone called Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, hopefully asking for 150 million dollars in humanitarian aid to help an estimated 800,000 civilians whose lives have been disrupted by the Israeli bombing of Lebanon.
So the bill is about equal really, lets just say 300 million shared equally shall we. At least that will keep the accountants happy, and it does mean that something, somewhere, does add up.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Can somebody stop this thing - I want to get Off!
There seems to be no other subject on the planet that can generate so much comment on the internet as the conflict in Israel-Palestine. The one thing that you notice, after being surprised by the shear volume of comments is the amount of heat generated. Everyone seems to have an opinion, is convinced that they know more than anyone else and of course some of the views are wildly extremist.
So, its at least promising that someone , namely Dave Clark , has stated the obvious. Well, of course the obvious as far as I see it. Having read many of the blogs on the subject I can say straightaway without fear of contradiction that there will be many that disagree. They will see, or rather perceive, that coming from the Guardian it will be leftish dribble supporting the wrong side.
What is it that creates one view that is so directly opposed to another? How can "Right" and "Wrong" be so easily twisted? Is it because most people have pre-conceived views that they cannot change and are only hardened by exposure to an opposite view. Are people not "open" to another's viewpoint. I realise that its rather comfortable to hold to ones views, however they are arrived at, and ridicule everyone else who disagrees.
But why are the views so diverse in the first place? I think the reason for such hardened views stems as much from our mostly god-awful media that anything else. Now owned by a handful of people, they can influence the population as they please. To really find out what's going on you have to wait five or ten years when someone writes a book about it and then of course, its all to late.
So, its at least promising that someone , namely Dave Clark , has stated the obvious. Well, of course the obvious as far as I see it. Having read many of the blogs on the subject I can say straightaway without fear of contradiction that there will be many that disagree. They will see, or rather perceive, that coming from the Guardian it will be leftish dribble supporting the wrong side.
What is it that creates one view that is so directly opposed to another? How can "Right" and "Wrong" be so easily twisted? Is it because most people have pre-conceived views that they cannot change and are only hardened by exposure to an opposite view. Are people not "open" to another's viewpoint. I realise that its rather comfortable to hold to ones views, however they are arrived at, and ridicule everyone else who disagrees.
But why are the views so diverse in the first place? I think the reason for such hardened views stems as much from our mostly god-awful media that anything else. Now owned by a handful of people, they can influence the population as they please. To really find out what's going on you have to wait five or ten years when someone writes a book about it and then of course, its all to late.
Perhaps to understand anything, one has to ask the question why has the US "invested", and I use the word carefully, 60 odd billions of dollars since whenever on a little country, oh I almost said colony, in the Middle East. What has it got to gain. And to understand this you must first of all realise that no state does anything in this day and age without a gain in mind.
But I'm wasting my time. Judging from my own experience, its useless trying to change anyones opinion on this subject. Heat will be generated and the argument will end in tears.
But the worst side of it all is that it will never, ever end. A couple of days ago there was a depressing picture in El Pais of a Israeli mother with her arm around her son while he studiously wrote a message on the side of a shell with a pen. A gun-shell soon to sent onto the heads of people in Lebanon or Gaza, who knows. A pitiful picture of hate being installed in our children and passed on to the next sad generation.
Yes, can you stop just here. I want to get off this crazy planet as soon as possible.
But I'm wasting my time. Judging from my own experience, its useless trying to change anyones opinion on this subject. Heat will be generated and the argument will end in tears.
But the worst side of it all is that it will never, ever end. A couple of days ago there was a depressing picture in El Pais of a Israeli mother with her arm around her son while he studiously wrote a message on the side of a shell with a pen. A gun-shell soon to sent onto the heads of people in Lebanon or Gaza, who knows. A pitiful picture of hate being installed in our children and passed on to the next sad generation.
Yes, can you stop just here. I want to get off this crazy planet as soon as possible.
Friday, July 21, 2006
A Walk with the Dog
I live in a strange land that always surprises me.
This morning I had to take Rufo for his morning walk. Not my usual task, but as I am currently "de Rodriguez" I had no choice. After the usual frenzied fight with the lead, ( he's young and easily distracted - if you don't want a 30 minute walk to turn into a 2 hour search, you use the lead) , we set off.
Just along the road a woman was sweeping the road. Not an uncommon sight in the town but an odd choice of occupation here at this time of the morning. A cynical englishman would assume she had had a row with her husband or fancies the postman. Who knows but seemingly a rather worthless task considering the number of lorries that will pass her front gate in the next 8 hours. Nevertheless a cheerful smile and a 'Buenas Dias' was forthcoming. So, Lesson 1 - Spain is a clean country. Litter, maybe, but always a clean and tidy home, which obviously includes the road outside your home.
We trundled on, Rufo with his strange diagonal way of walking and me at the end of the lead trying to keep up. At the bottom of the road lots of noises of sawing and uprooting of foliage assailed our ears and as we rounded the corner we could see builders setting to work removing more boring hedgerow to be replaced by a nice neat pavement and a wall or two. Nothing like improving the look of the countryside by the use of bricks and mortar.
Rufo barked his disapproval and was all ready for an immediate set-to to show his feelings about the loss of his own private toilet but we decided against any confrontation so early in the morning, shook our heads sadly and turned in the opposite direction along the track up into the woods. Lession 2 - Spain is a building site.
This morning I had to take Rufo for his morning walk. Not my usual task, but as I am currently "de Rodriguez" I had no choice. After the usual frenzied fight with the lead, ( he's young and easily distracted - if you don't want a 30 minute walk to turn into a 2 hour search, you use the lead) , we set off.
Just along the road a woman was sweeping the road. Not an uncommon sight in the town but an odd choice of occupation here at this time of the morning. A cynical englishman would assume she had had a row with her husband or fancies the postman. Who knows but seemingly a rather worthless task considering the number of lorries that will pass her front gate in the next 8 hours. Nevertheless a cheerful smile and a 'Buenas Dias' was forthcoming. So, Lesson 1 - Spain is a clean country. Litter, maybe, but always a clean and tidy home, which obviously includes the road outside your home.
We trundled on, Rufo with his strange diagonal way of walking and me at the end of the lead trying to keep up. At the bottom of the road lots of noises of sawing and uprooting of foliage assailed our ears and as we rounded the corner we could see builders setting to work removing more boring hedgerow to be replaced by a nice neat pavement and a wall or two. Nothing like improving the look of the countryside by the use of bricks and mortar.
Rufo barked his disapproval and was all ready for an immediate set-to to show his feelings about the loss of his own private toilet but we decided against any confrontation so early in the morning, shook our heads sadly and turned in the opposite direction along the track up into the woods. Lession 2 - Spain is a building site.
Here the destruction is a little more subdued ( at the moment) and as we approached the only house in the lane we noticed an old man, one that at first I did not recognise, walking with head bowed deep in thought. As we got within a few yards, sorry metres, of him he turned and retraced his steps. He looked up, saw us and gave the usual 'Buenas Dias' with a big smile. It was the old priest that has just retired but says the odd mass. ( at an unseemingly rapid tempo I might add - but then impatience is one of the main spanish characteristics.)
He was obviously mentally writing up a rare sermon or solving a thorny problem that a parishioner had set him. In these parts the priest is still the fountain of all knowledge and adviser of morals.
Lesson 3 - Spain is more Catholic than the Pope.
Cuba - Invasion Fleet waits over the Horizon
-Sorry, more politics.
I've read in the guardian of the rather kind offer that the US is making with regard to their neighbours over the Florida Straits, the island of Cuba. No doubt thinking ahead, and mindful of the fact that the dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro, enjoys his 80th birthday in August, and has recently been suffering fainting fits, his northern neighbour has thoughtfully decided to put aside some 63 million of Euros over the next two years so that the population of the island can come to terms with the possible loss of their leader and therefore plan "for change".
To assist in spending this rather lavish sum a "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba" has been created to assist the cubans in this difficult time with the helpful Condoleezza Rice apparently chairing the proceedings.
Reading further, the report details a number of areas where this generous application of funds will be spend and at first glance the plans seem a little surprising. In fact they seem to suggest that the direction the spending will take will be one of a disruptive nature rather than what a normal person would call assistance. In fact disruption is the kind word for it, a more appropriate word being perhaps, destabilization, for the report goes on to list "anti-Castro radio and television broadcasts, academic exchanges, and support for the Cuban opposition and post-Castro transition plans."
Now I know that the world is full of articles, web-sites, blogs and whatever that can quite obviously be termed "anti-Bush" but then they don't broadcast the fact they they intend to "assist" anybody. They simply state the facts and leave people to make up their own minds. And they certainly don't spend 63 million euros on doing it. And one expects these comments from people, its their way of having a voice and getting things off their chest in this crazy world. But an "elected" government stating that its going to bother broadcasting "anti-government progandanda" about a poxy little island in the middle of no-where. Its a bit silly isn't it? Its not something a responsible government would do or bother about doing, but then I don't expect the Bush regime knows the meaning of the term "responsible".
I had after all assumed, now that another more suitable enemy had been found, that communism would be forgotten about and consigned to history. Seems not.
Further on the reports tells us that there will be "support for the opposition". Oh, so its not about Communism or democracy after all. Its just another attempt to impose a right-wing government on some poor unsuspecting peasants. This time using those infamous Cuban Exiles in Florida. Well, I suppose Cuba is a dictatorship and imprisons people it doesn't like so of course the right-wing opposition is bound to be an improvement.
The report goes on to state that "The US government will need to be prepared well in advance to help in the event assistance is requested by the Cuban transition government," the report says. It calls for the US to be prepared to bring in technical assistance within two weeks of Mr Castro's death, and suggests Cuban exiles could play a pivotal role in the transition. Strange to say, but the Cuban government actually in Cuba, rather than in Miami, have their own transition plans in place and rightly or wrongly its pretty obvious that these plans don't include asking for Big Brothers assistance, technical or otherwise.
If ever you heard threatening language this is it. For "technical assistance" read the US Sixth Fleet, and it all becomes clear. All sounds very worrying and pretty bad if you happen to live in Cuba. Never mind, only 500 ( and something ) people were killed in 1989 when Panama was invaded ( although that's only the official figures) and around 400 killed and wounded in 1983 in Grenada, so keep your head down and don't argue and you'll probably be OK.
Of course, the reaction from Cuba is anything but grateful for this "assistance" being offered by the US. Elpais helpfully gives the response of the leader of the house, Ricardo Alarcón, for anyone conversant in spanish. Surprisingly, he is rather upset that his neighbour is doing this sort of planning. He finds a comparison with "Mein Kampf " which of course was written by Hitler and detailed his forthcoming invasion plans.
As if 40 years of economic embargo was not enough the regime in the US now sees fit to interfere with another countries politics. Nothing new there then. And an added bonus to the US government ( and probably the mean reason for all the nonsense ) will be that they will be keeping sweet the Cuban exiles that control much of Florida and will at least ensure their vote come next election time.
If anyone needs a helpful reminder of Cuba and a background to its policies Ann Louise Bardach has written an excellent book on the subject. Bardach obviously knows a lot about Cuba having spent the last 10 years working for the New York Times covering the island and the book is a level-headed look at the country that, along with many accolades from notable publications, has earned her the 2003 PEN USA award for best non-fiction as well as being voted one of the Top Ten books of 2002 by the LA Times.
I've read in the guardian of the rather kind offer that the US is making with regard to their neighbours over the Florida Straits, the island of Cuba. No doubt thinking ahead, and mindful of the fact that the dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro, enjoys his 80th birthday in August, and has recently been suffering fainting fits, his northern neighbour has thoughtfully decided to put aside some 63 million of Euros over the next two years so that the population of the island can come to terms with the possible loss of their leader and therefore plan "for change".
To assist in spending this rather lavish sum a "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba" has been created to assist the cubans in this difficult time with the helpful Condoleezza Rice apparently chairing the proceedings.
Reading further, the report details a number of areas where this generous application of funds will be spend and at first glance the plans seem a little surprising. In fact they seem to suggest that the direction the spending will take will be one of a disruptive nature rather than what a normal person would call assistance. In fact disruption is the kind word for it, a more appropriate word being perhaps, destabilization, for the report goes on to list "anti-Castro radio and television broadcasts, academic exchanges, and support for the Cuban opposition and post-Castro transition plans."
Now I know that the world is full of articles, web-sites, blogs and whatever that can quite obviously be termed "anti-Bush" but then they don't broadcast the fact they they intend to "assist" anybody. They simply state the facts and leave people to make up their own minds. And they certainly don't spend 63 million euros on doing it. And one expects these comments from people, its their way of having a voice and getting things off their chest in this crazy world. But an "elected" government stating that its going to bother broadcasting "anti-government progandanda" about a poxy little island in the middle of no-where. Its a bit silly isn't it? Its not something a responsible government would do or bother about doing, but then I don't expect the Bush regime knows the meaning of the term "responsible".
I had after all assumed, now that another more suitable enemy had been found, that communism would be forgotten about and consigned to history. Seems not.
Further on the reports tells us that there will be "support for the opposition". Oh, so its not about Communism or democracy after all. Its just another attempt to impose a right-wing government on some poor unsuspecting peasants. This time using those infamous Cuban Exiles in Florida. Well, I suppose Cuba is a dictatorship and imprisons people it doesn't like so of course the right-wing opposition is bound to be an improvement.
The report goes on to state that "The US government will need to be prepared well in advance to help in the event assistance is requested by the Cuban transition government," the report says. It calls for the US to be prepared to bring in technical assistance within two weeks of Mr Castro's death, and suggests Cuban exiles could play a pivotal role in the transition. Strange to say, but the Cuban government actually in Cuba, rather than in Miami, have their own transition plans in place and rightly or wrongly its pretty obvious that these plans don't include asking for Big Brothers assistance, technical or otherwise.
If ever you heard threatening language this is it. For "technical assistance" read the US Sixth Fleet, and it all becomes clear. All sounds very worrying and pretty bad if you happen to live in Cuba. Never mind, only 500 ( and something ) people were killed in 1989 when Panama was invaded ( although that's only the official figures) and around 400 killed and wounded in 1983 in Grenada, so keep your head down and don't argue and you'll probably be OK.
Of course, the reaction from Cuba is anything but grateful for this "assistance" being offered by the US. Elpais helpfully gives the response of the leader of the house, Ricardo Alarcón, for anyone conversant in spanish. Surprisingly, he is rather upset that his neighbour is doing this sort of planning. He finds a comparison with "Mein Kampf " which of course was written by Hitler and detailed his forthcoming invasion plans.
As if 40 years of economic embargo was not enough the regime in the US now sees fit to interfere with another countries politics. Nothing new there then. And an added bonus to the US government ( and probably the mean reason for all the nonsense ) will be that they will be keeping sweet the Cuban exiles that control much of Florida and will at least ensure their vote come next election time.
If anyone needs a helpful reminder of Cuba and a background to its policies Ann Louise Bardach has written an excellent book on the subject. Bardach obviously knows a lot about Cuba having spent the last 10 years working for the New York Times covering the island and the book is a level-headed look at the country that, along with many accolades from notable publications, has earned her the 2003 PEN USA award for best non-fiction as well as being voted one of the Top Ten books of 2002 by the LA Times.
Friday, July 14, 2006
The Story of the Linx and the M-501
We all know that Spain is a Building Site. Everywhere you look there are cranes blocking the sky-line with their attendant lorries hurtling past rising plumes of dust all around them on their way to dump soil somewhere else. I used to have a rather nice view from my house in a little village of 2000 souls but all I can currently see are cranes, latest count 7, of various colours and sizes.
It was only five short years ago that I bought a house which I thought was in the country but it seems I was mistaken. What was country is rapidly becoming a town before my very eyes. Of course, things do change and as someone who doesn't come from these parts I should be prepared to accept these changes which some people may see as for the good of the majority but the thing that annoys me must of all is the bending of facts that politicians use to justify these changes, sorry, improvements.
I've recently discovered the reason for all this building activity in this quiet neck of the woods. The mad panic to convert empty fields into a vast assortment of what some people laughingly regard as housing is obviously due to the widening of the M-501, the "Carretera de los pantanos", that connects us to Madrid, into a two-lane Autovia. Wider roads, of course, mean faster commuting time and people buying cheaper housing and living further afield instead of in the capital. A few days ago Esperanza Aquirre, president of the Autonomous Region of Madrid, signed the go-ahead after 10 years of apparent controversy, despite calls from environmentalists to stop the work due to damage to the wildlife.
Obviously in desperation, environmentalists submitted, if that's the right word, droppings claimed to be from the rare Iberian Linx ( as reported in elmundo earlier in the year) found in the area of the work. This served to halt the final decision for a while but the juggernaut could not be stopped for long. The newspaper ABC covered the final news on 8th July with the story that the droppings had been identified by the "Estacion Biologica de Donana" as belonging to the "common cat".
The dispute has also revolved around the calculation of traffic volumes. Wild-spain has a short article relating to the damage to the environment giving a figure of 5000 vehicles per day rising to nearly 10000 at the weekend. This seems to me perfectly reasonable ( provided the calculation covers both directions in the total) as the road is often empty except when the "weekenders" arrive. Of course, the planners give a rather different figure - apparently 15000 vehicles use the road, daily, ( as quoted in ABC 8/7/06 ) which anyone with knowledge of the road will realise is utter nonsense. The data is important because anything over the magic number of 10000 will automatically mean the justification of an autovia.
How this data has been arrived at would be of interest. There does not exist, and never has, any fixed across-road cable to electronically measure traffic volumes - curiously one has recently been installed across the road just before the village of Santa Maria del Tietar, at the very edge of the Community of Madrid just as it enters Castilla-Leon. Neither have any cheap white-coated students with their notebooks and mechanical counters ever been in evidence. Sounds like more data in the sky-with-diamonds.
In fact, if one bothers to work it out 10000 cars a day ( and I assume that the calculation means in both directions, eg To Madrid 5000 vehicles per day ) works out to 1 car every 10 seconds during the day-time, say 0800-2200 with 1 car every 5 minutes during the night. Of course, these are only estimates based on my own usage of the road. If anyone wants me to sit out there with a counter I will be glad to do so.
To Madrid
2200-0800 = 600 minutes: 1 vehicle every 5 minutes = total of 120 vehicles
0800-2200 = 840 minutes: 5.5 vehicles every minute ( ie 1 vehicle every approx. 10 seconds) = total of 4620
Grand Total Direction To Madrid = 4740 vehicles
Quite obviously, 1 vehicle every 10 seconds in both directions would translate into a endless convoy of vehicles for 14 hours of the day and surprisingly would probably convert into a mayhem as people tried to overtake. If anyone cares to check the road, there is NO endless convoy in one direction, let alone in both directions.
To add a further macabre twist, accident figures have also been trawled out. Nothing like justifying the making of money by arguing that the savings of lives will result. (That somehow has a international ring to it ). Of course, these figures never quite agree. Elpais reported in July of last year that under the previous head of the community the plan was shelved, despite accident figures of 9 killed in 2003, 5 killed in 2004 while ABC quote 15 deaths in the last 3 years - 6 deaths from 56 accidents in 2005 alone. As 6 + 9 + 5 = 20, its obvious that even the papers can't agreed how many people have died on this road. ecologistasenaccion perhaps gets to the crux of the matter when it complains of the manipulation of accident data by the Community to justify the road widening. The example given is of an accident 500 metres from the M-501 being included in the accident figures for the M-501.
Currently the road is relatively empty ( except for the lorries moving soil around ) but of course it won't stay empty for long. There's money to be made and the developers have moved in. Forget the lack of infrastructure; that will have to wait and of course lack of investment in improving the water supply is the the main problem. But a lot of the impact will be felt in Castilla-Leon, so why should the president of Madrid community worry about it?
Of course, no-where in any article is the cost of the road-widing given or who is going to pay for it. At a time when the city of Madrid itself is being pulled apart in every direction, with road and metro schemes that are rumoured to be taking the next 30 years to pay off - and thats only the estimate - its seems a little absurb to be widening a little road in the country.
It was only five short years ago that I bought a house which I thought was in the country but it seems I was mistaken. What was country is rapidly becoming a town before my very eyes. Of course, things do change and as someone who doesn't come from these parts I should be prepared to accept these changes which some people may see as for the good of the majority but the thing that annoys me must of all is the bending of facts that politicians use to justify these changes, sorry, improvements.
I've recently discovered the reason for all this building activity in this quiet neck of the woods. The mad panic to convert empty fields into a vast assortment of what some people laughingly regard as housing is obviously due to the widening of the M-501, the "Carretera de los pantanos", that connects us to Madrid, into a two-lane Autovia. Wider roads, of course, mean faster commuting time and people buying cheaper housing and living further afield instead of in the capital. A few days ago Esperanza Aquirre, president of the Autonomous Region of Madrid, signed the go-ahead after 10 years of apparent controversy, despite calls from environmentalists to stop the work due to damage to the wildlife.
Obviously in desperation, environmentalists submitted, if that's the right word, droppings claimed to be from the rare Iberian Linx ( as reported in elmundo earlier in the year) found in the area of the work. This served to halt the final decision for a while but the juggernaut could not be stopped for long. The newspaper ABC covered the final news on 8th July with the story that the droppings had been identified by the "Estacion Biologica de Donana" as belonging to the "common cat".
The dispute has also revolved around the calculation of traffic volumes. Wild-spain has a short article relating to the damage to the environment giving a figure of 5000 vehicles per day rising to nearly 10000 at the weekend. This seems to me perfectly reasonable ( provided the calculation covers both directions in the total) as the road is often empty except when the "weekenders" arrive. Of course, the planners give a rather different figure - apparently 15000 vehicles use the road, daily, ( as quoted in ABC 8/7/06 ) which anyone with knowledge of the road will realise is utter nonsense. The data is important because anything over the magic number of 10000 will automatically mean the justification of an autovia.
How this data has been arrived at would be of interest. There does not exist, and never has, any fixed across-road cable to electronically measure traffic volumes - curiously one has recently been installed across the road just before the village of Santa Maria del Tietar, at the very edge of the Community of Madrid just as it enters Castilla-Leon. Neither have any cheap white-coated students with their notebooks and mechanical counters ever been in evidence. Sounds like more data in the sky-with-diamonds.
In fact, if one bothers to work it out 10000 cars a day ( and I assume that the calculation means in both directions, eg To Madrid 5000 vehicles per day ) works out to 1 car every 10 seconds during the day-time, say 0800-2200 with 1 car every 5 minutes during the night. Of course, these are only estimates based on my own usage of the road. If anyone wants me to sit out there with a counter I will be glad to do so.
To Madrid
2200-0800 = 600 minutes: 1 vehicle every 5 minutes = total of 120 vehicles
0800-2200 = 840 minutes: 5.5 vehicles every minute ( ie 1 vehicle every approx. 10 seconds) = total of 4620
Grand Total Direction To Madrid = 4740 vehicles
Quite obviously, 1 vehicle every 10 seconds in both directions would translate into a endless convoy of vehicles for 14 hours of the day and surprisingly would probably convert into a mayhem as people tried to overtake. If anyone cares to check the road, there is NO endless convoy in one direction, let alone in both directions.
To add a further macabre twist, accident figures have also been trawled out. Nothing like justifying the making of money by arguing that the savings of lives will result. (That somehow has a international ring to it ). Of course, these figures never quite agree. Elpais reported in July of last year that under the previous head of the community the plan was shelved, despite accident figures of 9 killed in 2003, 5 killed in 2004 while ABC quote 15 deaths in the last 3 years - 6 deaths from 56 accidents in 2005 alone. As 6 + 9 + 5 = 20, its obvious that even the papers can't agreed how many people have died on this road. ecologistasenaccion perhaps gets to the crux of the matter when it complains of the manipulation of accident data by the Community to justify the road widening. The example given is of an accident 500 metres from the M-501 being included in the accident figures for the M-501.
Currently the road is relatively empty ( except for the lorries moving soil around ) but of course it won't stay empty for long. There's money to be made and the developers have moved in. Forget the lack of infrastructure; that will have to wait and of course lack of investment in improving the water supply is the the main problem. But a lot of the impact will be felt in Castilla-Leon, so why should the president of Madrid community worry about it?
Of course, no-where in any article is the cost of the road-widing given or who is going to pay for it. At a time when the city of Madrid itself is being pulled apart in every direction, with road and metro schemes that are rumoured to be taking the next 30 years to pay off - and thats only the estimate - its seems a little absurb to be widening a little road in the country.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Sports Update
Well, at last that boring World Cup thing is over because personally I'm not watching any more of it. Its flawed, cheap and a complete waste of time and so predictable. Everybody plays the same boring way passing the ball sideways and backwards making sure they retain possession because they haven't got a clue how to create a goal. Remember the way we used to castigate Ray Wilkins for doing exactly that? And where are the stars; don't bother asking 'cause there aren't any. You don't need stars to pass the ball backwards and keep possession of the ball for as long as possible.
And the same teams - Brazil or Germany - well, or France or Italy - always win it. OK, we did win it once ourselves, back when Bobby Charlton was the best in the world but that was a long time ago. And another thing, the referees are appalling and obviously not the best in the world and to compound the problem are forced to employ a system of instant judgement when everybody else in the world, sat at their TV's, can see several replays from every angle and know that a mistake has been made and bye-bye the loser. Its obviously flawed.
But the worst thing of all is the blatant cheating by the players, to which it appears no-body is now exempt. It seems that in every case the end seems to justify the means. Just brush someone's face with your fingers and he goes down like a sack of potatoes clutching his face as if he's been attacked by some psychopath. And its not enough to even touch them sometimes, even dear old Henry (or is it Henri, as he's not in our team, I really can't remember) just needs a push in the chest to hold his face and collapse. And then there's the pathetic tactic of players waving their imaginary card in the air to encourage the referee to issue a real card.
At least now we can sit down and enjoy a real sport with no handbags in sight. Le Tour de France. Real men cycling 200 km every day for 3 solid weeks, up hill and down dale and with some picturesque alpine peaks thrown in. Its a travel program on the sights of France with beautiful tree-lined B-roads and miles, sorry kilometres, of wonderful scenery.
Its also a daily lesson on how to progress in life. Every day one or more riders with get fed-up with travelling with the crowd and will head out into the unknown and attempt to get to the finish line first. And every time the teams in the peloton will work together to quicken the pace and time it exactly right in its determination to punish anyone that dares to mess with the natural law and for what? To ensure that their team leaders/sprinters will benefit at the end of the race but idling up on the inside. Isn't that just how it is in life?
But there are rules for these cycling heroes that are straight out of the 20's . The leader unavoidably falls off his bike and modern thinking tells you that the others will push the peddle to the floor to make headway and make the most of this advantage, but no, they all turn round to see where he is and even stop to wait for him. After the phony world of football its pure Magic.
Ah, but what's this I read just as the race is about to start - blood samples in fridges and strange boxes of pills in the wifes' luggage. People being refused entry on suspicion of drug-taking. Out go the big-stars - Urrich, Basso, the spaniards Sevilla and Manchevo and that russian with the strange name, Vinakarov or something. S0 it seems that nothing is sacred anymore.
In desperation we realise its June and switch on the tennis. Its Wimbledon again and time to get out that faded Henman t-shirt. Oh dear, not much joy there either, seems Henman's out already and Murray's gone as well. But at least in this sport we all know that we can't win and we can just enjoy the foreigners, they're better than we are and we know it.
So there's no need to fool ourselves with flags and war-paint like the footballers which is OK in its place but it makes it all nationalistic and means that its not sport anymore. Which is exactly why I'm finished watching the World Cup!
And the same teams - Brazil or Germany - well, or France or Italy - always win it. OK, we did win it once ourselves, back when Bobby Charlton was the best in the world but that was a long time ago. And another thing, the referees are appalling and obviously not the best in the world and to compound the problem are forced to employ a system of instant judgement when everybody else in the world, sat at their TV's, can see several replays from every angle and know that a mistake has been made and bye-bye the loser. Its obviously flawed.
But the worst thing of all is the blatant cheating by the players, to which it appears no-body is now exempt. It seems that in every case the end seems to justify the means. Just brush someone's face with your fingers and he goes down like a sack of potatoes clutching his face as if he's been attacked by some psychopath. And its not enough to even touch them sometimes, even dear old Henry (or is it Henri, as he's not in our team, I really can't remember) just needs a push in the chest to hold his face and collapse. And then there's the pathetic tactic of players waving their imaginary card in the air to encourage the referee to issue a real card.
At least now we can sit down and enjoy a real sport with no handbags in sight. Le Tour de France. Real men cycling 200 km every day for 3 solid weeks, up hill and down dale and with some picturesque alpine peaks thrown in. Its a travel program on the sights of France with beautiful tree-lined B-roads and miles, sorry kilometres, of wonderful scenery.
Its also a daily lesson on how to progress in life. Every day one or more riders with get fed-up with travelling with the crowd and will head out into the unknown and attempt to get to the finish line first. And every time the teams in the peloton will work together to quicken the pace and time it exactly right in its determination to punish anyone that dares to mess with the natural law and for what? To ensure that their team leaders/sprinters will benefit at the end of the race but idling up on the inside. Isn't that just how it is in life?
But there are rules for these cycling heroes that are straight out of the 20's . The leader unavoidably falls off his bike and modern thinking tells you that the others will push the peddle to the floor to make headway and make the most of this advantage, but no, they all turn round to see where he is and even stop to wait for him. After the phony world of football its pure Magic.
Ah, but what's this I read just as the race is about to start - blood samples in fridges and strange boxes of pills in the wifes' luggage. People being refused entry on suspicion of drug-taking. Out go the big-stars - Urrich, Basso, the spaniards Sevilla and Manchevo and that russian with the strange name, Vinakarov or something. S0 it seems that nothing is sacred anymore.
In desperation we realise its June and switch on the tennis. Its Wimbledon again and time to get out that faded Henman t-shirt. Oh dear, not much joy there either, seems Henman's out already and Murray's gone as well. But at least in this sport we all know that we can't win and we can just enjoy the foreigners, they're better than we are and we know it.
So there's no need to fool ourselves with flags and war-paint like the footballers which is OK in its place but it makes it all nationalistic and means that its not sport anymore. Which is exactly why I'm finished watching the World Cup!
Monday, July 03, 2006
A Holiday Reading List
Its summer time; which for us europeans means its time to take a holiday. A break from the routine of everyday life and a chance to get away. That time of year when we can leave the pressures of work at home and relax on a beach, mountain, go on a cruise or if you're blessed with that affliction called parenthood even god-forbid a theme park. Some people with be out to see places and experience things, others will just want to chill out somewhere and forget all about whatever it is that they spend the rest of the year doing.
Whatever destination they have chosen one of the things that many people will be doing is reading that book that they cannot find time to read at home and consequently the papers are full of articles trying to help them do just that. Obviously these articles are full of plugs for the books of their friends and those people who have given them good reviews but nevertheless at least they are a useful guide on current reading and can help you to make an appropriate choice. Ever eager to find more good books to read I am an avid searcher of such articles, scanning them first to see if I've read any of the books mentioned and then re-scanning them to see if there are any that take my fancy. Unfortunately of the two I've come across recently I found that not only have I not read only of the books recommended but I hadn't even heard of any of them either.
I know why this is. Shocked when I realised that my annual spending on books had reached heights that even I could not justify, I have recently been raiding my stock of books in england and I have also, don't tell anyone, been browsing the second-hand shops with a renewed vengeance.
Anyway this year I've decided to beat this silly lists idea by doing my own list. Not that it'll help a lot of people to enjoy their holiday as this blog is only read my myself and the dog. Its so interesting my wife doesn't even bother. But I don't care really, it'll serve to keep me busy today and maybe I'll find out how to put a table in my blog.
So to prune down my list I've realised that it'll have to be recommendations of books that I've read during the past 12 months. Its no use giving my all-time best reading list, thats for Amazon. No, its the last year thats important here.
And how many books do most people want to read in a couple of weeks? - well, 5 I guess. And people usually take more note if they know the people whose list it is, appreciate their work or whatever. So all I can do is tell you that I'm getting-on - this is no teenagers list -, I enjoy all sorts of books and I try to cover a range of topics. I enjoy sport, gardening, reading, travelling, history, politics, photography and loads more.
So anyway, here we go in no particular order. Its based on enjoyability not content as how do I know what sort of book you're going to enjoy. I havn't included, for example, a wonderful book that I found written in 1914 by Patrick Macgill who followed in my fathers footsteps ( or was it the otherway round ) on his life as an Irish navvy in Scotland. Thats not going to be enjoyed by many people, to say the least.
Biography Choice
The Full Monty - Nigel Hamilton
Detailed analysis of how Montgomery won the war
Fiction Choice
Snow - Orham Pamuk and The Remains Of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Strange Kafka goings-on in a remote Turkish town AND
A search for love or something missing maybe, in a 1930's butlers life
History Choice
Tommy - Richard Holmes
A very-readable original look at life and death in the Great War 1914
Travel Choice
Roads to Santiago - Cees Nooteboom
A determined and wonderful search into the minds and buildings of Spain and its people.
Politics/Current Affairs Choice
Shake Hands With the Devil - Romero Dallaire
How the UN really works ( or not ) during the Rwanda genocide.
War Choice
The Face Of War - Marta Gellhorn
Not a war book at all but a very humane look at the people who suffer in this world.
Whatever destination they have chosen one of the things that many people will be doing is reading that book that they cannot find time to read at home and consequently the papers are full of articles trying to help them do just that. Obviously these articles are full of plugs for the books of their friends and those people who have given them good reviews but nevertheless at least they are a useful guide on current reading and can help you to make an appropriate choice. Ever eager to find more good books to read I am an avid searcher of such articles, scanning them first to see if I've read any of the books mentioned and then re-scanning them to see if there are any that take my fancy. Unfortunately of the two I've come across recently I found that not only have I not read only of the books recommended but I hadn't even heard of any of them either.
I know why this is. Shocked when I realised that my annual spending on books had reached heights that even I could not justify, I have recently been raiding my stock of books in england and I have also, don't tell anyone, been browsing the second-hand shops with a renewed vengeance.
Anyway this year I've decided to beat this silly lists idea by doing my own list. Not that it'll help a lot of people to enjoy their holiday as this blog is only read my myself and the dog. Its so interesting my wife doesn't even bother. But I don't care really, it'll serve to keep me busy today and maybe I'll find out how to put a table in my blog.
So to prune down my list I've realised that it'll have to be recommendations of books that I've read during the past 12 months. Its no use giving my all-time best reading list, thats for Amazon. No, its the last year thats important here.
And how many books do most people want to read in a couple of weeks? - well, 5 I guess. And people usually take more note if they know the people whose list it is, appreciate their work or whatever. So all I can do is tell you that I'm getting-on - this is no teenagers list -, I enjoy all sorts of books and I try to cover a range of topics. I enjoy sport, gardening, reading, travelling, history, politics, photography and loads more.
So anyway, here we go in no particular order. Its based on enjoyability not content as how do I know what sort of book you're going to enjoy. I havn't included, for example, a wonderful book that I found written in 1914 by Patrick Macgill who followed in my fathers footsteps ( or was it the otherway round ) on his life as an Irish navvy in Scotland. Thats not going to be enjoyed by many people, to say the least.
Biography Choice
The Full Monty - Nigel Hamilton
Detailed analysis of how Montgomery won the war
Fiction Choice
Snow - Orham Pamuk and The Remains Of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Strange Kafka goings-on in a remote Turkish town AND
A search for love or something missing maybe, in a 1930's butlers life
History Choice
Tommy - Richard Holmes
A very-readable original look at life and death in the Great War 1914
Travel Choice
Roads to Santiago - Cees Nooteboom
A determined and wonderful search into the minds and buildings of Spain and its people.
Politics/Current Affairs Choice
Shake Hands With the Devil - Romero Dallaire
How the UN really works ( or not ) during the Rwanda genocide.
War Choice
The Face Of War - Marta Gellhorn
Not a war book at all but a very humane look at the people who suffer in this world.
