Saturday, 19 June 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Friday, 11 June 2010
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Priceless
Our electricity bills are going up (yet again!) in July as is VAT (Value Added Tax). Did you know that three different ministers (secretary of this and secretary of that) travelled to Brussels yesterday on three different planes? Why couldn't they have travelled together? We've got too many of them anyway! Total price: 45,000 €. The ordinary citizen is the only one who is obliged to tighten his/her belt. I call that priceless!
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Old Sayings and Missing Things
I know I'm not the most observant person in the world and have known this ever since my university days when my roommate Peggy would ask me what colour socks our hunk of a history professor had been wearing (I had class with him before she did). I never paid attention to things like socks and still don't unless they're wild and highly-visible. I do notice things like urban furniture and have been known to quote a few proverbs and sayings.
All too often the past couple of weeks, my street and the surrounding streets have been in total darkness, or they have been when I take my dog out around 10 pm. Okay, I know it's not particularly dark at this time of night, especially with the lights from the bars and restaurants.Nevertheless, I'm used to living in a very well-lit city where you can see who or what's there. Is the town council leaving us little streets without light in order to save money,I mean energy? Not only have we been left in the dark, but all of the rubbish bins in my area have suddenly disappeared. Again, I've always been able to find one when I needed it. This morning I had to walk almost to the main street for one. What plan is this? Is it, as many people's philosophy happens to be, I'm creating more jobs for street cleaners by throwing my litter in the street? What will they take away next?
Our famous 40th of May falls on this Wednesday. This is the day when you can officially put away your winter clothes. For the past couple of years, this hasn't been true, and this year I've been caught with my summer things still in storage. We've had summer weather since the middle of May. May 15th is a holiday in Madrid in honour of its patron saint, San Isidro, except this year it fell on a Saturday. San Isidro always brings us rain on this day. Well, he forgot to last year and this one too!
As my granny used to say, what's this world coming to when you can't find a bin for your waste or when the old sayings let you down? As a child, I always thought she was being old-fashioned. Now I ask myself the same question about all this and more. What's more, the weatherman has predicted a high of 20º C (68 º F) and a low of 12º C (52ºF) for Wednesday. I'll believe that when I feel it!
All too often the past couple of weeks, my street and the surrounding streets have been in total darkness, or they have been when I take my dog out around 10 pm. Okay, I know it's not particularly dark at this time of night, especially with the lights from the bars and restaurants.Nevertheless, I'm used to living in a very well-lit city where you can see who or what's there. Is the town council leaving us little streets without light in order to save money,I mean energy? Not only have we been left in the dark, but all of the rubbish bins in my area have suddenly disappeared. Again, I've always been able to find one when I needed it. This morning I had to walk almost to the main street for one. What plan is this? Is it, as many people's philosophy happens to be, I'm creating more jobs for street cleaners by throwing my litter in the street? What will they take away next?
Our famous 40th of May falls on this Wednesday. This is the day when you can officially put away your winter clothes. For the past couple of years, this hasn't been true, and this year I've been caught with my summer things still in storage. We've had summer weather since the middle of May. May 15th is a holiday in Madrid in honour of its patron saint, San Isidro, except this year it fell on a Saturday. San Isidro always brings us rain on this day. Well, he forgot to last year and this one too!
As my granny used to say, what's this world coming to when you can't find a bin for your waste or when the old sayings let you down? As a child, I always thought she was being old-fashioned. Now I ask myself the same question about all this and more. What's more, the weatherman has predicted a high of 20º C (68 º F) and a low of 12º C (52ºF) for Wednesday. I'll believe that when I feel it!
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