Sarkozy’s lovers

14/12, Octavi Martí 1950s gossipwank in El País: “Pero hay quienes aseguran, sin embargo, que [Rachida Dati] es una de las ministras más cercanas [a Sarkozy] y a ninguno de los dos les importa que se note.” 18/12, more gossipwank in El País, this time from one JM Martí Font: “El presidente francés Nicolas Sarkozy,…

Lynching

“Neighbours and neighbouresses, this man injured a woman at knifepoint with the intention of raping her. We don’t want rapists in this neighbourhood [Gracia, Barcelona] or anywhere.” What am I meant to do if I meet him? Kneecap him?

Anarchist problems with Catalan spelling

TRANQIL·LITAT → TRANQUIL·LITAT, actually TRANQUILITAT. I suspect the Italians. “What’s this, then? ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’? ‘People called Romanes they go the house’?“

Pine processionary caterpillars leaving nest several months early

I suspect their algorithm is rather crude, and the seasons are rather vague along the Barcelona coast, but these are meant to emerge in spring (typically late January here), not late November. “The pine processionary caterpillar is a pest whose northward spread in France is being fostered by climate change. INRA researchers in Orleans are…

Bikes for free, if only…

If learner drivers get subsidies in order that they may sooner screw up our living environment, why shouldn’t we cyclists get a new bike for free? [ Patricia is apparently setting off shortly to cycle from Irún in the north to Tarifa in the south. Um, it’s snowing all across the north at the moment.…

Tribute to Hartlepool

Wikipedia suggests that H’Angus the Monkey (cartoon) may have been voted mayor first time by local gamblers attracted by the high odds against him. Stuart Drummond failed to honour his “free bananas” pledge, but was re-elected. On this walk.

Nativity scene, Santa Coloma de Gramanet

None of the evangelists mention San José, electrician: Here’s a lamb emerging from the tower blocks with which urban planners chose to blanket the lower half of the old market square, which has been jacked up to cover a huge underground carpark: All on this walk.

Filthy Catalan translation test

This is sooooo old, but posting it is the only way to stop S telling me it again every few weeks. Q: Translate to Catalan the phrase, Debajo de la cama tiene la mano María, Mary’s got her hand under the table. A: Sota la taula té la mà Maria, which is to say, the…

Catalonia, oldest country in the world

“Thousands of years of existence,” claims Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó, enthusiastic member of the National History school and director of the craven and absurd Museum of History of Catalonia. Move over, Babylon. [History quiz: Which urban project in Barcelona involved the demolition of more dwellings, the construction of (a) the Citadel/Ciudadela/Ciutadella fort by the victorious…