Spain and the correct relationship between man and dog
Away with those canine metaphors! More Cela in translation!
Category: Animals
What’s the best way to wash down raw rodent?
Rat, squirrel or capybara, kittens have one favourite sauce.
¡Tú imitas tan bien a los animales! ¿No serás … aztor?
A phonological curiosity from coastal Cantabria, with speculation as to the supernatural powers of María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.
Why less democracy is better for Europe
Peter Mandelson on how fortunate we are that the European Commission is unelected, remote, unaccountable, and a major bureaucracy.
The storks of war
A fragment from Italo Calvino’s quasi-17th century folk romance, Il visconte dimezzato/The cloven viscount, uses storks as a portent of battle. Several unconnected 2nd century Greek accounts might appear to do the same, perhaps particularly if one’s a lazy sod and doesn’t read anything but scraps of stuff on Google Books.
Pig / lion / monkey / child wine
A Portuguese menagerie of sozzledness.
Nice work if you can eat it
Influence of fat content on palatability of roast beef.
A West Cornish Barbary pirate and ghost-ship
“Discontented devil of a blackamoor, why canst thou not be satisfied to live here?” “Avast there; all our gold and diamonds can’t procure us here the bright sunshine and joyous people, nor the rich fruits and wine, of my native clime.”
