Ships, buildings and garments – Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder

Homeless Chinese in Barcelona

Plus, how to acquire a country house for next to nothing.

–¡Qué gracioso que la mayoría de los guiris decís “avellanas” en vez de “havaianas“! –¿Eh? No me suena, y ¿qué quieres decir con “la mayoría”, { 50% + 1 } o { casi todos } ? –Bueno, la hermana de X lo dice… Al DRAE le falta el primer matiz, el segundo quizá puede esperar.

For sale, the church of St Paul at Montmany

Buy the scene of the miserable fate of the rector in Els sots feréstecs!

CC by <a href='http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:amadalvarez'>Amadalvarez</a> at <a href='http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sant_pau_de_montmany-nord.jpg'>Wikimedia Commons</a>

Farewell, (Catalan) Talgo

One of 20th century Spain’s great engineering achievements disappears as it drove: with nary a whisper.

Talgo III in Granada, by Falk2 [GFDL (<a href=

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons" title="Talgo III in Granada, by Falk2 [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons" />

Paradise and town-planning

The Turks and Jews of Istanbul demonstrate that co-existence is not impossible.

In praise of British arse

How amiably drunken shagfests could resolve the burka problem in a manner acceptable to freedom-loving readers of this blog.

Shipping news

Public auctions of wrecks in Barcelona, Pontevedra and Algeciras, with thoughts on how to reduce blogging competition.

The secret language of doctors

Why and how the 17th century Portuguese tropical medicine specialist, Aleixo de Abreu, tried to prevent proles from reading his cure for scurvy.

Scorbutic gums, CC from <a href='http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scorbutic_gums.jpg'>Wikimedia Commons</a>

Barcelona Airport T1 pics

But getting there is still a pain in one’s posterior end.

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.”

Category: Ships, buildings and garments