Walking – Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder

Two Brad Pitt exclusives

French farmer tells him, “Get off my land!”
Did a Pakistani Dracula turn Brad and Angelina into zombies?

Misspent lunch with the birds

I hope to post interviews and analysis soon.

Sausage sourcing as an index of international cultural and political orientation

The cases of Spain and Holland.

Much more than a dog: the excellent Frankfurt 2001 bar near the SEAT flats in <a href=

Barcelona's Zona Franca" title="Much more than a dog: the excellent Frankfurt 2001 bar near the SEAT flats in Barcelona's Zona Franca" />

They didn’t get the brand consultants in on this one

FollowTheBaldie‘s services have been requested further west, so a little investigation is in order.

Blanes-Ma?

Renfe’s public information system at plaza Cataluña station can’t cope with the cedilla in Maçanet.

Outsourcing in the Spanish military

Spanish reluctance to implement American-style planning, and claims of a uniquely Spanish approach to counter-terrorism.

West African joke about white people in snowstorms

The last time the issue came up, my dad rated Percy Shaw as one of the 20th century’s most under-appreciated inventors, on the grounds that his cat’s eye road studs have saved more lives on British roads than any other single measure. Ojos de gato or tachas reflectantes are not (widely) used on Spanish highways,…

Spanish traditional theme park architecture

More traditional building for Colin Davies: Real stone is expensive and makes it hard to plug holes and to plaster, so in Spain@Disney you stick (pre)machined chunks or carpet tile-type stuff onto the concrete prefab with glue. Chorus: Cladding imitates but also improves on reality.

Burning dog: bizarre and brutal winter solstice celebrations in Spanish Pyrenees

The sun dog is seen above reborn, having previously mysteriously died at the end of the solar year: While its soul wanders the underworld, its old and weary body is barbecued and consumed in dark hovels by fearful peasants: I’ve forgotten who it was who believed the Old Testament was originally written in English, or…

Folengo’s Baldo

Pleased to see that the marvellous Baldus–a vague subterranean source of inspiration for the world’s wildest walking wisness–is getting a wider hairing. I’ve read chunks of the French translation and am looking forward to the English.