En un lugar de la mancha
...de cuyo nombre no quise acordarme...This month´s title, for those of you who don't know, is the first lineof don Quixote. And this year being the 400th anniversary of its initial publication, I thought I'd read it- albeit the version "My first Quixote",because the original is a huge volume, of the type you get given a copy forChritmas, put on your shelf and use to prop up the kitchen table if one leg isshorter than the others.
This version comes complete with pictures and everything. It's actually quite a good read, although taking a while as it weighs a lot and is a pain to carry on the metro, but I am determined to finishit as it represents the second most translated story in history, after the Bible, although I assume that Mr Shakespeare would be more if you consider hisworks as one oeuvre.
Nice French word for you there!!
Ah yes, the EU seems to be up the Seine without a paddle, doesn't it!! Nothing like a bit of give and take to reach an agreement. All very quixotic of MrChirac, going around Europe defending ideals (and his own arse!!) which are somewhat out of date, all because he doesn't want the CAP subsidies reduced, but doesn't like the Britsh rebate.
The interesting thing for those who accuse the UK of lacking solidarity towards Europe, is that the UK as a net contributer contributes more than twice that of France, according to a Spanish paper last Friday, criticising ZP's (Spanish PM) policy of closeness to France and Germany when Tony Blair's proposal of revising the whole budget, is better for Spain than Chirac's refusal to budge on the CAP.
In other news, last Saturday there was manifestation (!!! sorry, demonstration) against homosexual marriages, which you may not know are being legalised in Spain. The banner of the rally was, "in favour of the family" or something like that. The interesting thing was that unusually there were Bishops and assorted members of the Spanish church. The general criticism is that it's all very well for them to complain about something like this (which actually boils down to semantics. Most people interviewed claim they have no real problem with a legalunion of homosexuals but don't think it should be called "marriage".) but they're never around when it comes to somethimng important like aids, starvation or the Iraq war...
Anyway, that's enough news. Last Saturday evening there was also an open air Brasilian carnival, to which more people went that to the rally...
Vale.
posted by SG @ 2:59 p. m.
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