Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
Covid
In case you missed it, see yesterday’s post for another good dose of information and common sense from Private Eye's MD
Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain
Here’s something on the history of the bizarre Spanish custom of downing 12 grapes at midnight chimes on December 31.
It's possible Spain has found a winter version of its fineable offence of driving in flip-flops - driving in a puffer jacket. Or, indeed, any clothing the Guardia officer thinks either ‘restricts your movements’ or ‘interferes with the operation of the seat belt’.
Spain already boasts a very wide spectrum of driving offences. If you’re new here - or just ignorant - these examples should interest/worry you:—
- Filling up at the petrol station, if you’re smoking, using a mobile or have left the radio or lights on.
- Having a dirty number plate
- Washing your car in the street.
- Giving your offspring a private lesson.
- Not putting on a hi-vis jacket before getting out of the car. (If you’re the driver, your penalties will be more severe than those of a passenger)
- Not having a spare pair of glasses in the car.
Lenox Napier posts here this bit of satirical doggerel:-
I'm dreaming of a blue passport,
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where I need a Visa,
to visit Pisa,
And there is nowhere I can go.
I am dreaming of a blue passport,
now that we've got our country back.
May our future be dreary
...and shite,
and may all our citizens be white .
I'd just point out that the new passport I've now finally received ain't blue, like the first one I got at 18, nor burgundy red, like those of the last few decades, but . . . black. Which appears to have upset some idiots. The British government begs to differ on this: The Home Office say the colour is still blue - shade number 5395C, which according to the standardised colour classification chart, is 'Pantone'. You could have fooled me.
Here's María's Riding The Wave: Days 42 & 42. You'll possibly need this definition: Pantagruelian: enormous. As in ‘a Pantagruelian banquet’. And maybe this.
The UK
Some potentially very good news: British scientists are trialling a new drug that could prevent someone who has been exposed to coronavirus from going on to develop the disease Covid-19, which experts say could save many lives. The antibody therapy would confer instant immunity against the disease and could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients and care home residents to help contain outbreaks. The drug has been developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca and the UK Regulatory Agency is expected to approve for use in Britain next week.
The UK & The EU
The good news is that: Britons will keep free healthcare access across Europe after Brexit through the European Health Insurance Card.
BUT . . . I’m confused about things, ‘going forward’. It’s reported that, as of the new year, we EU residents will need the new UK Global Health Insurance Card [GHIC?] but the NHS doesn’t seem ready to hand these out yet. I recently had to extend my old EHIC, as it expired in early December and I’ve been sent a new one. This seems to expire after just a month but might, as reported, last for 5 years from issue. To ensure cover beyond 31 January, I applied this morning for the new GHIC but have been told I can’t have it, as I’m not allowed to have 2 cards. I’m now awaiting advice as to whether I need to make a new application on February 1.
I wonder if the new card will be blue. Or Pantone black.
Finally . . .
A foto of some time ago, proving that Boris Johnson doesn’t need to look like a scarecrow, and once didn’t . . .
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.