On Tweets and Chickens.

Here I am, bringing together three topics which I have been harping on about lately: words, that robbery recently solved in Santiago de Compostela and the existence or otherwise of the summer. In the free paper yesterday I came across a section called “os tuiteiros”, a lovely linguistic innovation following the good Spanish, or in this case Galician, tradition of making sounds match the local spelling rules. So “tweeters” become “tuiteiros” in Galician, probably “tuiteros” in Castilian. The tweet that attracted my attention said: “Última hora: acaban de atopar o verán nun garaxe do Milladoiro” – “Breaking news: they have just found summer in a Santiago garage.” 

 “O verán” in Vigo is still looking quite healthy to me, but what do I know? I am just a humble North-of-Englander. In fact, here in Galicia being from England is often enough to make people think we are probably grateful for any warm weather at all. I am sometimes asked if we have any good beaches in the UK. Great is the surprise expressed when I say that yes, in fact we have a lot of excellent beaches. Even greater is the surprise when I reveal that people actually bathe in the sea off the coast of the UK. This is what happens when your nation becomes famous for heading off the foreign beaches seeking the sun so often. 

It’s rather hard to convince some Galicians that the UK is not actually under a permanent bank of Victorian-London-style fog. Mind you at the moment it does seem to be under a permanent bank of cloud judging by the amount of rain which has fallen and continues to fall there. 

Getting back to the weather here, however, I do find myself wondering exactly what IS a typical Galician summer. I have heard this summer described as “atípico”. And yet, two years ago when July and August temperatures soared and I spent half the day in the swimming pool, people also told me that such weather was not typical. I suspect that the truth of the matter is that, just like the British, the Galicians enjoy talking about the weather, probably because there really is no such thing as a “typical summer”. 

Anyway, having got that little matter out of the way, yesterday I walked out into the sunshine and went to meet my friend at the restaurant El Gallinero, as arranged. The decor of the place is interesting ... if you like pictures of poultry. 

The speciality of the restaurant, as the name implies, is egg dishes and chicken dishes, with a bit of salad thrown in for good measure. The service was friendly, efficient and would-be flattering, the waiter insisting on referring to us as “chicas”. 

We shared a generous “ensalada gallinero” to start with, really just an “ensalada mixta” with the usual large dollop of tuna fish; no egg or chicken in there then. 

After that, my friend had “pollo al ajillo”, a mountain of small pieces of garlicky chicken accompanied by another mountain, this time of friend potatoes. I decided to try “huevos a la cubana”, which turned out to be rather less exciting than its name suggested. What arrived was a plate of boiled rice with a dash of tomato sauce, accompanied by two fried eggs and a fried banana. Presumably it was that last ingredient that made it “Cuban”. 

Now, while a fried banana is interesting enough in its way, boiled rice can get a little boring. Not the best choice then. 

Ah well, maybe I should give the place another chance but probably not for a while.