Only in ....

In the industrial estate of Torneiros in O Porriño in Galicia, someone had the bright idea to put up one of those poles that carry electricity cables in the middle of one lane of a road. The fact that it’s also next to a pedestrian crossing might make a difference if it were in England where cars stop for people on zebra crossings but that’s not the case in Spain. It must make driving interesting there. Only in Spain? 

 We shouldn’t scoff at such things. Around here they have been replacing a perfectly serviceable system of street lighting with something new. Unfortunately they have been rather slow in completing the work. Consequently there are many places around hr where there is an old streetlamp next to a hole in the ground and possibly a new streetlamp pole, minus lamp, and usually a plastic barrier forcing you to walk in the road. In some cases the hole is covered with a temporary plastic cover which becomes a death trap when it rains. (We need one of those recorded warnings you get in bus stations. A patronisingly soft voice could remind us, “Plastic covers may be slippery when wet.”) In other places there are two working streetlamps side by side or possible lamps every 50 yards which switch on automatically at about 2.00 pm. It may be a scheme to save energy (eventually) but at the moment it looks a little like jobs for the boys. Someone has got a good contract deal out of this. Only in Saddleworth? 


In February, on the 23rd I believe, they are having the “Feira do Cocido” in Lalín, Galicia. “Cocido” is one of Galicia’s favourite dishes: a stew using almost every bit of the pig, cooked lovingly for hours until the meat is tender along with potatoes and “grelos”, sprout tops. Personally I find it rather too heavy for my taste but it is very popular. Notices go up outside restaurants, “Hoy hay cocido”, to ensure that people don’t miss out. Anyway, they are having a pork stew festival in Lalín. Only in Galicia? 

It’s very common to have a festival to celebrate a favourite foodstuff. Maybe we should institute such events in the UK and thus counteract the belief that there are no typical culinary delights here. We could have a Yorkshire Pudding Festival, a Lancashire Hotpot Festival, a Roast Beef Dinner Festival, a Cornish Pasty Festival, a Chip Butty Festival: the possibilities are endless. 

Incidentally the autocorrect on my iPad changes the Gallego “feira” to the Castellano “feria”. Does the machine prefer standard Spanish to regional Spanish? 

Here’s another piggy story of sorts. In O Carballiño, another place in Galicia, a wild boar was knocked down and killed by a car. Appropriately this was on the road to the cemetery. Apparently that point of the road is a regular crossing point for wild boars and foxes and there are even road signs to warn drivers. I should think that crashing into a wild boar could do some damage to your car. I was going to comment “Only in Galicia” but there are places in the south of England where wild boar are also a menace on the road, so I will refrain. Only in places where they have wild boars? 

Victoria Beckham has recently been interviewed by the magazine “Vanity Fair”. I only know this second hand from reading about it in “La Voz de Galicia”. Talking about the time when the Beckhams lived in Madrid, Mrs Beckham has declared that she never said the Spain smells of garlic. She would never be so disrespectful. She really enjoyed living in Madrid. Well, that’s good, isn’t it?

 And finally, I have come across a new expression. In the United States, when a shopping centre has to close because too many of its shops are standing empty and no-one can be bothered to go there any longer, they refer to it as a “dead mall”. Rather poetic in a macabre sort of way. Only in America?