Nationalism, of one kind and another!

Years ago when the British spent holidays abroad, in our case at that time mostly in northern France, which was just about within drivable distance from the Northwest of England, there were usually two things that we really truly wanted on our return: fish and chips and a proper cup of tea. The longing for fish and chips has faded, at least in our case, but the yen for a good cup of tea remains. The continental Europeans seem incapable of making a good cup of tea. The basic principle of pouring the water on the teabag immediately it boils is a thing unheard of. But then I know Italians and Spaniards who make similar complaints about the British and coffee. Phil and I pride ourselves quite outrageously on being able to make both beverages to a more than adequate standard!

It used to be that here in Spain the closest you could buy to decent tea was the comically named English Breakfast Tea, which might be what effete Southerners drink for breakfast but is not at all like what is drunk in the North. Even then, you had to hunt for it. Nowadays, just as you can buy chorizo, jamón serrano and even ready-made tortilla española in Tesco, so I can pop down to the Mercadona next door and buy Typhoo Tea and PG Tips. And since it is now much easier to buy proper milk, instead of sterilised rubbish, a decent cup of tea is easily acquired ... at least in our flat! 

We just need to find a source of Cadbury's chocolate and all will be very well indeed!

Down at the port, in the A Laxe shopping centre, there is an American Food Shop. As far as I can tell from a quick visit, it seems to sell mostly American sweets and soft drinks. Somebody must miss those items and feel the need to buy them here.

In Christchurch, New Zealand, there is a grocery store called A Little Bit of Britain, which largely caters for British expats. (Now, there is a conundrum for another day: foreigners who go to live in Britain are migrants or immigrants but when the British emigrate they are expats!) That store has recently had a delivery of the breakfast cereal Weetabix (also available in Mercadona supermarkets here in Spain) seized and impounded. A rival cereal company, Weet-bix complained that it could confuse customers. Weet-bix is apparently a staple in many New Zealand homes and the company claimed their copyright was being infringed.

These antipodeans must be easily confused! And I am not sure that the solution will really reduce the confusion. Lisa Wilson, the co-owner of A Little Bit of Britain, received a letter saying her cereal shipment would be released if she placed a sticker over the offending Weetabix label once the item was on her shelves, and blanked out the name Weetabix when she sold the cereal online. So it goes! 

And here's another tale of seizure of a different kind. Austria's highest court has upheld a decision to expropriate the house in Braunau where Hitler was born, ostensibly to stop it becoming a pilgrim site for neo-fascists. It seems that the government was renting the house and using it as a centre for people with disabilities. How appropriate; Hitler must be spinning in his grave! The rental agreement came to an end in 2011 when the owners refused to carry out renovations.

Nobody knows what the government will do with the building. Proposals to demolish it have been met with resistance from politicians and historians.there is a suggestion it might be used by a charity. Every year on Hitler’s birthday, anti-fascist protesters organise a rally outside the building, where a memorial stone reads: “For peace, freedom and democracy. Never again fascism, millions of dead warn.”

However, I fail to see how this appropriation will prevent pilgrimages, by both anti-fascists and neo-fascists.