Well, here we are in Vigo. Just about everyone keeps telling us that up to about two weeks ago they had beautiful sunny weather. The “verano de San Martín” just went on and on. But yesterday we had rain and wind and almost got blown away. It was not bad when I went for a run first thing, just a bit damp, but the day seriously deteriorated after that.
This did not deter us from going down into town where Phil subjected himself to a haircut and conversation with the barber. As with my conversation with the Portuguese driver, Phil always finds that the barber forgets he is a foreign national and goes into overdrive - top speed comments on everything under the sun!
At one point the barber commented on the Christmas decorations that are going up all over town. Apparently the mayor, still Abel Caballero as far as I know, has been criticised for spending too much on Christmas lights and stuff. He defends his spending, saying that people come from far and wide to see the lights. There are excursions. People come for two or three day visits. The hotels fill up. And they spend money in the shops, restaurants, and bars. Who’d have thought it?
After the barber’s, we went for lunch at the Rosalía Castro restaurant. We don’t really need to order. They know we want chipirones encebollados - baby squid with caramelised onions. Delicious as ever!
By the way, the barber recommends we go across to Moaña, on the other side of the bay, where there is a place near the ferry port which serves the best chipirones. They actually serve baby squid that are really too small to be fished but as they catch them locally they get around the regulations. Naughty! Naughty!
On a more serious note, here is something from the Forum for EU Citizens on Facebook, posted by a Finn yesterday:-
“A fellow Finn, who's been living in Scotland for the past 2,5 years, moved to England today. This is her experience on arrival (shared with her permission; she's not in this group):
"And welcome to England! Just got a small taster of the Brexit culture (which is totally non-existent in Scotland IMHO) while going through the border control in Manchester airport. This conversation took place between me and the border control officer (bco) and had there been any humor in his voice or kindness in his eyes, this could have actually been a jovial, funny conversation. But no.
Me: Hello
Bco: Hi. Are you here for business?
Me: No, we are actually just moving to Chester so...
Bco interrupts me: And who gave you the permission to do that?
Me: ?!? Ehhhmm, I guess your government still kind of allows it, ehhh...*awkward laughing and mumbling*
Bco: Well good luck with THAT! *slamming my passport back to me*
I was so taken aback by his rude demeanor and comments I couldn’t even think of anything smart to come back at him! Fingers crossed I just caught him on his bad day and he’s not like this with every foreigner he meets because boy, has he chosen the wrong profession to be in! I’m also hoping this will not be the prevailing attitude here or it will be a long 2-3 years..."”
This is what my country has become! I feel ashamed!
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