A rainy morning in Sanxenxo!

The Voz de Galicia newspaper tells me that Galicia will be an oasis of cooler weather in the midst of the heatwave that is supposedly going to assault most of the rest of Europe. Paris is promised 45+ degrees, London 40+. It would not surprise me if the Northwest of England missed out on the heatwave as well. When weather forecasters talk about England, they usually mean the South or Southeast.

Anyway, it’s raining nicely here this morning. I have decided against running in the rain although I briefly considered putting on my waterproof and going for a brisk walk. But, no, the rain is bouncing down and it’s not really worth it. Besides my weather app says it will stop raining later at which point a walk will be in order.

The sun-worshippers will be disappointed. Yesterday morning's brilliant sunshine saw then stretched out like lizards around the pool. When I went down for a swim in the late afternoon, however, you could already see the cloud moving in and the temperature was dropping. So it goes. This is Galicia after all.

La voz de Galicia also gave me a bit of English etymology. It tells me that “snob” comes from Oxford and Cambridge, a contraction of “sine nobilitas”, a term used centuries ago to designate students going to the universities but not coming from noble families. Non-nobles with money copied the ways of the aristocracy - snobs.

The same article gave me “la famocracia”, the new, modern “aristocracy” of the famous: the Beckhams and Kardashians of this world. A very pleasing word for a not-so pleasing modern phenomenon.

I suppose the actor Idris Elba is maybe part of the “famocracia”. I was reading an article about a production he is putting on Manchester, and perhaps elsewhere, called “Tree”. Here’s a link to the article. Something I read that struck me is this:

“Idris Elba has a thing about trees. He’s got a tattoo of one on his left arm, partially hidden today by a black T-shirt – but that’s not all. Whenever Elba needs to mark a major event in his life – birthdays, new years, that kind of thing – he heads outside and wraps his arms around a trunk. “I just feel a massive connection to the roots that are underneath, which are very high and wide, and to the oxygen that comes from the top,” he says. “And then there’s me in the middle … Idris Elba, tree-hugger!””

 “Roots are very high and wide”? Really? Am I missing something there? Perhaps he sees trees in a different way to me - roots grow wide, yes, but high? I don’t think so.

Idris Elba played Mandela in the film about him. There was apparently some opposition to his having the role. Idris Elba recounted how people had told him he shouldn’t be playing Mandela. “They said, ‘We’ve got actors in South Africa who are qualified.’ And our director was white, and our producer was Indian.” That’s a new twist on the authenticity of who plays which part argument. As I have said before, surely the important thing is to have a good and convincing actor in a role!

The world is just a little crazy! And currently wet!