The end of Garzon's career

So it's finally over for Garzon... Sure, technically he's only temporarily suspended, but with three cases against him, each of which are probably going to be delayed, each motion appealed into infinity, and then of course his eventual reinstatement will probably drag on for a couple years. He's only 9 years away from retirement, which is a relatively short time at the speed of Spanish justice.

That's the way it goes in Spain. If you were a judge thinking of investigating powerful interests in Spain, perhaps it would be smarter to spend your time sending some more manteros to prison.

Fresh milk via Google Maps

Even better! Find your local fresh milk machine here. It even shows the model of the milk machine for you milk geeks out there. How much does a ImproLac V600 with 1200 litre capacity go for?

Thanks Jennifer!

Why cutting "waste" won't help Spain's budget

Rajoy's predictable response to Zapatero's cuts was to come up with a plan to "reduce government waste".

Why is this stupid? Well, here's the budget for this year:



So here's your job... try to cut 30% of this budget without affecting any pensioners, government employees, people on assistance, etc.

I feel kind of sorry for Zapatero. People will hate him and vote him out of office, then the successor gets to take credit for the eventual economic recovery.

Chinese real-estate craziness

Reading about the property bubble going on in China would make any ex-Spanish property speculator feel inadequate.

It's gotten to the point now where even the maids are are speculating on the property market. One lovely quote:

“You should buy two,” the sharp sales girl suggested. “In three years, the price will have doubled. You could sell one and get one free.”

A recent TV drama series named "Snail House" was pulled off the air, apparently hitting a bit too close to home:

In the fictional city of Jiangzhou where they live – the show is shot in Shanghai – ever-spiraling costs and rising prices outstrip every effort by Haiping and her husband to save. The harder they try, the more they fail, and quarreling becomes common.

But Haizao, who works for a property developer, finds a solution to both of their dilemmas: She dumps her innocent boyfriend and becomes a mistress to the mayor's powerful chief of staff, the handsome and corrupt Song Siming. Soon, Haizao has cash for her elder sister's down payment – and gets her own home.

Marbella anyone?

You gotta love the Russians...

When I saw the story that the Russians had let go of a bunch of pirates rather than take them to Russia to stand trail, I had thought that perhaps they had gotten soft.

It turns out that what they actually did was "let them go" on a small inflatable raft with no navigational equipment about 800 km off shore, which most likely sank about an hour after they were let go.

I suppose the pirates will now avoid Russian ships and concentrate on wimpy ransom paying countries such as Spain.

Fresh milk, 24 hours a day

While on the topic of milk, which is evidently quite important to the Spanish language.

La Viti has opened a 24 hour milk dispenser near Rambla Celler. I saw the article in this week's Tot Sant Cugat, I will check it out and report...

My sister told me that they had these machines in Normandy when she visited and she loved it.

My favorite new animal name in Catalunya

Pill bugs here are called "Porquets de Sant Antoni". (Piglets of Saint Anthony)

I think the reference is to Saint Anthony who lived off the roots and plants while he was in the desert.

Changing your name in Spain

In most European countries, there are very few instances when you are allowed to legally change your name. In fact, since married couples in Spain usually keep their last name unchanged, it's even less common here than in other European countries.

This means that stories like this one, where a man legally named "Lord Jesus Christ" got hit by a car are somewhat confusing to Spaniards.

Not to mention the fact that if someone named Señor Jesús Cristo was hit by a car in Spain, it probably wouldn't make El Pais.

I've always wondered why Jesús is such a common first name in Spanish culture (and not so much in other parts of Europe). My pet theory is that it came from the tradition of calling your sons "Mohammed" back when Spain was Muslim. When the reconquista was happening, people realized which which way the wind was blowing and switched to Jesús instead.