Friday 14th May 2010
Roll of thunder, hear my cry!
Roll of thunder, hear my cry!
The day has dawned (if you can call it that) with thunder and lightning and torrential rain. I must bear in mind that I did have the opportunity when I arrived in Castelldefels after escaping the rain in Barcelona yesterday evening, to lie out on the Third Floor listening all the while to the latest manoeuvring of our coalition government.
The confusion surrounding the 5% extra majority that it will take of dissolution of parliament was wrongly reported as the margin needed for a successful vote of no confidence. Outraged armour proper was paraded by disgruntled politicians on the radio waves until a prosaic correspondent explained what the 5% actually meant. I can see that this is protection for the Lib-Dems to try and stop the Conservatives calling an election without any reference to their coalition partners. This may be convenient for them but it does not fit in with the workings of parliament. They seem to think that as a coalition they can dispense with the niceties of ordinary parliamentary procedure on the basis that two parties are working together! I think that this attitude is going to be a fruitful source of outrage!
The 5% (how that figure seems to haunt the present government) cut that ministers took in their wages as almost the first decision that they made, reflects what has been done in Spain. The government here has announced a 5% cut in the salary of civil servants and a pay freeze for next year. VAT has been increased by 2% and we can only hope that this is seen by the money markets as a real effort to make some dent in the truly horrific budget deficit that Spain has run up as a result of their delirious Spend! Spend! Spend! response when they found themselves suddenly possessing a very hard currency!
Saturday 15th May 2010
I finally got up today after some thirteen or fourteen hours of sleep: never let it be said that teaching doesn’t take it out of you.
No sooner had I risen than the telephone rang and I recognized the voice of my Turkish friend Kerem. We have known each other for over 23 years and we seem to meet irregularly so we have a lot to catch up on.
Find the hotel where he and his girlfriend we staying was not easy as my GPS seems to regard any road laid in the last decade as something unrecognizable and strange and She Who Must Be Obeyed starts rapping out “Recalculating!” with ever increasing rapidity and you, the driver, start to think that you might just resort to the old and tried method of finding strange places by simply asking a passer-by!
Even when after a number of exploratory twists and turns the Voice said “Arriving at destination on right!” there was no clear indication of an hotel. Retracing my steps and squinting I did make out a bright blue prefabricated building and there they were!
A walk, a lunch and a chat later and they were both off to explore Barcelona further and take a chance on finding a good restaurant for dinner. As Kerem is trying to find a job back in Turkey from his present position in Chicago there is a chance that our next meeting may not be so long delayed!
There is nothing which is quite so delightful as sitting outside a café next to the sea with a cold beer, convivial company and a progression of people passing before you at whom, this being a Mediterranean country, you can stare!
Tomorrow promises to be fine therefore, please direct all communications to the Third Floor!
The confusion surrounding the 5% extra majority that it will take of dissolution of parliament was wrongly reported as the margin needed for a successful vote of no confidence. Outraged armour proper was paraded by disgruntled politicians on the radio waves until a prosaic correspondent explained what the 5% actually meant. I can see that this is protection for the Lib-Dems to try and stop the Conservatives calling an election without any reference to their coalition partners. This may be convenient for them but it does not fit in with the workings of parliament. They seem to think that as a coalition they can dispense with the niceties of ordinary parliamentary procedure on the basis that two parties are working together! I think that this attitude is going to be a fruitful source of outrage!
The 5% (how that figure seems to haunt the present government) cut that ministers took in their wages as almost the first decision that they made, reflects what has been done in Spain. The government here has announced a 5% cut in the salary of civil servants and a pay freeze for next year. VAT has been increased by 2% and we can only hope that this is seen by the money markets as a real effort to make some dent in the truly horrific budget deficit that Spain has run up as a result of their delirious Spend! Spend! Spend! response when they found themselves suddenly possessing a very hard currency!
Saturday 15th May 2010
I finally got up today after some thirteen or fourteen hours of sleep: never let it be said that teaching doesn’t take it out of you.
No sooner had I risen than the telephone rang and I recognized the voice of my Turkish friend Kerem. We have known each other for over 23 years and we seem to meet irregularly so we have a lot to catch up on.
Find the hotel where he and his girlfriend we staying was not easy as my GPS seems to regard any road laid in the last decade as something unrecognizable and strange and She Who Must Be Obeyed starts rapping out “Recalculating!” with ever increasing rapidity and you, the driver, start to think that you might just resort to the old and tried method of finding strange places by simply asking a passer-by!
Even when after a number of exploratory twists and turns the Voice said “Arriving at destination on right!” there was no clear indication of an hotel. Retracing my steps and squinting I did make out a bright blue prefabricated building and there they were!
A walk, a lunch and a chat later and they were both off to explore Barcelona further and take a chance on finding a good restaurant for dinner. As Kerem is trying to find a job back in Turkey from his present position in Chicago there is a chance that our next meeting may not be so long delayed!
There is nothing which is quite so delightful as sitting outside a café next to the sea with a cold beer, convivial company and a progression of people passing before you at whom, this being a Mediterranean country, you can stare!
Tomorrow promises to be fine therefore, please direct all communications to the Third Floor!
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