Photo: Not Greece (A great bar in great Malaga – Antigua Casa de Guardia, at Alameda Principal 18)
Spain:
‘Spain is not Greece’, ‘Spain is not Greece’ – it’s been all over every newspaper, national and international, for so long now, that everyone starts scratching their heads and thinking… Oh, maybe Spain is like Greece?! I suppose it’s a deliberate conspiracy to undermine the Spanish economy… Perhaps if we had months of headlines decrying “Spain is not Mars!”, or “Spain is not Las Vegas!”, then we’d all be wondering whether in fact Spain was a nice warm red planet, or a good place to throw away your life savings at roulette.
In any case, according to the BBC, Spain is “to unveil deep budget cuts amid EU economic fears” – just to make sure that Spain is not Greece, Spain is not Greece, etc…. (I wonder what the timeframe between ‘unveiling’ and ‘doing’ is…)
Not Totally Spain:
And now, for some good news… A few recommendations of things I’ve found interesting recently that have nothing or a just tiny bit to do with Spain…
1. A History of the World in 100 Objects is one of the most interesting podcasts I’ve ever listened to.
Each short episode is based around an ancient object from the British Museum (a 5,000 year old writing tablet from Iraq, a 10,000 year old sculpture of 2 lovers from the time when man invented farming…), and is filled with fascinating information about the world at the time the object was created.
2. I’ve been watching Simon Schama’s The Power Of Art – also totally fascinating, and especially interesting to Spain lovers is the episode on Picasso’s Guernica, his epic response to the bombing of the small Basque town by German military planes at Franco’s behest in the civil war. Really worth watching, and the other episodes are more than worth the price of the DVD too.
3. I’ve started reading The Grapes Of Wrath and, only 40 pages in, think it’s some of the best literature I’ve ever come across. I’m in no hurry to get to the end, every page shakes with the power of Steinbeck’s horror at the fate of man, every line is poetry!
And finally…
Feel free to start any comments by completing the following newspaper headline:
“Spain is not _________________”
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 