Archive for May, 2010
Monday, May 31st, 2010
If you're a sucker, as I am, for kitsch Euro TV, then you won't have missed last Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest, from Oslo. This year's high-tech super-extravanganza of Euro-multiculturalism and, er, singing (worldwide audience: 120 million), was remarkable for two main occurrences, especially from the point of view of an ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, Europe, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
For those of the glam jetset crowd who still have the money to party, Marbella (where else?) is the place to be tonight.
Summer is “officially” launched in the internationally famous coastal resort this evening, with the much-anticipated Grand Opening White Party at Nikki Beach, another spectacular of Nikki-style extravagance, elegance ...
Posted in Events, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
If my posts at the beginning of the year tended to be about the weather (more specifically, the endless rain), lately they are dwelling on the state of the economy, and the government's handling of it, namely the public sector pay cuts. It's unavoidable - sorry. The crisis is affecting ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, Current affairs, Economy, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, May 24th, 2010
New buildings in cities, particularly those as historic as Seville, are always very controversial. Even in more modern metropolises, such as New York, the design of a contemporary edifice can provoke reactions as much emotional as cerebral - for example, Freedom Tower, Daniel Libeskind's 541-metre building which is currently being ...
Posted in architecture, Current affairs, Economy | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Last night, news came in of the first "evacuations" from this year's El Rocio pilgrimage. The Hermano Mayor of Triana was among four rocieros taken to hospital suffering from dolencia cardiaca. A few people were kicked by horses too - all par for the course, with the combination of vast ...
Posted in Culture and Customs | No Comments »
Monday, May 17th, 2010
While I am a great believer that surveys are just space fillers for lazy journalists (30% of women don't think their husbands help enough around the house - shock, horror; 52% of men don't get on with their mother-in-law - well, who'd have guessed it?) - I am as guilty ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, Current affairs, Economy, Social affairs | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
This week, there's a rare chance to visit one of Seville's most impressive buildings, the Palacio San Telmo. It has been closed to the public during the last five years for a major refurbishment project. Anyone who has passed it in the last few months will have noticed that it ...
Posted in Culture and Customs, History | No Comments »
Monday, May 10th, 2010
As I’ve covered some fairly serious issues over the past few weeks – politics, the economy, bullfighting - it’s time for something a bit more light-hearted (and indulgent). In these times of crisis (OK, 0.1% growth is, at least, positive – only just, though), we need something to take our ...
Posted in Economy, Food, Shopping, Travel non-Andalucia | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Following a British election campaign without British TV is a frustrating affair - no TV debates, no vox pops with people on the street, no declamatory rhetorical orations from the would-be PMs. Thank god for the internet - Radio 4 online, Youtube, not forgetting, of course, the lifeline for homeworking ...
Posted in Current affairs, Politics, Women | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
I'm not talking about the armed forces here. No, the four million-odd people in Spain who are now out of a job. For those of us who are unaware (I can't believe anyone who lives in Spain hasn`t heard), the numbers of unemployed in Spain hit 4,612,700, or 20% of ...
Posted in Current affairs, Economy, Social affairs | 7 Comments »
