Brett Hetherington's Blog: "First thought:" My Substack page

I'm afraid it's goodbye.

But thanks for the memories...and thanks for reading!

After 14 years here and 832 posts, and my intro to online posting, it's all over because I've found someone new to share my life with! Well, you know what I mean...

Please join me now over on my new Substack page: https://bretthetherington.substack.com/

All my old blogposts are there so for nostalgia's sake we are not really parting are we?

 

Standing in a Spanish Doorway: Spanish Government Complaint Box Causes Boomerang ...: "The Spanish Minister of Employment and Social Security,Fátima Bañez, has launched a “complaint box” to combat workplace fraud.   ...
"...The move has sparked controversy in the blogosphere and on social networks, and created a boomerang effect against the Spanish government: the first complaints received through the new system were directed at the government itself and members of the political sphere, not at ordinary citizens as intended." 

 

Photo: https://www.corneliakraft.com/

When Nadia was running downstairs

from the 6th floor, doing up her dressing gown,

cursing the wind and her mistake

she came across the boy from door 4, floor 4

the one who never says good morning

She put the brakes on her crazy run

having seen the second floor was wet,

she was about to fall near the front door:

her slippers were loose

and she hadn’t found the money nor time

to go to the shoe-repairer

…her precious headcovering flew

and landed at Magda’s feet

the new postwoman, who took it and put it

with sound judgement on a parked motorbike.

Then Fatima, from the halal supermarket, fell

in love with its bright colours,

and although she didn’t wear it,

against her mother’s advice,

she took it thinking to give it

to her close friend Raissa,

who would never dare to go outside

without a hijab covering her hair.

And from the doorway, when Nadia sees

Fatima taking the headscarf off the motorbike,

and the great joy she had on her face

she gave up her claim on the very thing

that Karim, her husband,

didn’t know

was a gift from a clandestine love

with whom, years before,

in Morocco, Nadia had dreamt of a future.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/01ogjKyUpngHPNpQMcuneG


















Really informative chat with a guy who clearly knows his literature (and I don't just say that because because he's complimentary about my latest work here.) He also briefly talks about:Miguel de Cervantes - The Banks of Algeas/ The Great Sultana
María de Zayas y Sotomayor - Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion
Maria Dueñas- a Vineyard in Andalusia
Salvador Dali, Marx brothers - Giraffes on Horseback Salad
Gerald Brenan - South of Granada/ Spanish Labyrinth / The Literature of the Spanish People
Almudena Grande - Ages of Lulu/ The Frozen Heart

 

 They wanted to stop the depopulation of the municipality... and they did it!

[Edited photo by Francisco Lomero]

"In mid-June, an all-female independent group, Women for the Municipality of Angüés (AMPMA), [began] its second term leading the small Aragonese town of Angüés, Spain, after winning, for the second time, an absolute majority in the municipal elections of May 28, 2023. Their term of office is today's most unique political phenomenon in Spain's democracy...

The first thing they did when they assumed the legislature in 2019 was to eliminate the mayor's salary and remove the cell phones, Christmas bonuses, and Christmas dinners of councilors paid by the City Council: Now, the positions are completely voluntary, and this saved the locality about 12 000 euros per year. In addition, they reduced energy costs by installing solar panels in the Town Hall and changing the street lighting."

Read more from source at Global Voices here.

 

"This song is dedicated to all the people...who make of a touch and a look, something far superior to the language of words."

 Japanese pictorial map of Europe from the year 1932.

 

[Illustration: Leonardo Berbesi]

"The history of the dish begins with the persecution of the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, during the 16th century.

Many of them ended up in England, taking the fried fish with them. It was a Sephardic dish that they used to eat on Fridays.

The secret was the use of oil, which sealed the flavours, made the flour crispy and the fish very tasty.

To those islanders accustomed to lard, frying in oil seemed revolutionary…’ Later we read: ‘…A Jewish fishmonger who emigrated from Eastern Europe, named Joseph Malin, was the first to come up with the idea, in 1860, of putting fried fish and potatoes together in his store in [London's] East End…"

Found at BoT but original source is here.