Gaycelona versus Gayxample - does Graham Keeley ever know what he's talking about?

As seen in this fluff piece by the Guardian's Man In Spain for nice hotels under €100 in Barcelona:

Hotel California

Great value for money considering its locaton around the corner from La Rambla. The California offers decent, clean rooms and markets itself as gay friendly, though this is more subtly played than in hotels like Axel, in the "Gaycelona" district of Barcelona.

As any fule know, the so-called gay district is called 'Gayxample' from the Eixample neighbourhood. It seems that Graham Keeley's articles either consist of reheating AP and El País stories or churning out ignorant tosh. Has no one at the Guardian yet noticed that while Keeley is filing tons more stories on Spain than there used to be, they are predominantly ripped off or simply inaccurate? Maybe it's reading Flat Earth News but this guy is really beginning to annoy me.

Guardian, sort it out!

P.S. I was going to say that Graham Keeley doesn't know his arse from his elbow but I suspect that I'd have been picked up for bad taste. So I didn't.

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May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia | 8 Comments 

Behind bars in Cerdanyola

There's a thought-provoking post over at Leftbanker talking about the walk-up window/service hatch that you see in many Spanish bars. It's true that this is a feature that seems definitively Spanish and certainly seems to fit with the idea of a life lived in the street: on summer evenings, you can just walk up to get your Voll Damm and drink it in the street with your mates.

But there don't seem to be many of those bars around here. To my mind, they seem more common in 'the South', and I remember seeing loads of them in Ciudad Real (most beautiful city in the world) and Seville. One in C.R. was recommended to us for having 'excellent tapas'. It didn't. How is it that Spaniards, who should really know about that kind of thing, can so frequently give crap recommendations when it comes to food? We asked a well-dressed woman in Cordoba for a 'locals' restaurant where we could get a decent meal. She directed us to this promising-looking place that had about two things on the menu. I had a plate of lamb kidneys. Not that bad, but really not excellent either. They didn't even serve coffee!

Our street is fairly typical in that it has three bars on it. Unfortunately for me (or maybe it's a good thing), they are the worst bars in western Europe. One is a Betis (Seville) football club supporters' bar called La Giralda which serves OK sandwiches. They show football games on their TV and whenever anyone scores a goal against Barça, the entire bar erupts in applause. Next up is the bar under my house, called Bar Los Caballos which is essentially a social club and watering hole for the many construction workers employed by the building firm also under my house. Actually, this isn't such a bad place: the regulars are OK and you see the builders playing chess quite a lot, which is pretty cool. They do no food but they do have a tobacco machine.

Finally, there's Bar Lastri. This is one of those places that defies understanding. It's a large, high-ceilinged square room, more or less devoid of decoration (save the obligatory TV, small and high-mounted, always tuned to Antena 3) and painted a ghastly turquoise-green. The clientele seems to consist exclusively of miserable, sour-mouthed, middle aged women and their nasty, alcoholic husbands. Everyone in there smokes constantly but the tobacco machine doesn't actually accept coins, so you have to exchange your money for tokens at the bar. This process normally takes about 10 minutes to complete because unless you walk up to the bar and scream, the barmaids will do better than any other server I've witnessed in Spain to ignore you (and that is some feat). I don't know whether they do food but I imagine that if they do, it would be utterly disgusting and served with a grimace.

As I hinted earlier on, it's actually quite a good thing that none of the bars on my street are places I'd like to frequent. Cerdanyola does have a few good bars: Bar Grau is a real classic, serving decent sandwiches, mediocre bravas and operating as the official FC Barcelona supporters bar, the headquarters of the Cerdanyola Chess Club, the Domino Club and the Pipesmokers' Association. Taberna del Tio Tom ("Tom's Bar" as we call it) is a really nice bar too. Kind of dark and cold inside, the service is laconic but friendly, the Voll Damms are cheap and they play blues and rock'n'roll constantly. They also screen movies with a projector sometimes, and play host to a guy who dresses like a Teddy Boy, complete with boots, sideburns and a tattoo on his arm that says "50's" in case you didn't guess that he loves the 1950's.

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May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Home | Leave a Comment 

Nightmare in Cerdanyola

I had a dream last night that I received some sort of prize from the communist mayor of Cerdanyola. I think it was for coming 1st in a treasure hunt.

But after I had a chat with him, I realised that in fact he was none other than Federico Jiménez Losantos, former communist, right-wing shock jock and utterly mad conspiracy theorist. Also, he only had one hand.

It was an imagery-laden dream and while not exactly terrifying (I had won first place, after all), I can't help but wonder what the significance might be of having Losantos talk to me in my sleep, in Catalan.

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May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Home, Spain | 4 Comments 

Feliç Sant Jordi!

A rose for the lady

Today's Saint George's (or Sant Jordi's) day. I'm not the biggest fan of celebrating saints' days, but as George most likely didn't exist, I generally go along with this one. The fact that George is the patron saint of my former home and my adopted home makes it easy to remember.

As you may well know, there is no tradition in England for celebrating St. George, at least nothing more than having an extra pint of Stella at the Rose and Crown. Some English nationalist parties (the BNP, the English Democrats) bemoan the fact that the English celebrate numerous other festivals (St. Patrick's day, Eid) but not the day of their own patron saint. The truth is that the English seem to have lost touch with their 'national' traditions around the 18th century… which coincides with the time we started conquering new lands and discovering new cultures*.

Interestingly, I received a text message from Vodafone two days ago which suggested that 'On the national day of the UK, sign up for our My Country service and save on calls home'. Huh. At first I thought that Vodafone were talking about St. George's day, which is in no way 'the national day of the UK', though I don't doubt that the BNP would make it so. Actually, April 21st is the Queen's birthday… so maybe that's what they were getting at. Not her official birthday, mind, her real one.

In Catalonia, Sant Jordi is celebrated with a rather sweet version of the English St. Valentine's traditions. Called 'the day of the rose' and 'the day of the book', Catalan men traditionally give their sweetheart a rose, while Catalan women are supposed to give their fella a book. The tradition has now become more egalitarian (and profitable, mark you), as both genders now expect to receive a book and a rose. So those of you with Catalan girlfriends or wives: don't forget to buy them a nice cookery book, or even better a book about roses - kill two birds with one stone. You, meanwhile, should expect a manly tome on Catalan history, tax law or Barça.

Speaking of which, the footage of large, pale men beating the shit out of eachother on Les Rambles can mean only one thing: English football fans are in town again. Yes, the savages from the north are hear to support their team of nobodies 'Manchester Foot Ball United' or something. They're playing Barça in the first leg of the semi-final of the Champions' League. Given that Manchester will probably win, Catalan women should prepare themselves for a miserable supper starting at about half-past ten tonight.

__

*By 'discovering new cultures', I of course mean 'eradicating newly discovered cultures'.

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April 23, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, UK | 2 Comments 

Esperanza plays poker, Sirera is a cherry

I saw Esperanza Aguirre, PP leadership hopeful and all round liar, referring to her love for card games the other day. She plays poker, apparently. Despite the fact that my Dad was in the Navy, I've never been someone who could pick up card games. There's a wonderful scene in The League Of Gentlemen where a doctor is forced to join a card game called 'Go Johnny Go Go Go Go', the rules of which are insanely complex. The sketch must have been written by a fellow non-card-player, as it perfectly captures the feeling of trying to play one of those infernal games, always knowing that the next card you put down will be met with sideways glances and the introduction of yet another arcane 'rule' which only serves to prolong the agony of putting down another card.

There's an ancient rehearsal of the sketch at YouTube:

Go Johnny Go Go Go Go, YouTube (but the sound is rubbish, so…)

Meanwhile, Daniel Sirera, the head of the PP in Catalonia was on the morning news show today on TV3. Golly, he's uncharismatic. The interview was shit, as they usually are. The only amusing bit was when Sirera refused to rule out that he'd back Aguirre in her bid for the PP leadership. He hummed and hawed a bit, which was enough to make me think that his vote hasn't yet been bought.

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April 22, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | 1 Comment 

News: Women, unions and blogging

The reason for a lack of updates here is simple: too much work. However, the world has carried on spinning.

The Spanish political arena is currently fairly dull. Zapatero announced a female majority cabinet, which is obviously an interesting statement. It doesn't say much about what his second government will achieve. My guess is: not a hell of a lot. Libertad Digital reckons that ETA are pushing for talks with the government by letting off bombs. Talks should happen, but probably won't, given that the PP is committed to breaking the historic pact of support for the government's terrorism policy. The struggle for power in the PP is the only story really worth following.

Good news: unionised dock workers in Durban refused to unload millions of dollars worth of Chinese weapons bound for Zimbabwe. Action by local human rights groups and trade unions prevented the delivery of arms and ammunition for Mugabe's regime from a Chinese ship. Apparently, the ship is now enroute for Mozambique. I can only hope that union workers there will also fight the 'free market' which allows China to arm Mugabe's psychotic and murderous regime. I mean, could the timing be any more obvious? This is the moral equivalent of Mussolini's assistance to Franco's rebellion.

We met up with Graeme of South of Watford fame (Madrid's best English-language blog) last night. I got a bit drunk (sorry about that) but we had a great evening, ending up in Plaça Reial, where I insulted an arsehole of a waiter.

The next few weekends will be pretty busy and work is going to be intense over the coming weeks. But I'll try to blog a bit more because I enjoy this.

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April 20, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Internet computer, PP, Politics, Spain | 4 Comments 

Mediapro: Allen film only in English and Catalan

One of the bigwigs at Mediapro, who have produced Woody Allen's crap-sounding Barcelona love letter, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' (still hate that title), has said that in Catalonia, the film will only be screened in English or dubbed into Catalan (IE, no Spanish dubbed version).

Jaume Roures, speaking [link in Catalan] on the RAC1 radio station, said that he also hoped that the film might open this year's Cannes festival.

The story has been picked up on the wires, and is generally being used for a spot of Catalan-bashing (any excuse, right?). Several papers have also fished up the 'political pressure' story from a few months back, which seems to me to be without substance.

This doesn't appear to be a decision even remotely connected with the Generalitat. In fact, it seems that Mediapro (or perhaps Roures) itself is behind the decision, and I suppose they're perfectly justified in taking it, however foolish a business idea it might be. I kind of suspect that he was either speaking out of turn or angling for nationalist-love, and that the film will also be dubbed into Spanish.

A more daring move would be to screen the film with only Spanish or Catalan subtitles, and no dubbing. The reservoirs of Catalonia will fill before that happens.

Oh yeah, for those of you hoping for lots of Scarlett and Penélope girl-on-girl action (as has been reported in less salubrious joints than thebadrash), apparently the rumours have been 'greatly exagerrated'. Tough luck. Still, you're on the Internet so I'm sure you can find something else.

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April 9, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Language, Spain | 4 Comments 

Quiet here, recently

Yes, it has been sunny. I've been studiously ignoring the news here too. The only thing really worrying me is the current water crisis, which has us on a hosepipe ban already, even though we're at the beginning of April.

Our great friends Mary and Ben came to visit, which gave us the opportunity to visit the Castell de Remei winery in Lleida province. It has a pretty good restaurant and my wild boar cooked in the local wine was absolutely delicious. We also picked up a few bottles of 'Gotim Bru' (about €6) as well as the delicious '1780'.

The next day, we took a stroll in the Collserolla park, which is just a ten minute walk from our front door. Not as wild as the Prepirineu but pleasant all the same.

We've also been lucky enough to really start enjoying our terrace, which at this time of year becomes an additional kitchen, dining room and salon, and gives us a bit more room to stretch out (the interior of the flat is only 50m2).

More photos at Flickr.

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April 5, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Home, Photo posts | 2 Comments 

Carod will not run for re-election as ERC leader

Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, president of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and vice-President of the Generalitat has finally announced that we won't seek re-election as the party's leader. This is the result of about two years' wrangling within the party over which direction it should adopt to gain more power in Catalonia.

Carod has been a divisive figure in Spanish and Catalan politics (but no more than pretty much any other political leader), and while he led ERC to large gains in 2004, many ERC supporters failed to turn out for the party after it accepted José Montilla as President of the Generalitat. Still, his strategy, as I understand it, has worked pretty well considering that the PSC has definitely radicalised somewhat in a failed effort to snatch Catalanist voters from ERC. Indeed, the drop in support for Esquerra in the recent elections was the result of a terrible election campaign (apparently run by Puigcercós), and large-scale abstention, rather than people actually going and voting for different parties.

This means that Joan Puigcercós will very likely be the next president of the party, unless one of the alternative currents like Esquerra Independentista manage to pull off a coup and nick the top job. Unlikely.

UPDATE: Carod Rovira has now made it clear that he things that Puigcercós should do the honourable thing and follow his example by leaving the way clear for a new leadership. Puigcercós will almost certainly ignore this friendly advice. Carod has also stated that he'll support the candidature of a new leader, opening up the chance of a genuine contest for the leadership.

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March 25, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | 2 Comments 

Here comes the snow?

Gemma and I are gearing up for a 3rd trip to the Pyrenees this Easter weekend and I'm relieved to see that temperatures are dropping and snow is forecast. We'll try to get some more decent photos of the last jaunt in this winter season… by the way, we are totally not rich pijos with unlimited funds. This is more a case of enchufle than anything else.

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March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia | 4 Comments 

ERC head rolls: Puigcercós is out of Generalitat

The internal struggle in Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) between leader Josep-Lluis Carod Rovira and party secretary-general Joan Puigcercós seems to have taken a major turn: Puigcercós, until this morning the Minister of Governance in the Generalitat, has resigned in order to dedicate himself to his party. Or, in other words, to dedicate himself to taking over the party. His replacement will be Jordi Ausàs, currently mayor of La Seu d'Urgell. Carod Rovira vetoed Puigcercós's orginial nomination of his mate, Oliveras as his replacement, apparently citing 'the battle for power' with Puigcercós. ERC faired very badly in the weekend's Spanish general elections, losing more than half of their seats. I believe that Puigcercós ran this disastrous campaign.

Carod Rovira is being interviewed on TV3 right now andis essentially setting out his case for remaining leader of ERC to Els Matins host, Josep Cuní. His case seems to be "Yes, we need to change Esquerra to a party of government, not of opposition, so yes we need to change our policy and the way our party is organised". He has also said some faintly amusing things about his relationship with Puigcercós, like "We talk often, but don't always understand each other".

It remains to be seen whether ERC can drag themselves out of this morasse, and there will be some who hope they don't. But if they can make the necessary changes to make themselves more attractive to moderate voters, that will be good for democracy in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole. Resisting the creep of soporific bi-partisanship is as important as ever.

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March 11, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | Leave a Comment 

UPDATED: Zapatero wins Spanish election

UPDATED 0001 hrs

PSOE win with  169 seats - the original projection was overly optimistic. PP: 154

CiU: 10

PNV: 6

IU:2

ERC: 3

To me, this looks like a victory for the right in Spain. The PSOE have maintained their government but IU have practically disappeared, as have ERC.

Information about the political parties contending these elections.

So Zapatero is returned as PM. It's unlikely that they'll have the 176 they're hoping for.

ERC have dropped by half. I was asked the other day what was the cause of this drop and I answered: abstention and dissatisfaction. I'll add that their posters were crap too.
Actually it's looking like a rout for ERC.

PP: A poor result. Rajoy will probably be out. This will bring about the completion of the right-wing's victory in the party. Esperanza Aguirre looks to be the PP's new star in parliament.

__

Updated:

Ciudad Real goes from PSOE to PP

Balearic Islands go from PP to PSOE (… or maybe not)

Almería goes from PP to PSOE

Canary Islands  go from PP to PSOE

–  I couldn't really keep up with this bit. Apparently, Andalucia has gone to the PSOE, again.

Zapatero and the PSOE have won the Spanish elections.

Rajoy has given his thank you speech.

Llamazares, leader of Izquierda Unida has resigned. What about Rajoy?

Izquierda Unida down to 2 seats.

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March 9, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | 7 Comments 

UPDATED: Spain election results live

Updated:  Zapatero's PSOE have won the Spanish election. See below or on this page for more details.

As I mentioned in my last post, thanks to a cool widget from the Soitu.es website, here you should be able to follow the results of the Spanish elections as they come in.

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March 9, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | Leave a Comment 

SyS - political posters and baldness: you decide

I've added some more photos that were sent in to me over at SyS, my new blog about political posters, stickers and graffiti in Spain.

I've also added a post comparing electoral posters for Josep Duran i Lleida and Joan Ridao, two bald Catalan nationalists with different strategies. This is not to be considered anti-bald propaganda or hate-speech.

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March 5, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics, Site news, Spain | 2 Comments 

FT: PP has not moved on from Francoism

While the Financial Times is not normally particularly high-up on my reading list, it does carry some interesting political comment from time to time. A few years back, I recall that the FT attacked the PP for failing to properly criticise Lt Gen. Mena Aguado who famously threatened military intervention should Catalonia pass its new Statute of Autonomy.

Well in this most recent editorial, both Zapatero and Rajoy come in for criticism, but Rajoy and the PP far more so. The present government is credited with having 'managed the macroeconomy competently but [doing] little to address structural weaknesses such as low productivity growth, a weak technology base and a huge current account deficit".

Then, after referring to the PP's constant scaremongering and manufacturing of doubts about the integrity of Spain, this sucker punch:

Mr Aznar also negotiated with Eta, and allied with regional forces, just like the Socialists – as whoever wins next Sunday may well have to do. The PP’s problem is that its current leaders have not completed their journey from Francoist roots to a modern centre-right.

Thank you, FT. All it took was one paragraph but you've finally printed something which we here in Spain all know to be true and have been trying to get outsiders (as well as misguided expats here) to see. The language and non-dialogue of Francoism (if not its bizarre economic policies) live on in most of the PP's currents. The 'left wing' of the party (Piqué, Gallardon etc) has just been effectively shut down. Rajoy finished yesterday's debate with the words of the fascist Movimiento Nacional. They haven't moved on and many of us here in Spain have been saying that for years.

Unlike in the UK, general elections in Spain remain a choice between two generally very different political parties. The PP, which simply is not a natural party of the centre-right, remains deeply conservative and has been painfully ineffective as an opposition. It would be a disaster if they were elected next weekend.

[Via: From Catalonia To Caledonia]

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March 4, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain | 4 Comments 

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