Pretty Vaca-nt

I asked the other day whether the "Catalan imposition" and the whole issue of Catalan versus Castilian blah blah is really of that much interest to the wider British community or just one that attracts the attention and thoughts of a small minority. I am inclined to believe that it's the latter. I say that, because most expats exist in a bubble of indifference towards anything of any political or social consequence on the island, while many are too busy bothering with their lives and their businesses to take any great notice, and understandably so.

That said, it is an issue that arouses, if not passions among expats, then a certain degree of point-scoring. There has been a debate going on in "The Bulletin" about it. Some of those partaking are familiar names who regularly contribute to the letters pages of the paper. Unlike some who criticise those who write to the paper, I take a different view, which is that at least they are taking an interest, enough to make them want to write. However, it does, from time to time, spill over into public displays of who knows more than others. And so it was yesterday. A very long and tortuous letter appeared that took issue with a previous one. I don't agree with it all, but I'm not inclined to bat about historical facts, such as that regarding when Spain became Spain. The important point of history, in the context of the Catalan thing which is the issue under consideration, was the union of Castile and Aragon because, from that point on, Catalan became a secondary language within the kingdom that was Spain, whenever you would like it to have started, and largely irrelevant in terms of empire.

Essentially though, I do believe people should be interested, if only as onlookers of what is basically someone else's gig. And for what it's worth, I do also believe that incomers should try and learn some Catalan. Whether the expat likes it or not, whether he reckons that Castilian is or should be the sole language or not, he cannot ignore the fact that there are a lot of people here who quite like speaking Catalan. The subject can be debated till the cows come home or the "vacas" do likewise, if one prefers Catalan, but it certainly isn't about to go away.


Following on from the news of the death of the tourist following that fight in Puerto Alcúdia, comes news of an earlier incident that has apparently left someone in a coma. A Spanish TV crew has been in Alcúdia, sniffing around close to the Magic roundabout where it is said to have taken place. "The Bulletin" reported that Alcúdia was "reeling" from the news. That is rather overstating the situation: no-one seemed to know anything about it. The danger is that these isolated cases, albeit that two have occurred so close to each other in terms both of location and timing, are blown out of proportion. News should not be censored or not reported; of course not. But right now any bad publicity cannot do any favours. It needs to be kept in perspective.


A while back I mentioned the Bony expansion in Puerto Pollensa's church square. I saw José yesterday, having been interested to find out when his new bar was due to open - the new bar being what was the Selpell leather shop next to Bony. I can tell you that it will not now be Bony II or Más Bony-to, as José has pulled out. So those who worry about a dumbing down of Puerto Pollensa through the onward march of Bony- and Dakota-isations can rest easy in their beds for now. The extent of the Bony expansion is the newspaper shop and the newspaper shop alone.


The Twitter thing
I've been trying to get my head around the point of this, which explains why there haven't been any entries for so long, but I reckon I've come up with the answer. A sort of messaging service. I suppose that's what it is anyway, but I'm going to be doing a sort of what's on through it. So from now ... Just go to the follow me bit and with some luck there will be something worthwhile to follow. Unless I get bored with it or forget. Promise I'll try not to.


QUIZ
Today's title - "and we don't care".

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