Spanish Drivers?

In the old days, the only inconvenience caused by Spanish drivers in Portugal was their flooding the roads during holiday periods and forming caravans in the middle lane on the motorway. But recently they are found overtaking aggressively on the right, double parking, driving excessively fast in urban areas, just like the locals!

Could it be that the quality of Spanish driving is plunging? More likely is that Chico Esperto Português has discovered that cars are cheaper in Spain and it's precisely that type of clever dick that likes to drive badly, encouraged by the authorities' difficulty in tracing the car to send it a ticket. Of course, he also has to manage to avoid being caught with the car in the country for more than six months, but what are the chances of that? I've heard that in the Alentejo the traffic police are alert to this loophole, but I can't see it happening in Lisbon.

Perhaps nuestros hermanos should think twice before selling to the Tugas - their reputation is at stake...

Double Standards

It seems that my complaints about justice are always football related, but once again it's time to speak out about the ridiculous sentences handed out to footballers.

Twenty other drivers were caught in the police checks the other night, but none of them got off so lightly as Luisão. Why should he get special treatment? He wasn't just a little over the alcohol limit, he was so drunk that he was arrested on the spot! Imagine the court's treatment of any other Brazilian immigrant in these circumstances, or a person who drives for a living. An immediate ban would be automatically handed out.

Worse than the lack of punishment is the example given by Luisão himself. Footballers are the idols of the young. How is it possible that he sets such a poor example? The only professional footballer I have contact with is shadowed everywhere by an assistant/manager. Surely Luisão (or Benfica) has the money to hire a driver for nights out if he wants to drink.

Once again we see an example of what keeps this warm and welcoming country firmly in the past. Justice. For whom?

Not many posts recently because life has been bit out of hand for some time now. To add to the studies (so far so good) and a major project at work, I've just got back from an unexpected trip to the UK for a grandfather's funeral. I'm not much of an eulogy writer, suffice to say that he will be missed by many (many more than I imagined) and was fortunate to go quickly and virtually painlessly, as he had wished.

The funeral was an opportunity to meet many of Mum's family members that I had heard of but never met, mostly hearty, friendly, down-to-earth Shropshire folk, although not without the inevitable twit, who will remain nameless but won't be on next year's Christmas list.

And if I had stayed until Christmas, I would probably have got to see the newest addition to the family, due on December 23.

I was tempted to witter on about the "circle of life", but what all these family members (and the twit) brought home to me is how few children people are having nowadays. I've done my bit for the continuation of the species, but the family members were mostly cousins of Mum's generation, hardly any of which have children, let alone grandchildren. And the twit wittered on about the invasion of the immigrants and their influence on criminality! If the "natives" don't have children and are not prepared to do certain types of work, who does she expect will do it? And aren't the vandals and petty criminals usually children of "natives"!

Anyway. Rant over. Back to my studies...