Spain and El Cid: a Hero for Heroic Times

El Cid (OK, strictly Charlton Heston, but you know what I mean!)

What a hero for Spain, for Europe.

Just imagine if El Cid had not sacrificed so much no recapture Spain:

• The Hispanisation of the Americas would never have happened (leaving those peoples to human sacrifice and evil paganism).
• The Hapsburgs (via Don Juan of Austria) would not have led the Papal, and especially the feuding Genoese and Venetian forces at the Battle of Lepanto to save Europe from Turkish piracy and (literal) slavery.
• The Spaniards would not have led the Counter Reformation at the Council of Trent (which codified the Tridentine/Latin Mass of All Time) and through their example and zeal for the Truth, winning back whole nations such as Poland and Hungary.

Some people seem to think of the Spanish as a lazy people, with their siestas and warm climes. Yet without them Europe would be by far the poorer, and Catholicism especially would have very many fewer souls under its care and protection.

So Hurrah for El Cid!

And OK... hurrah for Charlton Heston too.

Pre-Decimal Fivers Flood Spain: Banks Bailed-Out

I heard some disturbing news yesterday. My folks (hi mum, hi dad) are on hols, skiing ("spending kids inheritance") on the Costa Del Crime. News that my dad's legs (sponsored by Unigate) have caused consternation in the local populace are as yet unfounded.

Anyway, our youngest received a text from Old Ma Hurley saying that "Grampy's" wallet was stolen. (Yes, like all families, our children can master gadgetry like mobile phones whereas the parents look an aghast like Luddites.)

Now worse things can happen, but let's face it - losing a wallet means my dad will be wearing a black armband for quite some time (I think a minutes silence will be an annual affair). I don't think my dad and his wallet have ever been parted. In fact the last time it was opened was in 1952 (we had our own silver jubilee in 1977 - whilst the Royal street parties went on we lived in hope the wallet might be opened again). My dad and his wallet make Arkwright and his Oxo tin look positively indulgent!

It's not so much theft as the kidnapping of a very old and dear friend.

I have contacted Interpol and told them to look out for thieves in Spain trying to exchange pre-Decimal fivers bearing images of George V with scorch marks* at the local Bureau de Change.

Meanwhile, this (see pic) was Nan's response when Grampy pleaded with her to buy the beer for the rest of the holiday:

That's love in the nonagenarian community.

The Spanish government meanwhile have announced that the flood of British pounds into the Spanish economy mean that the much debated EU bail-out of the Spanish banks may not now need to happen.

The Portuguese embassy have already invited the Hurleys to holiday on the Algarve next year...




* From the oxy-acetylene burner used to break open the wallet and its chains.