1. A bottle of Coronita beer, open, untouched and with a slice of lemon inside, in the toilets of the Complutense University's Literature department. Cautiously I sniffed, and indeed it smelt like Coronita. But I did not drink: I definitely did not drink.
2. How to get into a Spanish office outside closing hours. On the door of the Erasmus office (Complutense) it said that the opening hours were 10.00-13-30, Mon-Thur. I went to reception to leave the packet there, and they told me that if I ran a key noisily up and down the glass door of the Erasmus office, it would open for me. And indeed it did.
3. The following phrase, typed out by someone and stuck up on the bulletin board outside my office – not, I hope, with reference to me personally. “NO HAY COSA QUE MAS MIEDO ME DE QUE LOS FILOLOGOS HABLANDO DE LITERATURA” (Joaquín Aranda). Good hyperbole, and written like a true academic. And yes, academics may be doing literature no favors.
4. What it’s like to sweat, perspire and glow all at the same time. The brain starts to melt.
5. That the foundations of Spanish democracy are still somewhat wobbly (actually, this isn’t news at all). It’s been confirmed by the fascinating Eduardo Tamayo/María Teresa Sáez no-show vote scandal in Madrid - and a scandal it is. It’s currently filling the Spanish air with attacks and counter-attacks, worry, and even panic - and it looks to have put paid, unless they can spin their sorry excuses into fact, to the PSOE’s chances of government for some time to come.
6. The following thought: “…there is one intractable feature of our lives which roots us in the old boundaries that advanced capitalism, advanced science and technology, and advanced imperial dominance (American-style) find so encumbering. That is the fact that we speak so many different languages. Hence, the necessity of an international language. And what more plausible candidate than English?” This from Susan Sontag’s article, “Babel Now”, in this weeks TLS. Well: anyone for SPANISH as the new international language? Just for a change?
--------