They're all in all our minds somewhere. The American Film Institute has published its Top 100 Movie Quotes, a fact which has provoked an El País article that inadvertently demonstrates what a difficult art translation is. No. 1, is from Lo que el viento se llevó (What the Wind Carried Away): "Francamente, querida, eso es algo que no me importa". Clunky's the word: but El País explains that a more aggressive expression which included the equivalent of "damn" would not have been appreciated by Spaniards in 1939. From the same film, "A Dios pongo por testigo de que nunca volveré a pasar hambre" (59). Marlon Brando is at Nos. 2 and 3, with "Le haré una oferta que no podrá rechazar" and "Fuiste tú, Charlie, yo podía haber sido alguién, fuiste tú..." I don't know where that "fuiste tú" came from. More: "Que la Fuerza te acompañe" (5), and possibly the least inspired one of them all at No. 8, Bogart saying "A tu salud", which is not really "Here's lookin' at you, kid", to Ingrid Bergman (you can see why that one's never been considered a classic by Spaniards - the translator's to blame). A double translation in "Tócala, Sam; toca El tiempo pasará": I'm not sure "El tiempo pasará" actually means "As time goes by". There are, of course, a couple which even the translator couldn't screw up: "Rosebud" (17) and "Bond, James Bond" (22). Shouldn't that be "Vínculo, Jaime Vínculo"? While at 76 we have a movie quote that's already in Spanish: "Hasta la vista, baby".

Outside, something extraordinary is happening. It's raining. I was starting to think it had forgotten how to.