A Mixed Bag

Hi dear readers,

Are you feeling the heat?  Since I got back from my London trip last week, I've found it hard to focus...and it's not all down to the cooling gin-and-tonics I'm taking to calm my nerves. If you too are  finding it a bit much, you might like to check out the wisdom of Dr. Antonio Martin in the latest issue of The Olive Press (Issue 28, p.14) on 'Beating the Heat'. 

If you're in Granada, you can get away from heat and dust by diving into a cup of perfumed tea.  Find out where in my article for Lonely Planet Online, in search of the teterias in the Albaycin.

Anyway, a few things have got through the haze, and I'm here to share them with you:

I thought I was hallucinating for a couple of days last week; whichever channel I switched to, the highly-varnished shell that is Mrs David Beckham glared out at me, blazing in the lights from a thousand flashbulbs.  I was horribly fascinated for the first dozen or so sightings, then reality jabbed me in the ribs.  This multi-millionaire housewife spends incredible amounts of time, money and energy keeping herself top of the mass-media mind.  Think what she could do if she put Brand Beckham to work just once a year to publicise the plight of millions of women who are suffering deprivation, rape, torture, oppression...instead she is a byword for dumb compulsive consumption.  And she doesn't even look happy doing it.

So I was delighted to stumble on a piece of US journalism history recently doing the rounds online.  A newsreader on a high-profile early morning show turned a deaf ear to her producer's frantic instructions, and refused to read a 'story' about Paris Hilton.  Live.  On air. In fact, she set fire to the printout, just to make her point.  Revel in this victory for commonsense yourselves, then pray that newsreaders in the grip of the BBC and UK commercial channels might have the guts to follow suit with our own home-grown pointless person.

Finally, those of you who, like me, cherish delusions of grandeur and believe that someone might want to keep your contact details to hand, might like to know about a great low-cost business card printer online.  Vistaprint will take your design (limited customisation, but enough to drop in your own photos and choose typefaces) and send you 250 cards, for around £22.00 a set.  I had great fun choosing a photo for my own card.  High-minded editors might go out of their way to avoid my calls, but so what?  At least I didn't put my Bearded Collie Macduff on there. Come to think of it...

Well that's it for this week folks.  I'm off for a cold bath and a quick look at  pumpkin pie recipes - roll on Thanksgiving!

PS:  If you're feeling hot and tired, spare a thought for all your extranjero neighbours embarking on the construction of their cortijo in the rugged Alpujarran hills.  My article on Guardian Abroad takes a look at the dusty trail of building permits that must be trod on the way to their dream. 

By the way, if you want savvy local advice to find the shortest route through such bureaucratic byways, speak to Hildy Fuller or Anne Cook at Insiders on (+34) 958 953 017, or email them at: insiders@cablesur.es.  For details of services they offer, see their ad in comprehensive Granada guide, Where 2

Comments

[Arpi Shively]

Hi Pam, thanks for the positive feedback, and feel free to quote! Regards, Arpi

[Pam]

Doesn't the list sound nice and logical?! Who could imagine the obstacles and the big bucks necessary along the way. Excellent article, Arpi, and one that would be useful to post on ex-pat fora and save a lot of heartache to the unwary.

May I quote it on Britishexpats or mycadiz.biz ?