IN OTHER NEWS

In other news...You may or may not be familiar with the local accent here where I live and it is difficult to describe if you have never heard it and quite different from the rest of Spain. There is a tendency to stress the last syllable on certain words especially at the end of a sentence. In other words, everything goes up at the end. Spanish people from other regions say it sounds like the person is singing. The first time I realised was when a student responded with the word 'que?'. Not a quick 'que', more a long drawn out, 'queeeeee?' Later it was the city Zaragoza. Micaela Portaloo ( Michael Portillo, he of the train journey and red trousers, you know the prick) thought it fun to pronounce it Tharagostha, on his recent sojourn there, with a stress on the 'o'. But if you are from there or even here you might like to say 'Zaragozaaaa!'  May I point out that I am not making fun of the accent, I love it and before long I was and am, in the spirit of integration, joining in. For example there was the day I didn't agree with a friend and found myself saying 'pero Jorgeeeeee' instead of 'Jorge' which is just as easy to say. Nowadays I always say to a woman or girl that is doing or saying something contrary to what I think is right, 'pero chicaaaaa!' when a simple 'pero chica' would do. So today when a woman cold called I decided to lay it on with a trowel. She was trying to sell me, of all things, water and I just went into one. 'Pero chicaaaaaa! Hay agua en el grifo noooooooo?' 'Come on girl, there's water in the tap isn't theeeeere?' 'Pero vengaaaaaaa. No me fastidieeeeeeess!' 'Come of it! are you taking the fooooookin' piiiisss?' On I went, egging myself on.  Guess who hung up first?