DAMNED IF YOU DO, DAMNED IF I WON'T

the big news this morning was that the catholic church still isn't so down with the gays -- or at least the bishop of alcalá isn't. (and at least the spanish broadcast authority is protesting his good friday homily.) in other news (at least the news running on the television at the station cafeteria), rising gas prices and a spike in traffic accidents at the end of the easter weekend, especially near the beach. so of course we rented a car. but it was the train that took us away from the surreality of all of the pomegranates -- lining the streets, and on the street signs, and all over that fountain on the paseo de violón. that professor of geopolitics might have had something to say about the oil situation as it was reported on the television at the station (and probably something about the bishop of alcalá as well), but he was staying in the city until the afternoon. no class for him the day after easter, although, as he pointed out while buying torrijas for his parents on sunday morning, the holiday wasn't public nationwide. the dirty sugar factory on the vega does not smell sweet, but it has had the fortune (even as it might have been the undoing of the fortune of the garcia lorcas) of being rescued from ruin and converted into art and living spaces. the crumbling olive oil factory in bobadilla hasn't been so fortunate. and it smells like fish. that second coffee in the cafeteria across from the station didn't make taking the car ride any easier. but where we were going the train don't go. ask the bishop of alcalá.