Saturday, May 2, 2009

L'hora dels adéus (time to say goodbye)

Four years ago, I started my first blog, Catalonia, Politics and Supply Chain as a reaction to a New Yorker, Ale, who trashed my city, Barcelona, in one of her posts when she still was Sempre Primavera.
These have been 4 very interesting years in my life, both personally and professionally. It has been, however, very difficult to combine my literary and political ambitions with my private and professional lives. In the last 8 months, this has become impossible. My new job required that I travel constantly (about 90% of my time) and I have to devote to my family the little free time I have left. Just as a reference, I will tell you my next 5 weeks schedule, Boston, Germany, Boston, The Netherlands, Boston, Ohio, Boston, Mumbai, Boston, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Boston.

In addition to that, I may be moving to another country in North Europe in the summer to optimize my travel and try to spend a little bit more time with my wife and children.

I want, however, end up this blog with a post that I would call, "Se'm cau la cara de vergonya d'ésser espanyol". It is really upsetting to see that Spain is governed by real idiots and that Catalonia is at the mercy of those morons. During the times of absolutism, it was somewhat logical to be ruled by idiotic monarchs. For instance, Charles II "the Hexed" DNA was more inbred than the average even for brother-sister matchings, his speech could barely be understood, and he frequently drooled (wikipedia). But now, we elect those same idiots. It is not that they are imposed on us and we cannot do anything about it. No, we are masochists and we elect them. No one wants to invite our monolingual politicians anywhere, we have to beg every time to be invited to the G20, even Sarkozy joked about the intellectual challenges of the Spanish prime minister, "but he wins elections", he added.

The Spanish prime minister just reshuffled his government. The new ministers are two Galicians, two Andalusians and one Basque. The Catalan representation in the central government is pathetic, Corbacho (born in Extremadura, I do not consider him a Catalan, neither does he, I think), and Chacon (no Catalan roots either, I am afraid, and strategically put there with machiavellic intentions). She is the Secretary of Defense, the civil head of the Spanish Military, the same army who has the mandate to shoot to kill if someone challenges the unity of the country, as proven during the heroic defense of the "Perejil island". I would describe her as a weakened virus inoculated to the Catalan society to prevent it from developing the Catalan nationalistic flu (pandemic among Catalan Prussian pigs). The only positive note has been the departure of a national disgrace, an Andalusian ministress who would be uncapable of managing a post office in a village with 3 inhabitants. Listen to this video clip and do not forget your Kleenex.



I left the country 17 years ago as a Spaniard with strong Catalan sentiment. I do not longer feel myself Spanish. Spain is for me like my ex-wife. I loved her, she was attractive and fun, but if I had continued with her, I would be now emotionally destroyed and financially bankrupt. Filing for divorce was a difficult decision that I never regretted. Catalonia should do the same with Spain, it will be tough at the beginning, but we will never regret.

In the fall I may come back with a new name, and maybe a different language. My style will continue to be the same, maybe a little bit bolder, since I will not show my real family name, but those who know me, will easily recognize me.

See you again - A reveure - Hasta la vista

8 comments:

Agus said...

I will miss your posts, Ian.

Nuri148 said...

Molta sort, company. Passa't pel meu blog quan tornis, pq sóc una mica mema i no sé si et trobaré...

Rab said...

Ian, it has been great reading your blog. I hope you can work something out and come back soon.

If you are ever in Glasgow/Edinburgh in your travels, you know who to contact.

Anonymous said...

Jo, com la Nuri, et demano que em notifiquis la teva nova identitat. Perquè t'estaré esperant.

Lluis G.
(un català i, per desgràcia, també espanyol)

qfwfq78 said...

Trobarem a faltar els teus posts... però entenc les teves raons.
Fins la propera!

Johnny Tastavins said...

You never should say never again. You already closed once your blog and came back even stronger. I hope this will be the case again. Take your time, recharge your batteries (sure you need) and come back striking again those fascists and hypocrites that fancy themselves on defending Catalonia. Madrid style and catalan politics cannot laugh and win seeing how a critical blog in english disappears.

Alla said...

hey Ian! Glad to be remembered :)
Maybe you can try Twitter? you can still do short updates and they won't take too much time. if you are in northern europe - hope it's treating you well! till we meet again! :)

Anonymous said...

So you prefer Monti, Carod-Carallot, Laporta(quenaprenguincomserunxulomerda)i Mas(amiguet de Millet)! Well, each to his own, Ian.