Guts

Since MP Zapatero in a TV show a month ago – where the viewers could freely interrogate him – answered the simple and sneaking question of “how much does a cup of coffee cost nowadays?” like “about eighty cents”, which is in fact almost half of the actual price (the querying person has indeed commented: “that was in the times of uncle Pachi! * ”), the pueblo de España cannot run short of fun. In blogs, forums, cartoons, companies, trains and bars they keep creating a shower of daily new variations on the theme. Google gives 28,000 hits so far for “abuelo Pachi”, and 35,000 for “el café de Zapatero”, just to mention the least refined queries.

It was in Palma de Mallorca that I’ve recently found a nice new invention. This bar had a handwritten inscription:

„Zapatero no toma café aquí. Lo siento.”

And the coffee was one euro thirty indeed.

So far, so good. However, when I asked permission to take a photo of the paper, the owner refused.

When I asked why, he showed me a local newspaper where the illustration of a report on a manifestation had the door of the bar in the background. “These things do bad publicity to us”, he said.

This recalls to mind the old Soviet joke, where this person boasts of having shitted in the door of the Cremlin; but later, in a moment of sincerity he confesses that it was dark, that he looked around very carefully, and that... he did not even pull down his pants.

Nevertheless, in order we should not remain without any illustration, here you are at least an outside photo of this model institution of civil courage. Bar Es Petit, Palma de Mallorca, Carrer de la Pietat, if someone wants in the door... With pure goodwill, of course, as it is customary in Catalonia.