I have been writing comments in The Times website but threads get deeper and deeper with additional questions so, at some stage I have to call a halt and not respond. One point was so brief, I didn't really understand it anyway. Another asked exactly where in the Constitution it prohibits the referendum. I thought of replying, "No idea!" but felt that was rather brusque and rude.
I answered a point about the "right to self-determination" and whether it overruled the Constitution. I think we would know by now if it did because the Catalan Parliament would be waving the document in the air together with the esteladas (the independence flag). I even looked up the UN Charter and read Articles 1 and 55. But I am none the wiser. I think there ofare two levels to the right of self-termination, one on a national level and one on a personal level. It was written in 1945 when countries were encouraged to escape oppressors. Now we are in a very different world and I cannot believe this charter is saying that any region of a country may vote and leave the mother-ship. Imagine that happening in Europe, it would be chaos.
Another writer in The Times suggested that I was against the referendum because I wouldn't like the result. My reply would be that, no, this is not the case. I am against it because it is illegal. But I do not want independence. Those are two different things.
I spent the whole day in Perpignan and, at 17.11 I took the TER, the French local train which trundles down the coast to Portbou. I then had a wait of one hour before taking the Regional train which goes all the way to Barcelona Sants. It stops at Celrà, my destination after about an hour, so I will be home in good time to cook my supper. I had quite a nice day but the weather was rather grey and it rained from time to time. I went to my old happy hunting grounds of Auchan in Port D'Espagne and bought 3 bottles of wine, one of which I will open this evening! I would have bought more but it was as much as I could carry comfortably. Auchan seems to have lost some of its character, they seem to have opened out large spaces, the meat department is huge and soulless.
This is only half the selection of red wine because I was in the middle of it! I will go back soon but I will take an empty wine case on my trolley, then I can bring back 12 bottles.
Having written a great deal about Catalunya, I had visited Catalunya Nord. I have to confess there is a great deal of Catalan feeling here, the yellow and red stripes evident all over the place. But it has no wish to break with France. I only wish Catalunya South was able to find a solution rather than fly in face of the legitimate government of Spain. But as I discovered yesterday, many Catalans simply don't recognise the laws handed down from Madrid. Or otherwise they consider it a duel in the sun between two competing courts of law. So they don't feel that they are breaking the law. They are, of course. But try telling that to a happy bunch of farmers and their families painting "Hola Republica" on the wall of a finca.
I have seen similar slogans before. There is a banner, "The next new republic of Europe", meaning presumably the European Union. Dream on.
I wish my friends in St Martí Vell would write something here too. I am highly critical of El Punt Avui for being biased so I would like to add a little balance to the proceedings.
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