What happens now?

I will write in this post from time to time, so please keep coming back here. It is 7am on the morning of Saturday 28th October, after the declaration of independence and the activating of Article 155. I am watching TV3. It is like a direct line from Carles Puigdemont, which is more or less how it operates; totally under the control of the Generalitat. But for how long? It shows pictures of the declaration of independence, crowds cheering, music, the mayors of Catalunya in the Palacio de Generalitat waving their sticks, singing the national anthem. And then a short piece about 12 minutes later of Mariano Rajoy as . That is how the news is presented here. Much like North Korea I suppose.
What this reporting will do is feed the fire of resistance because it hides the truth that, unfortunately for Puigedemont, Mariano Rajoy is his boss.
It scares me because it deludes its viewers presenting independence as a fait-acompli which means that people will be even more angry when they find that it is being denied them by the central government in Madrid. Why do they not get the message? This "new republic" would not be recognised internationally. Ah, excuse me, it is recognised by Slovenia, Latvia and one other country which I forget. That is being announced with pride. Hey, maybe mention the UK, Germany..........?? No, not on TV3. It is a TV channel full of lies and propaganda, it is terrible. It is due to be taken over by Madrid, maybe then we will get balanced reporting such as with the BBC. 

Updated, mid-day. I see that Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría has been appointed, effectively, President of the Generalitat. She is the deputy prime-minister of Spain. Wow, I really like Soraya, I often think she would make a great prime-minister in place of the rather wooden Mariano Rajoy. I often watch her on TV because frequently she takes press conferences in addition to the regular spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo who is a very jolly avuncular sort of chap. Quite a contrast to the smirking self-satisfied Puigdemont.

This is very dramatic news, a lot of people will be very unhappy. Those who were assured about independence on TV3 this morning, views of joyous celebrations. But one person here is very happy that, in theory, order has been restored. But in the streets, that is another matter.
I am surprised that elections will be help so soon. What if the same parties get back into power, the CUP with more MPs? God forbid. I am not sure what would happen. The BBC website takes this to mean that there would effectively be an official referendum on independence. I can't see that that is what is intended. But at the moment, the independistas are boycotting the elections, the municipalities which support independence refusing to allow voting in their towns. That is rather ironic!
I look forward to balanced reporting on TV3, or maybe the employees will shut the channel down. 
At the moment, it is broadcasting as if independence is going ahead, a short clip of Mariano Rajoy and lots of clips of celebrations. They are in fantasy-land. Madrid is Puigdemont's boss.
13.30: I have just read that there will be a general strike from 30th October to 9th November which happens to be the day that I go to Bangkok. My flight is at 14.50 so I will have to make sure I leave plenty of time to get there. Or maybe there will be a strike at the airport. I can't get out of here quick enough. I thought about visiting Valencia before I go to Bangkok but that would not be a good idea because there will be a minimal train service. When it sinks in that Catalunya is being run from Madrid, there will be big problems I think - lots of angry people.

14.30: On the subject of moving home, I just had a reply from an estate agent in Valencia. She quoted €750 per month for a one bedroom flat!! Admittedly mine is a little out of town and I don't know the location of the flat in Valencia but mine has 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms and is 100 m2 in area. And the going rate is €600 per month. Slight problem there!! But I am away a lot in the next few months, so I am not too bothered for the moment. Soraya is in charge..... I hope! I spoke to a Spanish friend and she said that Valencia was not expensive so maybe that was not a good example. 

I just tried changing my flight from Barcelona to Dubai by phone in order to get out of Catalunya as quickly as possible but it is expensive to do because Emirate recalculates the whole reservation, BCN-BKK-BCN. But is was soooo intersting. I spoke to a Spanish guy in Manchester. He was very helpful and we got on well, he told me a little about himself. And we spoke in Spanish which I enjoyed. Sometimes it feels more natural to speak in Spainsh than in English. He couldn't help me, though.