delightful. from cees nooteboom's in the dutch mountains

There we are again, language. In Spanish we say, hablar mas que una urraca, run on like a magpie. I look at van Goor's Spanish-Dutch dictionary and see that urraca is ekster, magpie. Followed by: to run on like a blind finch! How does a magpie change into a finch between Spain and the Netherlands? But it isn't a finch; it's a blind finch. And that's not a bird; it is a type of food. Not that they would ever eat a finch in the Netherlands, because that isn't allowed. A blind finch is a rolled-up slice of meat with mincemeat inside. Who knows? Perhaps there are blind finches that run on. I haven't got as far as that yet.