what's your middle name?

Someone once told me that you should try to learn something new every day.
With this in mind, each day of 2012 I will try to discover the middle name of someone I do not know.
This blog charts my progress.
Richard M. Crawley


Friday 20 April 2012

Macarena

Waiting at the self-service tills of a small supermarket, I ask a woman who is waiting for her companion to scan his items.  She has a piercing through her lip, baggy white trousers and boots with three buckles on each side.  Her left eye is discoloured.  She doesn't understand my question.  She is Spanish.  A woman at another till eavesdrops as I repeat myself more slowly.

When she tells me, her companion interrupts to tell her that she is wrong.  He is wearing maroon corduroy trousers, a knitted cardigan and a patterned beanie.  They have a discussion about what constitutes a middle name in Spain.  She has two first names and two surnames.  She thinks it should be the first, he thinks the second.  I decide to take her word and check the spelling.  'It's like the song', she says and demonstrates by singing the introduction.  She does a dance with her arms.  'Thank you', I say and her companion leads her out.

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