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A MAYOR who has barely been out of national headlines in the past few months has become social media 'meme fodder' after his attempt at speaking English during a shop opening ceremony.
Abel Caballero sparked controversy when he presented this year's spectacular Christmas lights for his town, Vigo (Pontevedra province, Galicia) in summer since, although the far north-western municipality is famous worldwide for its festive illuminations, residents were not in the mood for it at a time of year when they were spending most of their free time on the beach.
Also, as many members of the public reminded him, the lights cost a fortune 'and there are people in Vigo who cannot afford to eat'.
This said, tourists travel from all over the country just to see Vigo's Christmas lights, bringing in vital income for small businesses, keeping families' bills paid, and for the council, which can then invest more funds in social programmes.
Next, Caballero's irrepressible Christmas spirit continued to drive his public mad when he announced loudspeakers would be set up all over Vigo centre playing carols – for the last three months of the year.
In theory, this means renditions of Jingle Bells and Noche de Paz ('Silent Night') will have already started blaring out through the town's shopping streets.
And now, Caballero firmly believes in Santa Claus: The opening of a massive shopping centre in Vigo is set to be a game-changer for the local economy and job market.
“It's one of the happiest days of my life,” the mayor enthused.
“We've achieved something huge for the town.
“This shopping mall will be the tractor that hauls the local economy and small and medium businesses along.”
The complex, on a site of over 125,000 square metres (about 31 acres), most of which is taken up by the actual building, includes an Alcampo supermarket, fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and Foster's Hollywood, and a FNAC – a long-running French megastore chain selling books, music, films and electronics.
It also has a Primark, and it was when cutting the red tape (which was, in fact, blue) on this budget Irish clothing chain that the mayor decided to try out his English.
Switching between Primark's dominant native tongue and Spanish, although not always translating it correctly, Caballero announced over the microphone, “You're amazing! ¡Hacedlo muy bien! ['Do it really well!'] Long life to Primark at Vigo! ¡Viva Vigo!”
He opened the English part of his discourse with, “I am going to tell that you are officially amazing, Vigo [sic]!” after consulting some notes he had made earlier.
It was not a time for serious speeches, in any case: Dancing and flag-waving flash-mobs in T-shirts in the bright-blue colour of Primark's logo, matching the 'red' tape, and catchy pop music blasting out from the speakers – not Christmas carols, as the opening this week was not yet into the final three months of the year – meant the first day of life for the Vialia-Estación shopping centre was more of a party than a political act, and Caballero showed himself to be a cheerful, enthusiastic sort of person who fits in nicely with this type of atmosphere.
Caballero was cheered by the crowds when he told them in the language of James 'Ulysses' Joyce, Marian Keyes and Jonathan 'Gulliver' Swift that they were 'officially amazing', and memes and retweets of the inauguration video have generally been good-natured.
Many, including Primark's representatives, were delighted that he had made the effort with his English.
Joining Caballero were secretary of State for transport, mobility and urban agenda Isabel Pardo de Vera, and Galicia regional infrastructure and mobility minister Ethel Vázquez.
And now, visitors to Vigo to catch the Christmas lights will have even more scope for present-shopping whilst there.
As well as the illuminations, another of Vigo's quirky attractions is its cute topiary: Dinoseto and his son Dinosetiño ('Dinohedge and 'Dinohedge-ette') always warm hearts among those who travel to the town.
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