This was a conversation between Patrick, Ivonne, and JP. It started with information about learning Spanish (there’s a separate recording that covers that in great detail), and then building a home, and from there to types of police officers in Spain and the U.S.

There are places where Ivonne spoke in Spanish too quickly for me to follow, so you’ll have to listen to the recording to help me with the translation.

Patrick: [I was] learning [Spanish] from the peasants first, and then meeting literary people, writers.

John: Yeah and translators, like Tony Bonner.

Patrick: And translators, and learning Spanish. But I did a lot of stupid things, of course.

Ivonne: So every time the words of your son? You want to, you looking at your son’s face here. Do you want to say anything to your daughters, want to explain anything? (laughter) Or say anything to your daughters? You like it, cause here you see your son. He can ask for anything. Your daughter don’t stay here. But you want to say, explain, say….

Patrick: Not much to explain.

Ivonne: You – your daughter, I mean, the words. Writer, you’re a writer, or music people, this music man? You are, perhaps you can explain: (something in Spanish)

Patrick: I think it’s great that all three children, all four children, came to Spain. Of course Allison was born in Spain.

Ivonne: I know.

Patrick: But the other three were born in Florida, and each one really different.

John: (laughter) We are that.

Ivonne: Sometimes say what difference were if: (something in Spanish) The quality and fresh life of Deia? Unica? Nuestro completa, Pero, tu part en Deia?... I think your father, all the time, ask to ask to find him work and piece, piece of land. (indistinct Spanish) Muy consado.

Patrick: I’m think of those days, of lifting rocks and tiles, and mixing cement. and ….

John: Wiring and plumbing and roofing.

Patrick: Making stone walls 35 meters long.

Ivonne: Home construction, everyday?

Ivonne: How, sometimes we think about… feeling about, I say, I did the same with my small flat.

Ivonne: But, la mereconsula construi juevo, who’s neck, lo como esto hugar? Your home? No house, your home.

Ivonne: I think, you have to feel the same to do it.

Patrick: Yeah and there was that, that guardia civil who had the land above mine.

Ivonne: I know this situation (laughter)

Patrick: And all the water from the highway, he made a ditch on the inside, all the water from the highway floated down that ditch until he dumped it onto my land. So, if there’s a big storm, all that water come onto my land, and all my stone walls are torn down. And, that was a terrible situation.

I just went up, being an American, I didn’t go through any protocol. I just went up the highway stuffing those holes with rocks and cement, so that whatever water came down the highway, would continue down the highway and go into the nearest torrente.

John: Yes.

Patrick: Which is what they should’ve done in the first place.

John: Yeah.

Patrick: But he was a Guardia Civil, jubilato.

John: mhmm.

Ivonne: What is jubilato in English?

Patrick: Retired.

Ivonne: Retired.

John: Oh! Ok.

Ivonne: A policeman, but not quite…

John: Yeah.

Ivonne: Guardia Civil is the police of the state. Not from Mallorca, or for the local, but for Spain.

John: Yeah.

Ivonne: You know we have 3 or 4 kind of police?

John: Yeah.

Ivonne: It is extreme-very crazy-

John: Guardia Civil, Policia Local, Policia Nacional?

Ivonne: Nacional.

Three kinds, and I don’t know in Catalonia, they have another one. I forgot the name. I mean, in (Barcelona?) there’s another one. It’s crazy.

John: [In the US] We have, we have local police, we have county sheriffs which is like a province.

John: We have a state police or state highway patrol.

Ivonne: Oh, 3?!

John: Mas! (laughter) We have…. In California we have state police and we have highway patrol, separate. State police is responsible for guarding …

Ivonne: Really?

John: … for guarding government buildings. And highway patrol is for autopista, y…

Ivonne: Yes?

John: En Estados Unidos, tenemos, we also have the FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Then other agencies that are police-like, but they’re not police per se. We have Immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) and we have Border Patrol, and we have… We used to have in California a Smog Patrol. It was before I lived there. It was a special orange car. They would drive along the freeway. It was during the energy crisis. If you passed that car on the freeway, you got a ticket. Because they were driving exactly the speed limit. I don’t know if that’s still around or not. I’ve never seen one.

Ivonne: Too, too much control.

John: Yeah, yeah there’s many, many different police forces. And then each city and each county and each state…

Ivonne: So, sorry, I say, we have three policias! I’m sorry. He’s right there.

---

From the recording 170323-233804-children-house-police-etc.mp3. I miss this guy.