Towering above the rest

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

For your entertainment today: a couple of nice "extra-curricular" stories I think you'll enjoy.

First up is the news that an annual survey of the inhabitants of Seville has concluded that there are more Béticos than Sevillistas in the city - and by a long way. Pollsters for the 15th Socioeconomic Barometer undertaken by Fundación Antares found that 40.5 per cent of Sevillanos are of a verdiblanco persuasion, while 33.8 per cent admit to following the other lot. What's interesting is that in the first year of this blog, the Sevillistas had a couple of points' advantage - it was something like 34/32 - which just goes to show what an explosion of popularity Betis have enjoyed here since the departure of Lopera and the arrival of Pepe Mel.

The second item is even more fun. If you've visited Seville in the last couple of years, you will have noticed a rather nondescript 40-storey building sprouting up just across the river from the centre of town. Known here as the Torre Pelli (Pelli Tower, after its architect) and already the tallest building in Andalucía, it's construction has been controversial from the beginning because 1) it was built for a (now non-existent) bank, which possibly shouldn't have been spending millions on vanity architecture, and 2) it gets around city ordinances that no building should be higher than the cathedral by being on the other side of the Rio Guadalquivir (but as close as physically possible to Seville's most iconic structure).

Anyway, work has reached the top floor, an event which has been celebrated by a gang from the construction team who handmade a metal Betis badge and then proceeded to weld it to one of the topmost girders - 180m (590ft) above the ground - all the while filming the whole ceremony "so that all the Béticos in Spain [and now beyond] will know that it's here - for posterity. Viva el Betis!" Do watch this clip.