Aquileres sin techo (and we thought NYC rents were insane)

Just as I was dotting the last 'i' on Pigstye (okay there is no 'i'), this study comes out from some place called Mercer Human Resource Consulting saying how Madrid and Barcelona are now among the 31 most expensive cities in the world to live (Moscow still claims first place, believe it or not).

Of course, since these ratings are US dollar based, the careening greenback has a little bit to do with the recent shuffle. Still, Madrid and the Ciutat Condal shot up from 53rd and 56th, respectively, to 26th and 31st.

It's odd but typically Catalán how the free throw-away daily (à la Metro and their ilk... here the others are 20 minutos, Què!, and something else I can't quite remember at the moment), Diario ADN, trumpets the new unaffordability of Spain's top two cities as somehow having arrived. "Now we're somebody. Don't fuck with Catalonia."