Cosas de España/Galiza

Based on what I pay for a coffee or a beer in Malasaña, it’s no huge surprise to read that: From rents to shop-prices, the cost of living in Madrid or Barcelona can be 30% more expensive than in other Spanish towns and cities.

An interesting stat: 11% of the gross weight of Spanish supermarket shopping ends up in the rubbish bins. And my impression is that the number is rising, despite all the noise around plastic in our oceans. And elsewhere, of course.

Driving to Santander – via Covadonga! – yesterday, I was reminded of the magnificence of the Picos de Europa, even when cloud-topped. I normally just drive past them, en route to or from the Brittany Ferries port in Santander.

María’s Not So Fast: Days 32-35. Concert going in Covid times.

Google images shows that Loquillo’s rug has always been a tad odd. Need I say that I’d never heard of him . . .

The USA

Talking of oddness . . .

In June, the Ivy League university Cornell announced a new astrophysics course on black holes that was about how racist they are. Entitled “Black Holes: Race and the Cosmos”, the course “will introduce students to the fundamentals of astronomy concepts through readings in Black Studies”. It is to be co-taught by professors of comparative literature, while artists, including the rapper Outkast, will be deployed to “conjure blackness through cosmological themes and images”.

A rightwing TV and radio host who who urged his listeners not to get vaccinated has died after contracting Covid. Dick Farrel, who had described Dr Anthony Fauci as a “power-tripping lying freak” who conspired with “power trip libb loons”, had urged people not to get vaccinated as recently as June. He reportedly changed his opinion about vaccines after falling ill and being admitted to hospital before passing away on 4 August.

Finally . . .

Lionel Messi is a truly wonderful footballer but a salary of €1.5m a week can only mean spectators are being fleeced.

Note: If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here.