Cosas de España/Galiza  

Do you fancy working in Spain? If so, Lenox Napier has a few words for you here.

The leadership struggle in the main opposition party – the PP – would normally hog the headlines today in Spain. But this sees like very small beer at the moment. 

Even smaller beer . . . Yesterday, I did c.20km of the Camino Portugués and, for the first time in 13 years of walking, developed a blister. Attributable to new shoes. But this did at least allow me to open the pack of blister thingies bought back in 2009.

The Portuguese Camino in Galicia had only 5,000 ‘pilgrims’ back in 2009 but – before Covid hit – was expected to reach 120,000 last year. It didn’t, of course, but the projection for this year is 95,000. Which might be optimistic. Admittedly yesterday was the last day of February and we set out late morning – long after many ‘pilgrims’ have normally rushed off in order to get to an albergue by midday – we only saw 6 other walkers. All of them Portuguese, in fact. Perhaps it’s a holiday week in our neighbour.

A wild boar snapped close by yesterday:-

Well, not so wild really. Seen in someone’s garden.

And a small house passed in Caldas de Réis – ‘Little Hell’, in Gallego:-

Ukraine/Russia

The really worrying factor . . . In the mind of Russia’s dictator, empire and survival are one and the same. For him personally, it’s existential. Lose and he’s strung up by his ankles. Or, as he’s said to fear most, he gets the same farewell treatment as Ghadafi.

Germany/Quotes of the Day

1. Yesterday, the Merkel era came to an end.

2. The invasion of Ukraine has left Merkel’s legacy in tatters. Putin’s war has opened Scholz’s eyes to the vulnerabilities created by his predecessor, from gas dependency to defence complacency. . . .  Merkel may have been perceived to be the embodiment of the rules-based order, but she did very little to defend it.

The USA

The former US attorney-general William Barr has denounced Donald Trump as an incorrigible narcissist, whose presidency “went off the rails” as he indulged baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Barr said he came to realise in the final months of his presidency that “Trump cared only about one thing: himself. Country and principle took second place.” Mr Barr certainly took his time.

The Way of the World 

Some other folk who belatedly came to their senses . . . Fifa has finally given in to the pressure to ban Russia from the World Cup and announced that all Russian teams will be excluded from international competition. These fine people had provoked a storm of protest by saying that Russia could continue to play, though under neutral colours in a neutral country. 

Spanish

New word: Ojivo: Warhead

Finally . . . 

A bit of wisdom from the internet: It turns out you can buy a birthday cake at any time and eat it yourself. Nobody checks.

For new reader(s): If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a free guide to the city there.