Cosas de España/Galiza

Bad news for the disgraced ex-king: A British court has ruled that royal immunity laws do not protect him in a lawsuit for harassment filed by his former lover.

UK court rules that the harassment case against Spain’s former king can proceed

Good news for us plebs: It seems a deal was struck in the early hours of today to end the truckers’ strike.

Lenox Napier writes here of shopping in Mojácar in the 60s. Lenox has written elsewhere that he’s now retired from the newspaper industry and looking after 30 horse, Doesn’t seem much like retirement to me . . 

Talking of roads, I’ve several times mentioned a one-way street in the city which has had its direction changed at least 4 times over the years. Its latest manifestation is as a cul-de-sac which becomes a pedestrian area during just one hour on school days. So, drivers who are used to passing through it – or using a satnav/GPS – will now find this sign at the end of the street, where all exits via a roundabout there are blocked off. Yesterday, I saw a van ignoring this sign:-

Then, having turned round – having no choice – it ignored the No Entry sign which used to be relevant before access to the street from the roundabout was blocked off. And when its direction was the other way:-

Some of use believe there’s an employee in the town hall whose job is to invent signs and flows which will confuse and irritate drivers so much they’ll refrain from entering the city. I’m told that you can now be fined for using what used to be the main exit out of the city to Poio via the La Barca bridge

Taking of signs . . . As I’ve said, in my barrio of Poio – ie on the edge of Pontevedra city – we have a love-hotel, called Venus. This is the rather explicit ad for it on hoarding on the nearby main road:-

And talking of being fined . . . A headline in a local paper yesterday:- Elimination of the speed margin when overtaking will allow the installation off radar machines on more stretches. Naturally. Easy pickings when revenue is needed.

The UK

Richard North – never remotely a fan of the man – has this in his blog today: We now have the idiot Johnson pledging extra weapons for Kiev, burbling inanely about the need to “strengthen the quills of the Ukrainian porcupine” and accusing Putin of “crossing red lines” and  trying to “Groznify” whole cities.

On a more positive note . . . Good to read of a new Shakespearean theatre opening on Merseyside this summer. Looks superb.

Other UK buildings are less appealing, to me at least.

The Way of the World 

I’ve claimed that one day we’d look back on transgender madness and wonder how it could have happened. Well, it seems this could be sooner rather than later. This columnist asks: Have we reached peak trans? As: The public are seeing the impact of gender policies in the real world, leading to a “legitimation crisis”  – a loss of confidence in institutional authority.

Info on the world’s least polluted cities here. Sevilla gets an honourable mention as Spain’s least polluted city, ranking 7th in Europe and 23rd in the world.  

English

I’ve again plundered the Futility Closet blog for these Vivid comparisons, from Elyse Sommer and Mike Sommer’s ‘Similes Dictionary’:

Love is like the moon; when it does not increase it decreases. (Joseph Alexandre Pierre Segur)

Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night. (Rupert Brooke)

Calm as a virgin discussing flower arrangement. (George MacDonald Fraser)

The conversations … behaved like green logs, they fumed but would not fire. (Truman Capote)

Fierce as a lobster making one last lunge out of the pot. (Norman Mailer)

Dogged as a turtle crossing a road. (Marge Piercy)

Confident as a man dialing his own telephone number. (Jack Bell)

His mouth felt as if it had been to a party without him. (Peter De Vries)

False economy is like stopping one hole in a sieve. (Samuel Johnson)

Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders. (Walter Bagehot)

Strong men are made by opposition. Like kites they go up against the wind. (Frank Harris)

Finally . . .  

A visitor to my kitchen who jumped off a shelf at me twice last week but eventually succumbed from eating the wrong things:-

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 guide to the city there.