Cosas de España/Galiza 

A worrying demographic trend – 60% of Spanish households now have no kids. If this doesn’t change, Spain will disappear. Or become Moroccan. A second invasion of the Moors . . .

Not terribly surprising . . . Security experts say the full dimension of the Pegasus spying scandal has yet to emerge. And possibly never will. Spain has a rich history of eavesdropping intelligence scandals, says The Times today.

After I’d been in Spain a few months – with only Spanish TV to watch – I concluded that the word corazón(heart) was compulsory in Spanish pop songs. So, I wasn’t too surprised to hear it in the Spanish Eurovision entry last night. In truth, given the costumes of the female singer and her explicit dancers, a more appropriate body-part would have been culo(bum). This is how The Times described it this morning: Spain was sexy to look at, fabulously performed and super-catchy – loud, camp, fun and a great tune. It came 3rd, after Ukraine and the UK. Not bad for a song that was dubiously selected in Spain’s election process, beating out a couple of singers from Galicia. To much anger here. As I recall. Anyway, you can see the vibrant performance of Slomo here. Very, very sex-laden. Very, very Spanish. The lyrics – below – will explain the title.

A cyclist found pedalling along a British motorway(autovía) was arrested for causing danger to road users and suspected possession of illegal drugs. As far as I can remember, we haven’t had one of these in Galicia. Yet. But we did have an old guy a few years ago, who was stopped in his electric buggy, on his way to a brothel.

The UK

So, now we know the real reason for Boris Johnson’s very public support of Ukraine – to ensure the UK’s Eurovision entry would end up at the top of the results table, beaten only by sympathy-voted Ukraine itself. Who, as predicted, ran away with  the ‘popular’ vote. Where musicality has always come second to a bizarre rag-bag of other things. 

Ukraine

Can anyone see next years’s Eurovision context being held in Kyev?  

Russia

Putin’s alleged ill-health

I imagine there are quite a lot of headlines around the country this morning along the lines of Lying Ukrainian Nazi bastards win rigged Eurovision song contest. Assuming it’s mentioned at all.

The USA

Americans are said to be dumbfounded by the Eurovision song contest. Who can blame them? 

Following the latest mass-killing by a madman, I could swear I heard someone say “We are prayerful that . . .” After hundreds – if not thousands – of deaths, is there not yet sufficient evidence of prayers being totally useless?

The Way of the World/Quote of the Day

I read that the ‘chore jacket’ is ‘all the rage’. So, WTF is it? . . . The chore coat first appeared in late 19th century France. As a tough piece of outerwear made from durable cotton drill or moleskin, it was perfect for the tough physical work of labourers, railroad workers and farmers – thanks to its loose fit that made it easy to throw over a set of overalls. The versatile, universally flattering shape with lovely big, patch pockets make it the perfect jacket for spring. This ageless, timeless – not to mention ugly – garment  is now available in a variety of colourful cottons. You can probably buy one for between €10 and €10,000.

One thing I’m not clear on. . . Are women expected to wear the chore jacket over the ‘right back in fashion low-rise jeans‘?

Spanish 

Yesterday I heard the word ‘podcast’, pronounced pothcast in a Spanish ad. Which led me down this rabbit hole:-

‘Madrid’ .  . . As I perceive it, these are the pronunciation options in Spain, in rising degrees of Spanishness:-

– Madrid  How foreigners say it. (Listen to deepl here)

– Madrith (Listen to Google here)

– Mathrid

– Mathrith  Reserved perhaps for Mathrileños or non-natives who want to sound very Spanish indeed.

Please note that I can’t swear to the accuracy of all that . . .

Finally . . .

The only thing I really know about readership of this blog is that numbers crashed from several hundred during  a long illness in 2011 and only recovered to maybe a hundred now. Which is enough to keep me going. New readers do sign up from time to time – eg after I caused a bit of controversy on a Facebook camino page – but normally it’s a slow trickle. So slow, in fact, that I can contemplate welcoming new ones by name. So, here’s a welcome to May’s sign-ups so far:-

Kathrine Lafferty

Sam Vier

Zocido (This seems to be a Thai or Vietnamese food recipe site. Gorgeous stuff but I do wonder if the author really reads my blog).

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.

SLOMO LYRICS

Let’s go
Llegó la mami
La reina, la dura, una Bugatti
El mundo ‘tá loco con este body
Si tengo un problema, no es monetary
Les vuelvo loquito’ a todos los daddie’
Voy siempre primera, nunca secondary
Apena’ hago doom, doom con mi boom, boom
Y le’ tengo dando zoom, zoom on my yummy
Y no se confundan, señora’ y señore’
Yo siempre estoy ready pa’ romper cadera’, romper corazones
Solo existe una, no hay imitacione’ (na, na)
Y si aún no me creen pue’ me toca mostrárselo
Take a video, watch it slow mo, mo, mo, mo, mo (yeah)
Booty hypnotic, make you want more, more, more, more, more
Voy a bajarlo hasta el suelo-lo-lo-lo-lo (yeah)
If the way I shake it to this dembow (to this dembow)
Drives you loco (yeah)
Take a video, watch it slow mo
Te gusta to’ lo que tengo
te endulzo la cara en jugo de mango
Se te dispara cuando la prendo
Hasta el final, yo no me detengo
Take a sip of my cola-la
Ponte salvaje, na-na-na
Make it go like pa-pa-pa-pa
Like pa-pa-pa-pa-pa
Y no se confundan (y no se confundan), señora’ y señore’
Yo siempre estoy ready (yo siempre estoy ready) pa’ romper cadera’, romper corazones (ah)
Solo existe una (solo existe una), no hay imitacione’ (na, na, na)
Y si aún no me creen pue’ me toca mostrárselo (oye)
Take a video, watch it slow mo, mo, mo, mo, mo
Booty hypnotic, make you want more, more, more, more, more
Voy a bajarlo hasta el suelo-lo-lo-lo-lo
If the way I shake it to this dembow (to this dembow)
Drives you loco (yeah)
Take a video, watch it slow mo, mo, mo, mo, mo
Booty hypnotic, make you want more, more, more, more, more
Voy a bajarlo hasta el suelo-lo-lo-lo-lo
If the way I shake it to this dembow (to this dembow)
Drives you loco (yeah)
Y no se confundan (y no se confundan), señora’ y señore’
Yo siempre estoy ready (yo siempre estoy ready) pa’ romper cadera’, romper corazones (oh)
Solo existe una (solo existe una), no hay imitacione’ (na, na, na)
Y si aún no me creen pue’ me toca mostrárselo (oh-yeah)
Take a video, watch it slow mo, mo, mo, mo, mo
Booty hypnotic, make you want more, more, more, more, more
Voy a bajarlo hasta el suelo-lo-lo-lo-lo
If the way I shake it to this dembow (a este dembow)
Drives you loco (yeah)
Take a video, watch it slow mo

• Dembow: A musical rhythm that originated in Jamaica.