And, Lo, has caught the Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable
– Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’
Well, the new battery promised for yesterday at the latest hasn’t arrived and my laptop has ceased resurrecting itself. So, this is another re-do from memory of a draft of earlier this morning – published, eventually, via my phone.
Oh, and I tripped over a stone in the forest this morning and, having fallen on my arm and hand, wasn’t able to type for a while. Hence the lateness of this post.
Energy
And UK pessimism . . .
Cosas de España/Galiza
As of this evening, the new battery hasn’t arrived. Again.
The horse-chestnuts are falling. Time to introduce my grandson to the ancient sport of conkers, so that he can confound his new school mates. And perhaps impress the 2 who’ve been unkind to him and ‘broken my heart’ . . .
Yesterday, a woman in her 80s was seriously injured by an e-bike in a pedestrian area in the UK. I wonder how long it’ll be before this happens in Pv city, where the law is honoured far more in the breach than in the observance. As they say.
Portugal
A few more things I’ve learned . . .
– Things got more and more brutal after the king decided in 1505 to terrorise the African coast and, effectively, to colonise India.
– Said king sent a letter to the Spanish monarchs saying he was sure they were as happy as he was with all the riches brought back to him from India, compared with the nothing that the deluded Columbus had brought back from his personal truth of India.
– The Muslim traders, understandably, decided not to take things lying down – unleashing a torrent of violence into the previously placid Indian ocean.
The UK
British pensioners are said to fare a lot worse than Germans and the Irish but, to my surprise, better than the French, Italian and Spanish.
Spanish
I’ve never had cause to chat in Spanish for several hours a day. Or even a week. So, I am poor at idioms and ‘street talk’. And I don’t just mean the slang of kids. One construction I’ve never been clear on is Ir + the gerund. As in the distinctions between –
El corría
El estaba corriendo and
El iba corriendo
Finally
The wisdom of kids: The pleasures of childhood are great but not compared with the pleasures of adultery.
For new readers: 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.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 