Cosas de España/Galiza

In case you’ve been fined for a Modelo 720 offence . . 

Blow for Modelo 720

I’m wont to say that life in Spain moves you between the 19th and 21st – or even 22nd – centuries. This thought returned to me yesterday, when I went through the very efficient process of getting my annual car maintenance test, the ITV. The actual testing followed a very efficient appointment booking process on line and very apposite text messages once I was at the testing centre. No complaints. Well, other than the technicians gave all their instructions to me in Gallego . . .

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this article – 10 reasons to visit La Coruña. Note: Reloading might be necessary.

Portugal 

Time to be positive – The timeless Portugal that tourists miss. But please don’t all rush, as I plan to go there soon.

The UK

Said one commentator yesterday: Britain is the envy of the world: In Elizabeth II, we had a monarch who helped us bridge the gap between tradition and modernity. Very probably true, albeit perhaps only briefly. For, as another admirer of both the queen and her funeral wrote: Blame who you like, but you can’t deny Britain’s downward trajectory over her reign: steep, dizzying, painful.  

A propos . . . An Australian news channel failed to recognise the UK prime minister. Channel Nine presenters suggested she might be ‘a minor royal’.

But there’s always room for a contrary view and this is it: The declinists who claim that Britain in the Brexit era is isolated and sinking into irrelevance could not be more wrong. In many respects, Britain this week has been the very heart of the free world.

Time will tell. Meanwhile, my pension in pounds is worth less and less here in Spain.

France

Very nice of them to re-name a Paris metro stop after Liz 2. Albeit only for a day.

The Way of the World

Something nice about the nation state.

On a lighter note . . . Yesterday a targeted ad told me that CBD gummies have take Pontevedra by storm. Which I rather doubt. Anyway, I tried to use my VPN to claim I was in a town in the Sahara desert but they offer no option at all for Africa. So, I chose India, and got lots of ads featuring beautiful Indian ladies who might want to know about jobs and courses in the USA.

Spanish

El kueré: The QR code. . . . Correct pronunciation here.

Finally   . . . . 

An odd fact about my birthplace . . .

British understatement 1: We can all relate to people who do their houses up. Everybody decorates their house in some way. Ron has just gone that extra mile.

British understatement 2: Gittins was a complicated, eccentric character,

There are several articles re Ron on the web and this is the FB page about the project  to save his place.

That above article took me back to when an artist friend and I decorated the walls of my bedroom with galleons. Understandably, his were far better than mine. Wish I had fotos,

Welcome to new subscriber:  Abel Pachecojust, chef/restauranteur in Mexico.

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.