Cosas de España/Galiza 

Here’s Lenox Napier on voting rights – or the lack of them – for Brits resident in Spain.

I can’t confess to any understanding of Catalan politics. Only that things are now a lot quieter than a few years ago. This is a Guardian article asking – and possibly not answering – the question: Is Cataluña still dreaming of independence? Despite being not much wiser on this question at the end of it, I did learn one or two new things about the troubled region along the way.

There’s a (sea)storm brewing in Brussels over recently announced restrictions on fishing. Here in Spain, the region most affected is Galicia, where the fishing sector  generates €9 billion pa. The Voz de Galicia this morning: This is what is at stake with the decision of the Commission to decree the ban in 87 zones between Cádiz and Ireland. All the arguments presented by Spain, France and Ireland, with special belligerence on the part of the Spanish minister, have failed to soften the relevant EU Commissioner. He has replied that the closures will be reviewed in 2023. Meanwhile, several fleets [infra] are prohibited from fishing there. Galicia has asked Madrid to initiate legal action.

I forgot to say yesterday that the video-cited 10kph limit for cars in Pv city seems to have been (quietly) abandoned. Possibly because is was impractical, not because everyone was ignoring it.

The EU

The EU, says this writer, is sleepwalking into anarchy.

Nearer term . . .In Italy, the new ‘populist’ right-wing Prime Minister is on a collision course with the EU and there are questions over her policy on Ukraine, as her position is closer to that of Hungary’s that France and Germany’s. As for her economic policies . . . These will require renegotiation of Italy’s pandemic economic recovery plan, which is tied to €200 billion in EU funding in a country with huge public debt. Brussels has ruled out renegotiating the plan but Ms Meloni will try anyway. As if that wasn’t enough . . . More clashes with Rome are likely over migration. But exit from the EU is not on the table.

Ukraine v Russia

Not a happy prospect . . . Richard North this morning: In the event of a Russian nuclear strike, the Western powers will have the unenviable task of devising a proportionate response, sufficient to convey displeasure without showing weakness and without provoking further escalation which could result in trading multiple ICBMs over the North Pole. Glad I’m not in that management team.

The Way of the World

A question that occurs to me from time to time. Or  something like it, anyway . . . . Is psychology the superstition of our age?

After you’ve pondered that, take on board that it’s now LGBTQIAP+   . . . With the P standing for ‘pansexual’. But isn’t there also supposed to be something like 2S for ‘two spirit’. I can’t keep up.

Spanish

Essential words for everyone living in Galicia:-

Arrastre: Trawling

Palangre: Longline

Rasco: Longline 

Emalle: El arte de pesca que consiste en redes que se colocan en posición vertical de tal modo que al pasar los peces quedan enmallados. Fishing with gill nets.

Volanta. Fly fishing

Draga: Dredging 

Nasa: El arte de pesca que consiste en un cilindro de juncos entretejidos, con una especie de embudo dirigido hacia adentro en una de sus bases y cerrado con una tapadera en la otra para poder vaciarlo. Basket-fishing.

English

Something on the word ‘scandal’ here, giving us the now-dead phrases scandal-broth, scandal crimp, scandal-potion.

Finally   . . . .   

To amuse . . . 

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.