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’
Cosas d España/Galiza
This is about a Spanish ’Narco queen’ who – to my surprise – didn’t turn out to be a Gallega. A few of her choice claims: I wanted to prove I was capable of earning my money in a world dominated by men. The narcos didn’t like it, as they don’t like taking orders from a woman. Nor did the police. It’s a sexist world which will never let a woman be on top. If I didn’t have these tits, if I wasn’t posh and blonde, I never would have gone to prison. I saw it as a normal job but we live in a hypocritical world.
The estimable marinero gives us here an excellent article on The End of the World. Or ‘Galicia’ as we know it these days. There are reasons, of course, for the ‘resurgence’ of Gallego. Neither kids nor adults can avoid it these days, even if you invariably speak Cristiano. Especially if you want a job with the regional, provincial or municipal authorities. And possibly a degree from our universities.
The Santuario da Virxe da Barca is near Muxía, which recently featured in a camino video posted here. The related myth re the Virgen Mary is, of course, nonsense, in my not-so-humble opinion. But the stories about rocky copulation are probably true. And, this might well be true: The confusing road signs are a joke played on all non-Galicians(‘estranxeiros’). How many of you know, for example, what Rúa aperta means? It can be quite important that you do.
Shame marinero missed out the village called Slavery. For reasons I recently explained.
Finally . . . I was pleased to see my view endorsed here: Most Galicians like to believe that they have Celtic origins, but the philosopher Miguel Unamuno wrote in 1911 that this was the result of: “self-interested tinkering with history by nineteenth-century Galician Romantics.” As I say, every Spanish region is compelled to be different from every other. Somehow or other.
Marinero attributes much of his text to The Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlet. As I recall, GT cited a brothel – La Perla – on the edge of Slavery(Esclavitude). Which is quite a coincidence.
En passant . . . My entry into the Santa Clara convent in Tordesillas yesterday was free, as it always is at 4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. But, as ever in Spain, I was given a ticket. Though at least on this occasion there wasn’t someone a couple of metres away to take the ticket away from me, or rip it in half.
The UK
Of possible interest to my contemporaries . . . TheBBC is to broadcast a long-lost episode of Hancock’s Half Hour, on 18 October. This will be preceded by a documentary about finding the lost episode – Raiders of the Lost Archive – on Radio 4 on 13 and 17 October.
The EU
Inflation ain’t what the optimists expected it to be . .
Ukraine v Russia
So, as of today, the country that says it didn’t invade Ukraine back in February now says it’s being invaded by the un-invaded Ukraine. Have I got that right? If so, was this always Putin’s intention? Or he he just making it up as he goes along, causing the deaths of tens of thousands and mass emigration along the way? Opinions on this differ but I am of the If it walks like a duck . . . persuasion. And the problem is things are going to get worse. Not that any of us can do much about that.
Spanish
Not for the first time, I have struggled to understand bits of this article from The Corner:-
Here is the original Spanish version and I wonder if the English version has been done by a machine without scrutiny by a native speaker of English truly fluent in Spanish. What, for example, is the meaning of the English bits in bold here?
– brochazos con pretensiones ideológicas de poco vuelo y bastante trampa. : brushstrokes with ideological pretensions of little flight and quite a lot of trickery.
– medidas de baja intensidad y de pobres resultados; que no afectan al núcleo del problema fiscal: agotamiento de las actuales figuras tributarias: low-intensity measures with poor results, which do not affect the core of the tax problem: the exhaustion of the current tax figures.
Any suggestions?
English
To attrit:
1. To wear down or weaken an opponent or enemy by means of sustained action. [As expected, a US-ism]
2. To wear down or erode; grind into fragments.
PP: Attrited: Worn down by friction or attrition.
Finally . . . .
A fascinating film from 1939. Be prepared for a comment which would never be made these days . . .
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.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 