Cosas de España/Galicia

This being the week when we have both El Dia de Los Santos and El Día de los Difuntos – or as I call it, The Week to Clean & Decorate Graves – there were plenty of flowers for sale in Pv’s main square both yesterday and today. But, if you want to hire a ladder to clear a high niche, I think you have to talk to the priest of the relevant church for that.

No huge surprise to read that: Bureaucracy is delaying the hiring of foreign workers and putting farms in a difficult position. Right hand, left hand.

If you’re a Brit travelling to Spain, you need to know that your government thinks you’re at increased risk of violence born of social unrest. Things don’t yet seem so bad here in Pv city.

Talking of the city , , ,

1. It’s reported that we’ve gone from a fear of a drought to risk of floods in just 2 weeks. Thanks to the 2 or 3 storms I’ve mentioned.
2. I wonder if Pv’s mayor will go this far.
3. But yesterday was gloriously sunny, bringing out the flea-market sellers and their customers. And giving me the chance to – briefly – ponder whether or not to buy this:

They are still scouring the river Lérez for the body of the canoeist who disappeared on Friday. Ironically, efforts are still concentrated close to O Burgo bridge, on which our (self-promoting) mayor has set up exhibition blocks lauding the river’s contribution to local life.

I suspect that not many folk know that, back in the 17th century, Muslim Berber pirates from North Africa were wont to raid the south coast of England and the west coast of Iberia, sacking the towns and carting off folk into slavery. Reader María mentions them here in her Beginning Over 26:  Witches of Yesteryear. You need to know that akelarres is the Basque term for a ‘witches’ Sabbath’, the place where witches hold their meetings. Or ‘coven’.

The UK & The EU

Effie Dean avers here that UK was and – thanks to the awful deal struck by Boris Johnson et al – still is a half-in-and-half-out member of the EU. We were, she says,  unenthusiastic members and we are unenthusiastic non-members. It’s time to choose, because the Revelation is this. We are neither hot nor cold, which makes us merely lukewarm sick . . . The choice for the UK is either to make Brexit work, assert our territorial integrity and diverge from the EU, or to embrace fully the EU including Euro federalism. Failure to choose is more damaging than either alternative.

Still on Brexit . . . This columnist‘s view is that, however bad Johnson’s deal was: Brexit is irreversible. But: We must forge stronger economic ties with the EU. A growing view, it seems.

The USA

Ahead of the November mid-term elections, a relevant comment: The real American divide: Most Americans are moderate and pragmatic but politics is dominated by cramks. Elections are never easy to predict. But whatever the outcome of the midterms next month, it seems certain vast swathes of the American electorate will be largely ignored. More here.

The real American divide

China

Headline: How Xi sacrificed China’s future in pursuit of total power. As he consolidates his grip, Xi is condemning his country – and the world – to lower prosperity. Click here for the article.

The Way of the World 

Tickets for Adele’s rescheduled Las Vegas show next year are being offered for more than £40,000. Small change, I guess, for a billionaire.

Quote of the Day

The woke language tyranny is relatively trivial. It has now become so ludicrous that it can only implode.

Spanish 

1. Una asa:- A handle. And maybe:-

– A strap

– A loop

– A grip

– A lever

– A knob

You get the picture . . .

2. Las andadas: Old tricks; Old ways. Estar a las andadas. To be up to one’s old tricks 

Finally   . . . .  

To amuse . . . This reminds me of the bloody Romanian guy who plagues my summers . . .

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.