Cosas de España/Galicia    

The disgraced ex king and ‘bags of cash’. ‘The way things are done in Spain’ . . .

More edifying . . . Fascinating Spain bring us Spain’s most peculiar villages:

The most peculiar villages in Spain

I had 2 new experiences on a journey down to Madrid yesterday, neither of them welcome. Firstly, I belatedly discovered that a change en route to a Madrid didn’t involve a 20 minute wait at Santiago station but a 90 minute wait in Ourense. To add insult to injury, the train I had to get off was actually going on to Madrid, but I wasn’t allowed to stay on it. I’ve no idea why not but I will certainly check my suggested trajectory next time I train down to Madrid, as I hadn’t noted any info from Renfe to the effect I’d have to get off a Madrid-bound train in Ourense and wait quite some time for another one.

The 2nd unwelcome experience was at Madrid’s (renamed)Chamartín etc. station. Needing a pee before taking the metro, I walked the entire length of the concourse looking for the aseos, only to find that they’d been moved and were now back where I’d entered the concourse. Once back there, I was obliged to pay a euro to get into a swish new facility. Long gone are the days when it cost a penny to ‘spend a penny’. In front of me at the urinal was a notice suggesting I used my QR reader to access the free facilities in ‘this shop’. These were as per this ticket issued by the machine when I walked through the turnstile on entering. Apparently,  I could get – inter alia – a free shower, a wheelchair, child and even a romantic encounter:-

Getting out of this super facility was even more difficult than getting in. Certainly for the woman in front of me, who had to change from one of the 2 turnstiles to the other. Apparently, they alternate access and egress. But there’s nothing to tell you this, unless this was what the green and red lights were meant to do. So, it’s all trial and error. All in all, a wonderful way to make money. And, just possibly, progress in the direction of customer service, assuming you want to do more than just urinate. But, for me, the lesson is to pee on the train before it arrives in Madrid. They’ll get no more of my euros.

This ‘restroom’ – American English for ‘toilet/loo’ – is called ‘One Hundred’. Pretty apt for something that costs a hundred times more than when I was a young man.

BTW: I did access the QR code and was offered 3 options – SMS message, Email, or Share. I didn’t go any further, as this seemed to be designed to get my (sellable)contact details and possibly those of friends.

The Way of the World

The internet economy is laying off staff in droves, and it probably won’t be long before the marketing houses, banks, and consultancies are as well.

Social Media

FB will have your contact details even if you denied them access. See below for how to delete them.

(A)GW 

Climate change reparations are a toxic distraction, says this columnist.  

Finally   . . . . 

Welcome to new subscriber:  The folk at Lotuseaters.travel. Who are Digital nomads, travel bloggers, and content creators, exploring all over the world. The camino is one of their special topics. I await more info on Pv city . . .

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.

How to delete your email and phone number from Facebook – Without images.

Even if we don’t provide data to Meta directly, someone else will. When someone signs up to any of Meta’s services, they are asked if they want to share their entire address book to make it much easier to find connections. This is how Facebook got hold of details even if the user had never had a Facebook account. Or had declined to add them.

Thankfully, we now have a tool to delete and keep our contact numbers and email addresses from Facebook permanently, even when someone we know agrees to share their entire address book.

Below are steps to remove your contact number or email address from all of Meta’s apps. 

1. Visit the contact info removal tool page.

2. You can then choose from three options: your mobile number, landline phone number, or email address. You can only pick one, so to remove all the above info from Meta, you must repeat these steps for each option.

For this example, we pick “mobile number.”

3. Enter your mobile number. The tool also asks where it wants you to look for your data: Facebook and Messenger, Instagram, or both. You can tick both.

4. If you picked mobile number, you’ll receive an SMS from Facebook containing your confirmation code. If you picked landline phone number, you’ll receive an automated voice call to that number to give you a confirmation code. If you picked “email address,” the tool will email you the confirmation code.

5. Clicking “Next” takes you to a page that tells you Meta has found your number and that someone (if not you) has uploaded it to Meta’s platforms. By clicking “Confirm”, you tell Meta you want your mobile number deleted from its database and block the number from being re-uploaded.

6. Once you have confirmed, the tool takes you to a page saying it has deleted and blocked your mobile.

7. During testing, I double-checked whether the tool had worked by going through the steps again with my mobile number. After entering the confirmation code the tool sent via SMS, I got the message that Meta doesn’t have my mobile number anymore.