Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.
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 de España/Galiza
Francoist leftovers . . . HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this: Abogados Cristianos is a right-wing lobby group that regularly waxes indignant on some social issue or other. Then they go to court. Recently, the Post Office produced a stamp celebrating the centenary of the Spanish Communist Party. The AC managed to get a judge to – briefly – stop sales of the abhorrent item. But the judge soon gave up and, following this, Correos were obliged by public demand to print 3 times the original run.
The Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colón) saga continues, with the bones of a relative of Galicia’s candidate being sent down to Sevilla for comparison with those of a relative of CC. Or possibly his alleged remains. We’re promised a definitive finding early next year but I, for one, am not holding my breath.
One of the consequences of the dreadful Prestige oil leak along our coast 20 years ago was the publicity given to a strange German ‘hermit’, who lived among the rocks. Here he is in all his glory. As I recall, he died shortly after the disaster, possibly of a broken heart:-
And this was his abode:-
Here’s a link to the Rif War podcast I cited the other day.
And here’s a foto of the Xmas lights on the façade of the rich neighbours behind my house:-
And something that probably wasn’t on sale at yesterday’s flea market in Pv city:-
The national rail carrier, Renfe, says they’re now chasing 15,000 Gallegos for return of the bonos fraudulently claimed under its – easily conned – discount scheme. Good luck with that.
More worrying, for some of us, is that Portugal is chasing drivers from Galicia who haven’t fitted the dongle which allows their bank account to be charged every few hundred metres on all the country’s main roads. Many millions of euros are at stake, it’s said. If you’re at risk, the advice is not to stop in service stations, where officials are checking number-plates. Or not to commit an offence which allows the police to do this. Of course, regular readers will know that the offence most likely to be committed by Spanish drivers is to take a roundabout in the crazy modo español.
I’m getting old(er) . . . I was greeted in town yesterday by not just 1 but 2 people I didn’t recognise. Maybe they thought I was George Clooney . . . .
The UK
A nice take-down of the narcissistic whingeing couple dominating UK headlines at the moment. Much to Netflix’s delight, I guess.
The World Cup
A great Final, from which the better team eventually emerged the winner. Shame about the negligée that Messi was forced to wear during the awards ceremony, albeit not for long. The Argentineans can now briefly forget about their 92% inflation rate during the 2 ‘unofficial’ bank holidays of today and tomorrow.
The Way of the World
Talking of Frogs . . . Cinderella’s fabled glass slipper has been revealed to be joke on French royalty, it says here.
Typo of the Day
David Beckham has been widely criticised for his part in Qatar’s sportswashing — an arrangement through which he stands to earn an annual £15 over a decade.
Should be ‘£15m’, of course.
Did you know?
In Japan, you can buy a sink which feeds waste water into the toilet cistern. I actually use sink water for flushing, so could do with one of these. At least in my bathroom, if not in the kitchen . . .
Finally . . .
To amuse . . . Took me a few seconds:-
For new readers:-
1. 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.
2. Should you want to, the easiest way to to get my post routinely is to sign up for email subscription. As opposed to using a Bookmark or entering the URL in your browser.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 