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’ 

Energy

As regards future prices . . . Everything depends on what happens to wholesale prices. -[currently on their way down] – But, come what may, the chances of energy costs falling back to where they were before the post pandemic surge are pretty much zero. The blame lies as much with Net Zero targets as it does with Putin, for one of the effects of climate change goals has been to severely curtail wider investment in traditional, fossil fuel sources. The result is supply is dwindling before we are ready to live without them. As some wise/realistic folk were warning at least 10 years ago.

Cosas de España/Galiza

In case you ever wanted to know, here’s why Britis ‘have been obsessed about Spain for 400 years’ . But no mention of George Borrow or Annette Meakin, inter alia.

Here’s Lenox Napier of Spanish Shilling on the question of what jobs foreigners can aspire to get in Spain. That of huckster seems popular. At least down South, where there’s a lot of your compatriots for the fleecing of

I ran out of time yesterday morning, so couldn’t write about the interesting island in Vigo’s San Simón bay/cove and the statue of Jules Verne near it. Here’s something on these. The statue can be seen at low tide.

As you can see from this map, the island can be seen from both sides of the bay as you drive towards Vigo from Pv city.

The view from the AP9 is the better of the two and, of course, faster. But you pay handsomely for these advantages. And you can never see the statue from that side.

Here’s a foto of a transporter that’s been parked on the piece of untarmaced ground I use every day before I walk into the city:-

It’s been there several weeks now. Because of the 3 camels painted on the ramp, I originally thought it might have brought some of these for the Three Kings cabalgata. But now I’m wondering if it’s just been abandoned there.

Final foto – The 6th and last cartoon on Galicia:-

The UK

A couple of quotes:-

Be under no illusion: the compulsive narcissist is rolling the pitch for a return to power. Guess who.

You don’t need to read all 400 pages of ‘Spare’ to know this is the gospel according to Harry: “The British press killed my mother, and if I hadn’t left for California, it would have finished off my wife too.”

Russia

After the state took control of a huge private energy business – via a mixture of vast but specious back-tax claims against the company and a rigged court case against the illegally-jailed owner – Putin told Western investors that he couldn’t interfere with the law and that none of this meant what it actually did, viz. that the company would be broken up and the pieces sold cheaply to his KGB friends/sponsors. Despite the initial shock this caused outside Russia, Putin proved right in his conviction that capitalist greed would bring back investors as the process was repeated and ‘state capitalism’ was greatly expanded. He was also later proved right after the invasion of Crimea and about Germany willingness to put its economy in his hands in return for a guaranteed gas supply. So, with this record of accuracy, no wonder Putin was surprised by the Western reaction to his invasion of Ukraine.

I saw last night the description of Putin as ‘Russia’s murderous thug’. The more I read of Putin’s People, the more accurate it seems. As does ‘lying, double-dealer’. An autocrat whose word should never be trusted. Which probably won’t ever happen again.

As someone has written today: Any “deal” with him isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. My mistake. That was about Boris Johnson and his sneaky comeback deal proposed to Rishi Sunak.

The Way of the World

Not being understood and then moaning about it is, of course, the raison d’être of all nepo children. Get given palaces, cars, gold, ermine thongs but the real status symbol now is the luxury of telling everyone that you’e unlucky and oppressed. In other words, a victim. Nowadays, there’s no higher calling.

Quote of the Century

US president, Gerald Ford: One of the enduring truths is that bureaucrats survive.

Spanish

Un/Una policía de paysano: Lit. Dressed like a clown. Plainclothes policeman/woman.

Un mirlo blanco: Lit. A white blackbird. Una persona de rareza extraordinaria. Extremely rare/odd(?)

Did you know?

As a kid, I played football outside school but rugby inside it. I much preferred the former, both for playing and watching. But there’s no doubting that a fluid rugby move by ‘the backs’ is one of the most beautiful things you can see in sport. Here and the one below are examples. The 2nd one is in a match considered by many to be the best ever.

Finally . . .

To amuse . . . .

For new readers:-

1. If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing [star]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