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/Galicia

Can this really be true . . . Because of hot-weather-hit production, Olive oil is so very expensive in Spain that right now it is cheaper to buy it in Australia. But possibly not easier.

Because of this paragraph from Lenox Napier’s Business Over Tapas, I did a quick calculation and realised €1.50 a day on a coffee is €500 a year, almost the price of my new – and theoretically unnecessary – laptop: 20Minutos cites those products and services one doesn’t need but which add to the monthly bill. These include: having various streaming TV platforms, a spare and unused credit card or a higher-than-necessary electric potential. Unattended leaks and so on. Then there are our sometimes wasteful buying habits to contend with – that extra bar of chocolate, the coffee in the local bar, the stuff from Amazon and AliExpress or a wasted trip in the car. These unnecessary expenses are ‘gastos hormiga’. Little bits here and there which add up towards the end of the month. Cause/pause for thought

A very lovely part of Galicia, with a stunning Parador.

The UK

Forgive a final entry on the subject of (would-be-breakaway) Scotland . . . This is a harsh verdict on Nicola Sturgeon from a Scots person, albeit male. Sturgeon’s successes as a communicator and a campaigner eclipse her triumphs as a governor. Public spending per capita is significantly higher in Scotland than England yet neither the Scottish NHS nor the Scottish education system has prospered on her watch. Record-breaking inputs have not been matched by record-breaking outcomes. Scotland has slipped down international rankings on maths and reading attainment. Sturgeon failed in her “defining mission” to close the attainment gap between rich and poor children. Nor have these failures been compensated for by other triumphs. Despite repeated vows to address the scandal, Scotland still has the worst drugs problem in Europe. The full article is here. It explains why Sturgeon – despite her failures – appealed to Left-thinkers in London. And to some/many Scots folk, of course.

The Way of the World

It’s hard not to weep when reading this article on the London transgender clinic. If only with anger.

Quote of The Day

Sometimes you read a story and just see civilisation ebbing away. You see the forces of evil posing as good. You see people making hundreds of satanic changes to children’s classic books and you think: why isn’t there a law against this? Why isn’t there a law to stop Netflix chopping up Roald Dahl’s beautiful books in the wrongful interests of “sensitivity”?

Finally . . .

Oh, dear . . .

Welcome to new subscriber: My friend – and camino guide – Mark Auchincloss. Who won’t be pleased by what I cite about his hero(ine), Nicola Sturgeon.

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. And there’s the Thoughts from Galicia FB group.