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’

Note: This post is later than usual because I was pincered between a Pilates class and lunch with a Galician friend which primarily consisted of this bottle of this excellent wine. Highly recommended. The wine, not lunch witg my friend:-

Cosas de España/Galiza

Isambard Wilkinson of The Times tells us there’s an ‘idiosyncratic reverence’ for death here in Galicia, though I haven’t come across it myself. Anyway, IW says here that: On the Death Coast of Galicia, modernity is putting an end to the cult of mortality.

Having said I’m unfamiliar with the cult of death, I have attended the coffin-carrying event he cites, covered by the BBC here and, in less detail, by The Guardian here. Quite bizarre.

As for the Gallego noir film genre, these are the ones on my list to see:-

• The Mess You Leave Behind: El desorden que dejas
• Bitter Daisies: O sabor das margaridas
• Cocaine Coast: Farina (Flour in Gallego)
• Dry Water: Auga Seca – a murder mystery set in Vigo
• Death on a Galician Shore: La Playa de los Ahogados
• The Beasts: As Bestas. The murder of a Dutchman in Galicia inspired this thriller. In which he becomes French . . . No idea why.

Yes, Spanish Father’s Day falls every year on 19^th March, so frequently not a Sunday. The feast of St Joseph, I believe.

The UK

Heat pumps are just a “sticking plaster” solution for British homes in the race to cut energy bills and get to net zero, the chief executive of Britain’s biggest radiator maker has said. The government’s home heating plan, he added, needs to be broadened to include more funding for insulation and smarter home energy controls that can shut off heating when occupants are out or heat only the rooms that are in use. Way to go!

Germany

Within 13 years, a group of ‘undistinguished’ men rose from nothing to dominate Germany and to lead it into a world war that cost the lives of many, many millions. A BBC podcast tells us how this happened, starting with an intro that contains a fascinating description of Hitler from his 1918 (would-be) ‘controller’.

Quote of The Day

This is a quote from this demolition of a ‘right-wing’ ‘feminist’ writer’s book by a ‘left-wing/Marxist’ columnist: No one doubts that the Industrial Revolution was a mad, volatile event. ‘All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned’, as Marx and Engels said of that era. And yet, by both its unleashing of the forces of social production and its promise of liberation from the ignorance so many of our ancestors stewed in, it remains, without question, the greatest thing that has thus far happened to humankind. We mustn’t let today’s fashionable reactionaries, whether of the green or the ‘feminist’ variety, distract from that.

By coincidence, this of one of the messages of a book I’m currently ploughing/plowing through called Fossil Future. More on this tomorrow. Or maybe ‘soon’.

Did you know?

Allegedly, Americans don’t know what a duvet is. How well I recall the first time I slept – or tried to – under one of these. Possibly because it was of completely the wrong tog for early spring, I spent the night tossing and turning because of excess warmth. Now, of course, I can’t imagine life without them. In Spanish, nórdicos, I believe. Also meaning ‘Norsemen’. Though having one of them on top of you is an even worse experience, I’m told.

Finally . . .

The truck that I thought was an Réis-related camel transporter in early January and which turned out to the moveable home of a young couple, has returned after a month’s absence. But they eschew the special carpark on the city side of the river, in favour of the un-tarmaced plot I use. Unless it’s flooded:-

For some reason, young Spaniards write SMS messages without any punctuation at all. Doesn’t help.

An old Royal Navy joke:-

• A keen new captain addressing the crew. This is not my ship, this is not your ship – this is OUR ship.

• A voice at the back: Good. Let’s sell it.

Probably a Scouser . . .

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.