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

We have municipal and regional elections this month and a general election by the end of the year. No wonder it’s raining tax breaks, freebies and discounts in Spain.

But for the farmers of Alicante, the government’s largesse is too little, too late. . . Valencia’s water war threatens to sink the PSOE socialist party there.

On a wider front . . The spectre of ETA’s past hangs over the governing coalition. The participation in next week’s elections of 44 former members of the now defunct Basque terrorist group ETA has caused controversy. Their involvement threatens to unseat or weaken socialist regional and municipal fiefdoms . . . The effects of the conflict are slowly healing but the legacy of the violence, in which ETA killed 853 people in its 60-year campaign for Basque independence, still overshadows Spain.

Not too surprising to see that my blog doesn’t feature in someone’s eclectic collection of the best 100 blogs on Spain, most of them musically oriented. But something of a surprise to see that no 71 was: Praying Alone Together: Deep and committed personal prayer. A blog to helpful in all stages in the spiritual journey.

Up in Galicia, the good news is that the retail trade is bouncing back. For the first time since 2013, openings have exceeded closures.

It’s The Day of Galician Literature up there. When all the newspapers are largely – totally? – in Galician. I’ve attached 2 paras from the VdG below. It’s quite amazing how easy it is to read this – assuming you can read Spanish – when it’s so hard to understand it aurally. Even more so for Portuguese, which looks much the same but sounds totally different, not just from Spanish but also from Galician. .

The second of the paras is about a subject which interests Galicians as much as it does Brits – the weather. For the obvious reason that it’s very changeable. Galicia might not be an island but the Atlantic does a good job of making us feel like it is.

The Way of the World

This is the latest podcast on the origins of slavery. It’s about the Vikings, Europeans who were involved in this even earlier than the Portuguese. But long after the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, of course. As you might know, we get the word ‘slave’ from the people whom the Vikings enslaved more than any others – The Slavs.

Did you know?

Serrocold-Skeels is a (double-barreled) English surname. I wonder if anyone has it as their email address . . .

(A)GW/Energy

AEP is in optimistic mood again here . . .There is so much creative ferment in global clean-tech that it is impossible to know what will sweep the board by the 2040s. Vast sums are being spent by the US, China, Japan, and the EU, by the world’s top universities, and by venture capital funds trying to crack the technology of energy storage. It is being cracked. .

Finally . . .

All day long, I’ve been thinking: It doesn’t feel like Tuesday; it feels more like Wednesday. And I’ve just discovered it actually is. Must be age.

I’m not a cat-lover. But for those who are . . .

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.

GALEGO BITS

A restauración dun himno  

Pondal escribiu no ano 1890 o texto que se converteu no himno galego. Anos despois de crealo, decatouse de que o poema que estaba en uso tiña erros e que había que corrixilos, aínda que o poeta non estaba en condicións de facelo pola súa saúde. Eses erros seguen no himno e agora unha iniciativa lexislativa popular chegou ao Parlamento para corrixilos. Unha investigación do catedrático Manuel Ferreiro deu cos manuscritos orixinais. Hoxe, cando os galegos celebran o Día das Letras, dedicado ao escritor Francisco Fernández del Riego, parece un bo momento para restaurar o legado pondaliano. La Voz de Galicia, en recordo de Del Riego, publica tamén unha escolma dos artigos deste ilustre galeguista.

O tempo ao revés

Nestes días temos altas presións no Atlántico e baixas no Mediterráneo. Xusto ao revés do que deberían ser nestas datas. O culpable, coma sempre, é o anticiclón que a estas alturas xa saben vostedes onde se atopa, non? Pois iso. As altas presións das Azores empurran fóra de Galicia as borrascas que chegan dende Irlanda. Ás veces as botan cara ao sur, a Canarias, e outras cara ao norte. É o caso actual. As nubes rodean a comunidade galega polo norte e rematan descargando na costa mediterránea.