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

The big news, of course, is the decision of the PSOE PM to call a snap general election for July. Quite why, I can only guess at but here’s the FT and The Guardian on the development – views from both the Right and the Left. And here’s the comment of the right-of-centre chap who writes The Corner column.

I also don’t know what it means for the Left-splitting ‘movement’ – ironically called Suma/’Unite’ – of Yolanda Díaz. Though there can be no doubt that both of the post-2008 crisis parties – Podemos and Ciudadanos – are on their way to at least quasi oblivion. So, back to the old routine of 2 major parties swapping administrations. Albeit, with a need to form a coalition to be able to govern. Letting in parties at one extreme or the other. Not good.

Here’s Lenox Napier of Business over Tapas with his local take on Sunday’s regional and municipal elections. Let’s hear it for Mojácar amd Almería! Fame at any price.

If you’re going to turn your kids into the noisiest adults in the world, it’s good to start them off early. This is a boom box at the entrance to my grandson’s primary school.

It is usually so loud that the parents have to shout their parting words of affection into the ears of their little ones.

Incidentally, when my grandson started school last September, he was – at 3 years 9 months – the oldest in the class. By dint of how the system operates – under which the kids have to reach 4 in this calendar year – the gap between between him and the youngest is just under 12 months. With the latter starting school at a mere 2 years 9 months. Which seems a tad young to me, even if it’s more of a social event than anything truly pedagogic. [Incidentally, as the child of a British mother, my grandson’s English is excellent. Making it surprising that the teacher – who doesn’t speak English well – marks him as Regular, not Outstanding, in this subject. Spanish teaching tends to major on grammar, rather than verbal ability. So perhaps he doesn’t yet know what the subjunctive voice is . . .]

There was a tremendous thunderstorm last evening in Madrid, which brought traffic to a halt in the barrio of Carabanchel and, worse, caused disruption to the metro line I was taking to Ópera. Halfway there, we were told it was returning to its station of origin, causing a rapid change of route plan. The upside of this was me learning of a train running back and forth between Príncipe Pío and Ópera, designated by a white space between 2 parallel lines on the metro map. The downside was arriving just in time for the start of the programme and, so, for more than half an hour of boring award presentations before the performance began. And to think we had to rush to get there for the start, having left with an enough time to have an aperitif near the theatre! Life can be cruel.

The UK

Albanians comprise 16% of all prisoners despite representing less than 0.05% of the UK population. Hardly surprising, then, that they have a bad reputation there. As they do in Spain, I believe. Or in Madrid at least, where they’re said to be much involved in organised crime.

The Way of the World

The cult of gender ideology is finally crumbling, says this columnist. In the UK at least. Perhaps too much money at stake for the greedy medical profession in the USA.

Finally . . .

I confess that on Sunday evening, while very interested in the looming result, I’d resigned myself to Everton being relegated to the 2nd tier of English football, for the first time in 69 years. Indeed, I’d convinced myself – almost – that some good would come from it. We might actually win some matches and so avoid a 3rd year in succession of concern about (further) relegation. Never mind the more than €600m spent in the last few years on players who’ve clearly not lived up to someone’s expectation. And to think I could have decided to support Liverpool FC.

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.