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
Lenox writes here about that cultured ex-bullfighter of the Vox party.

A report with some rather odd stats . .

Talking of numbers . . . You might have heard of the Rule of Twelfths but last night a Galician friend told me of the Spanish rule of 12-8-4, which operates throughout the hostelry sector. You work 12 hours a day; they pay you for 8: and tell the taxman it was 4. Is it any wonder they can’t get the staff? Or that the Hacienda ignores the Renta declarations and charges tax based on a chair/table/space-based formula.?

Another of those articles on ‘undiscovered’ Galicia. A train journey through Europe’s most underrated wine region – through Galicia’s grand cities, Porto and the Douro Valley. Thank god Pv city isn’t mentioned. We have quite enough Anglos visiting us already, reducing the attractiveness of September, once the Spanish tourists have gone home. God knows how the writer didn’t notice vines between Santiago de Compostela and Vigo.

There are 5 ‘senior’ señoras at the table on my left as I write. As is the norm, they’re all talking at the same time. I have a dongle with which I can turn off any TV but nothing – except moving – to counteract this. So, I’m off shortly to the Moroccan place for a light lunch. Not roast lamb today.

Portugal

The 666 bus route to the Polish seaside resort of Hel is to get a new number. It will henceforth be 669.

UK

An ex-Conservative MP confesses he shouldn’t say it but does – I told you so.

Quote of The Day

The trouble with that arse Johnson and his histrionics is that he burns up media bandwidth, distracting attention from important stories and restricting the time and space afforded to them.

Finally . . .

I arrived home at 9 last night, after 10 hours of travelling. The musty smell of my house, after 2 months, wasn’t a great surprise but the sight of the garden certainly was. Basically, it had wilded itself in 8 weeks of warmth and rain. The shock of seeing some grass in the front lawn – the worst types, of course/coarse – standing 1.2m tall was outdone by that in the back lawn at 1.5m. And the weeds at the bottom of the garden at 2m. And then there were the 10+ 2metre sucker branches on the Bougainvillea, and the Virginia creeper climbing not only up the wall of the house but also up my large salón window. Worst of all, the bloody climbing trumpet bindweed – had almost taken over the hedge I share with neighbour. All in all, I have days of slash & burn ‘gardening’ ahead of me. Which I will embark on when today’s showers finally stop. Never had a compost heap before but certainly will now .

I suspect that if I were to go away for the spring, summer and autumn, the greenery for the front of the house would meet that of the back of the house on the roof. Possibly joined by the ivy from the hedge down the side of the house. And leaving my 4 story town-house totally jungliflied.

But . . . My lemons have grown apace.

As have the self-seeded holy trees.

And the bougainvillea is its usual blaze of purple.

And there were no letters from El Tráfico telling me about my latest speeding fine(s). Not yet, at least. But its’s early days. Nine months later is my record.

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.