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

Cosas de España

Is the reason given for this loss to Spain of a huge investment really credible? If so, someone down in Valencia should be garroted.

More bad news . . . . Says the FT today . . . Without Gibraltar, c. 16,000 Spanish workers would struggle to find a decent job in neighbouring Andalucía, one of the poorest parts of Spain. In recent years, under the PSOE government, there’s been a golden age of closer ties with the EU. But . . . A power struggle in Madrid threatens to bring this to an end, especially if the nationalistic/ ‘Francoist’ Vox party has any influence on the expected new right-of-centre PP administration. The said 16,000 Spanish workers will then be low-priority innocent bystanders in the renewed conflict between Spain and the UK. Over a large rock which is no longer strategic and which, in truth, is neither very British nor very Spanish – a freakishly overdeveloped tiny place. A testament to human stupidity. Very sad.

Also sad to read that this famous Civil War foto really is the fake lots of folk have always said it was . . .

An expert scoffs at the ‘revenge’ theory for those troublesome dolphins bedevilling our coasts.

An Italian teacher worked for only 4 of the 24 years for which she was employed. When she was finally sacked, she took her employer to court. I’ve read of similar things happening here in Spain. Among civil servants, of course.

After a few months of drinking, shouting, fighting, carousing and sleeping somewhere else, PV city’s down-and-outs have returned to the place right next to the best terraza in the town, from where they’d finally been banned by the (dilatory) local police. They’ll be there for a few months before the farce begins again, echoing what happens with the illegal gypsy traders in the Sunday flea market. The Spanish circle of (low)life? . . . Certainly a summer nuisance, but not quite on a par with the Romanian accordionist for me.

Reader María makes a welcome return to blogging, after a 6 month lay-off.

Germany

Headed for a political meltdown??

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

Another article on the impact – especially on the poor – of the over-rapid race to Net Zero. Expect more of these.

And a Spanish development which will surely be copied elsewhere-

Quote of The Day

The blind pursuit of Green agendas is a recipe for electoral disaster. Probably true. So, expect change. Politicians are only interested in getting or keeping power, after all. Electoral liabilities get ditched.

Spanish

Una rebeca: A cardigan*. My theory on its origin proved correct . . . Because Joan Fontaine wore one in the Hitchcock 1940 film, Rebecca.

*Named after the infamous Lord Cardigan.

Did you know?

How to tell a volandeira from a zamburiña. . . Not that you’ll ever see many of the former:-

Finally . . .

Elon Musk says he takes ketamine for depression. More likely the nasal spray version – esketamine – in my opinion.

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.