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’

*The foto above was taken at 6am. Venus – ‘the dog star’ and the brightest in the sky – is visible – just – above the palm tree.*

Cosas de España

Spain is unhappy that the UK kept it a secret from Madrid that Gibraltar became a key monitoring centre during the Cold War. I imagine they kept if a secret from everyone outside NATO.

More here on the ambitious Sra Díaz, with one of those pre-election promises that no Spaniard really believes in.

And here’s Mark Stücklin on Spain’s glut of properties built during The Mad Times – 2002-2007

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that the police are advising folk who go on holiday to have their neighbours move their doormat around while they’re away. If not, thieves will know they’re not at home.

I regularly accuse Spain’s banks of being rapacious. As forecast, apart from giving low interest rates on deposit accounts and nothing on current accounts, they’re now raising their fixed and variable costs, during a CoL crisis. The worst offenders, says Lenox, are Santander, Sabadell and CaixaBank, all of whom who charge, inter alia, an admin fee of €240pa. Spaniards, of course, accept this as the norm, as they’ve never known anything else. They’re astonished to find I don’t pay any fees to my UK or my (Vigo-based) Italian bank and actually get interest on my current accounts.

Fascinating Spain bring us the best of 7 unknown plazas mayores around Spain, most of which I’ve seen.

The Marbella mayoress clearly thinks a lot of herself. She’s just raised her salary to a level slightly above Spain’s national President. And she’s not even a regional or provincial President. Lots of presidents in Spain – a de facto federal state.

Here’s a photo-essay from The Guardian on a bullfighters’ school here in Spain. And here’s one they did earlier, in 2019.

And here’s The Eye on Spain with 7 Gastronomic Festivals to enjoy this summer, 3 of which are here in Galicia. This region is said to be ‘an explosion of parties in summer’. They mean ‘fiestas’. Or festivals.

UK

A wine recommendation from The Times: 2022 Eidos de Padrinan Albariño (13%) £18.95. Treat yourself to a top-notch albariño from the producer Adega dos Eidos in one of the best Spanish spots, Rias Baixas. Made from vines grown on the slopes of the Pontevedra estuary, its lip-smacking, steely, saline, brightly fruited charm make it a summer must-have. [Never heard of it but this means very little, if not nothing. Seems to cost €10.45 here in Spain. Might give it a try].

France

Having had a French partner who was brought up in one of the Paris banlieues, I know a little about the failure of France’s model of assimilaton of citizens from its ex-colonies. But is the country really on the verge of ‘decivilisation’ as President Macron warns, endorsed by Richard North here?

Spain, of course, does a great deal better than both France and the UK as regards assimilation of folk from their ex-colonies. The reasons for this include religion and colour. And plenty of work in the tourism and hostelry sectors.

Russia

Putin knows his history: the end will be brutal and from within. Despite having the trappings of a functional constitution, Russia remains an autocracy in which, from Peter the Great to Stalin, leaders either anoint their successors or are removed by bloody force. More here.

Spanish

• Un felpudo: A doormat

• Un caco: Slang for ‘a thief’. There are others. Chorizo, for example[RAE: Ratero, ladronzuelo].

Finally . . .

From feast to famine. Well, not quite but for the last 2 days readership has been much lower than usual. No idea why but I wonder if I’ve forfeited all my North Korean and Vox readers.

Whatever, I plough/plow on with my mission to inform and amuse. And occasionally irritate.

Welcome to new subscriber: A Journey to the Heart

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.