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

From this interesting FT info-graphic we can see that there’s a lower percentage of native-born poor families in Spain than in the UK, but that this changes very significantly for immigrant families. Which must reflect something. Perhaps job opportunities.

This week, face-masks will cease to be mandatory in health centres, pharmacies and hospitals after more than 3 years of being a legal requirement. Or, rather, that’s what we were told a while back. But now the Minister of Health has said that, though this decision has been taken, he hasn’t decided on a date yet . . .

I increasingly see camino ‘pilgrims’ in ‘the wrong place’, usually looking a tad confused about where to go next. In years past, I’d put them on the right track but, these days, there’s just too many of them – reflecting the fact that there are now 4 (‘authentic pilgrim’) ways you can proceed to Santiago de Compostela from Pontevedra, compared with just the one that sufficed for a thousand years. So, I only do it now if someone is way off-piste, like the chap walking up my hill in Poio the other day.

A new café/bar has opened in Pv city’s old quarter. Yesterday, I asked for the wifi code, to be told that they didn’t have wifi. When I pointed out that they certainly did, I was told this was for staff PDAs only. As I’ve said, we’re clearly now moving from one extreme to the other – from every café/bar offering wifi to none. Meaning I have to rely on friendship with a waiter or waitress for the (unofficial) relevant data.

France

A film which predicted the current carnage? . . . Netflix viewers idly scrolled through the service over the past week might have found themselves in for a shock if they’d clicked on a film named Athena. The title – which alludes to a fictitious housing estate in Paris – might suggest something high-minded and resonant but this snarling thriller – combining intricately choreographed action scenes with social resonance – will force viewers onto the edge of their seats and not let them leave it until the credits roll.

UK

Nationalists in the (Scottish) Orkney Isles want to leave Scotland and join Norway. Which rather points up the idiocy of Scotland – a region not at real country/state – wanting to leave the UK. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as we say. Though I’ve never understood why.

Europe/The EU

Another interesting info-graphic, from my Ferrol friend, Richard:-

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

In this fact-ful article, Richard North claims here that Net-zero is crumbling under the weight of its own inconsistencies, Casandra-like, he ends on a (heavy)down-note: The dream is over. The nightmare stage is about to begin. If this is true, will politicians anywhere voluntarily tell us? Or will they wait until they’re forced to by market realities and voter revolt?

Quote of The Day

The Scottish nationalist movement, like every other nationalist movement in the world, is motivated by fallacy rather than fact. These fallacies are usually self-serving as well as being divorced from reality. But they serve their purpose of motivating activists to campaign while at the same time encouraging them into a permanent state of furious indignation. Witness Cataluña?

The Way of the World of Fashion

What used to be the ultimate no-no for any woman with class has become one of the hottest trends of the year. Those days when one used to worry about even the tiniest bit of bra strap peeping out are long gone. The most brazen approach is obviously just to wear a bra and nothing else on your top half. The most 1 per cent rendering[?] of this iteration is a variety of 3-piece that entails matching bra, jacket and bottom half. This is a trend that’s a little bit risqué, and there’s nothing more modern than to come across as a little bit risqué. Probably only for women. And people who say they’re women and might or might not have enough of a bosom to fill a bra. But who knows? Perhaps we’ll see fashionable men with a couple of flat triangles on their chests. Stranger things have happened in the mad world of fashion.

Spanish

Just learned . . Una muda: a change of clothing, inter alia. (Grandson in summer camp going today for a ‘water day’.)

Clever . . .

Finally . . .

Quite a headline . . . A nurse having an affair with a patient failed to call 999 when he died with his trousers down. In the back of a car, where they were ‘having a chat’. Possibly about his vasectomy scars.

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 – updated a bit in early July 2023.