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 other day I cited the (hard-to-believe) figure of 200 for the deaths in bullrunning events around Spain in 2022. Today sees the start of the famous Pamplona version and, right on cue, comes this video of an incident in Castejón, in Navarra. Some bulls are cheeky like that,

The UK is not the only country suffering from a shortage of doctors. Here in Spain, the government has introduced a remarkably generous package for doctors, aimed at bribing them not to retire. ‘Stuffing their mouths with gold’, as was said of doctors when the UK government introduced the NHS against their resistance 75 years ago.

María has confirmed that it’s wise to challenge the first product offered to by a Spanish pharmacist. Specifially, she counsels, never ask for aspirin/aspirina, as you’ll get the expensive Bayer product. Best to ask for the Spanish for salycilc acid – ácido acetilsalicílico, assuming you can get yor tongue around it. Or have it written down. In line with this, I always ask for el producto genérico, when I know the original is out of patent.

My Ferrol friend, Richard, has told me that Yolanda Díaz – considered mad by some – also hails from that fine city, along with the 2 cited yesterday.

A few items on Galicia or Pv city, from my accumulated notes:-

• While Pv city continues to grow faster than any other Galician city, its lovely old quarter is losing residents – possibly because of the increase in ‘tourist flats’ whose owners are now absentee landlords. Like 2 of my neighbours here in Poio, above the city and quite far from a beach.
• Some madman has been charged with trying to steal the assets of the head honcho(capo) of a heroin-smuggling clan in south Galicia.
• The strike-driven logjam in our courts – more than 2 years old – has reached ‘record levels’ and is now so serious that the ‘functioning of the judicial system is at risk’. But, in truth, no one sane/poor ever considered going to court in Spain.
• At a time when rents are increasing rapidly and it’s ever more difficult to find a place to rent, 14% of properties in Pv city are empty. Or ‘more than 6,000’. No idea why. I was once told by a realtor it was 25%.
• In nearby Sanxenxo – the ‘Marbella of the North’ – you can now go on a tour to see how octopuses are caught. Out at sea, of course, not in a farm.
• Galicia now has 2,500 more swimming pools than it did a year ago, at a cost of €25m. Owners sometime forget to declare these to the tax authorities but, luckily for them, drones are now used by the Facenda to find them so that their owners can be prompted to do so.

The Way of the World

Air traffic controllers in the UK – and, I assume, in France – say they’ll be striking in July and August, disrupting or cancelling thousands of flights. Well, it wouldn’t be summer without these, would it? Does this happen in other countries, specifically the USA? Or Poland?

Those who do manage to get away do some very strange things, it says here. At least in Europe.

English

This is an article on what words to use and what not to. I imagine it’ll make no sense to anyone who doesn’t speak English like a native. Or to any native English speaker who isn’t British.

Spanish

We say ‘behind bars’; the Spanish say ‘between bars’ – entre rejas.

Did you know?

Aspirin was invented, by Bayer, more than 120 years ago and is still very widely used as a pain killer. It’s instructive to note it’d never be approved for use these days.

Certain folk – e.g. drunks – aren’t allowed to take part in Pamplona’s encierros. I had thought women were barred from doing so but, from the scenes I’ve just seen ahead of today’s first Pamplona run of the season, I can see they aren’t. Or, less likely in this case, the rule is being ignored

Finally . . .

I’m wondering if my 2 daughters, both staying with me for the summer, will let me to show today’s bull-running in Pamplona to their young sons, when they eventually get up. I suspect not . . . At 2mins 34, it was an average run, with the usual stack of incidental injuries but no gorings. But there were several very close near-misses – always lovingly reprised by TV España – and a few seconds of excitement when the last of the 6 bulls declined to exit the bullring behind the final cow but it was quickly enticed to do so. En passant, it’s always a bit a of a surprise to see that the bulls are smaller than the cows, though with massively stronger necks.

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.