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

Pre-election politics . . . A single theme:-

• The Spanish PM suffers the consequences of the (much promoted) perception that he’s in bed with terrorists. And also here, in the FT.
• Says ex British (socialist) PM, Gordon Brown: Spain’s election is a key battle in the Europe-wide struggle against neofascism. If the anti-feminist, anti-migration Vox seizes power, this will embolden the far right in Germany, Finland and beyond. Click here.
• Franco’s ghost fails to scare Spain away from the hard right, from the FT again.

Spain was the first EU country to get Next Generation subventions from Brussels but has been dilatory in both distributing and, eventually, dispensing them. As I’ve said, I wonder why and who’s benefitted. I don’t imagine details will be published before the imminent general election.

Talking of payouts . . . Huge sums have been necessary to compensate for the drought of the early months of this year.

I’m totally with Lenox Napier Spanish Shilling blog on his theme here. A bloody nuisance in the Alhambra and other wonderful places around Spain.

Here on the western Galician coast, it rained for much of the day yesterday. Mostly drizzle – llovizna – and it occurred to me that the happiest folk in Pv city would be those from the South who could now claim they’d been justified to put wet-weather gear in their suitcases, por si acaso. You can tell at a glance who they are – the entire family is wearing very light rainwear over pullovers, while the locals are in T-shirts and keeping their umbrellas furled until, perhaps, the drizzle turns into something serious. Bits of Spain are different.

Talking of visitors . . . Perhaps the odd couple I cited yesterday were honouring Pride Month. Pride Week/Day as it once was.

It felt more that a tad odd last evening – sitting in my garden between showers and in a temperature of ‘only’ 21* – to read that parts of Extremadura** had reached more than 40 during the day. Or 60, if you measured the soil. I’d noted earlier in the week that Galicia hadn’t even merited a mention in an article on the parts of Spain which appeal to digital nomads. That will surely change. Indeed, as an estate agent friend who caters for foreigners tells me, they’ve already started to. Nearly all her clients are now North American. As with another friend, a lawyer who specialises in helping foreigners buy property here. When I set up this business 15 years ago, there were none.

• *But the temperature is forecast to rise to 25 next week, pretty normal for this time of year.
• * * Which means Superhot

The UK

The BBC is a treasured British institution but, these days, the two Bs could well stand for Big and Bloated. It’s certainly pretty self-obsessed, as this article avers. Some Brits want it scrapped – partly because it’s financed by a flat, ‘unprogressive’ compulsory levy – but most don’t. Surely, though, its days as the creature it now is are numbered. It’s hard to disagree agree with the comments and recommendations of the columnist.

Quote of The Day

Not a new comment but . . . The relevant Geneva and European conventions establish rights that in today’s geopolitical conditions could be claimed by literally billions of people, opening the door to all who would flee repressive, war-torn, homophobic, despotic or chaotic countries, even for undeclared economic motives that can’t be proven. I imagine many UN countries would oppose any revision of these conventions.

The Way of the World

I cited G K Chesteron the other day on how the vacuum is filled when theism dies. Right on cue, I now I read that the numbers of Shamans, Pagans and Wiccans are rapidly increasing. Which means, of course, that – in this internet age – there’s good (and easy?) money to be made from selling nostrums to the gullible/spiritually unsatisfied. The camino’s good for that, too. Hence the massive explosion in numbers over the last decade. Though one or two surely do it for true religious reasons.

Did you know?

Overheating lithium-ion batteries bought online from unregulated sellers are presenting a significant fire hazard; at least 6 a week are occurring in the UK, sometimes with deadly consequences. We can probably guess correctly where they’re coming from.

Finally . . .

For young male readers . . .

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.