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, with only 5 days to go:-

• The FT returns to the subject of the far-right Vox party and its likely entry into national power.
• Politico highlights the highly aggressive attitude of Vox towards Cataluña. And to think many folk thought the PP leader Rajoy went too far last time the Catalans were provocative, back in 2017. It doesn’t bode well.

Relations with Gibraltar – which tend to improve during PSOE adminstrations – will also take a turn for the worse, if Vox has influence over PP policy. Ironically, if so, it’ll be the many thousands of poor Spaniards who work in Gib who’ll suffer most. Certainly not any Vox voters.

Meanwhile, the ex(and disgraced) king keeps us amused in the London courts. And allows us to see that foto for the hundredth time.

His son, the current king and a fashion icon . . .

The other day I could see – and hear – from my Poio eyrie a long procession of trucks winding its was around the streets of Pv city. I assumed it was some sort of protest but now wonder if it wasn’t the traditional way of celebrating St Christopher’s day, with a statue of the saint strapped to the front of the lead truck.

Europe

There can be little doubt that Europe has been ‘lurching to the right’*. (In contrast, the UK will surely elect a left-of-centre government next year. Britain is different.) This columnist claims it’s not all about immigration and that other factors resonate even more with voters than that issue. Spain’s Vox party is cited at length.

*Which is why someone in the British media claimed recently – seriously? – that the Tory party would one day want to take the UK back into the EU.

The UK

This is a pretty harsh view of the country. Quite a widespread one at the moment, I gauge. As for accuracy, I’m not sure. As I have 3 grandchildren there, l rather hope it’s unduly pessimistic.

The EU

This is something from the FT on Franco-German relations which I might just have cited before . . .

Quotes of The Day

• Social media moves so fast and the mob has seemingly so little care for the consequences of what it does, that lives are ruined in the space of an afternoon. If we think there should be a privacy law as a society, then why are we sitting here pretending social media isn’t happening?
• Really not very unusual weather events have suddenly acquired important, scary names drawn from the mythological flames of hell. After ‘Cerberus’ and ‘Charon’, get ready for ‘Heatwave Hades’. If the current weather in the UK had a name it would be ‘Colin’. Not entirely sure why. A bit bland and disappointing?

The Way of the World

The red and black flag of anarcho-syndicalism was first used in the Spanish Civil War by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. This was a group of mostly working-class people, peasants and trade unionists. They had taken up arms in an attempt to stop General Franco’s far-right takeover of Spain in the early 1930s. Many were killed by the Franco regime during this period. Some trade-unionist and working-class families disappeared completely. Click here to see how the flag is being (mis)used by some of today’s ‘anti-fascists’. Or, more accurately, by one group which which has appropriated that label.

Did you know?

There are theists and theists. Some of the oddest believe that the Garden of Eden really existed on earth and was created just a little over 6,000 years ago. Why? Because back in 1654 an Anglican Archbishop, one James Ussher, studied Biblical biographies and decided, with exquisite specificity, that the earth had been created at the start of the evening preceding the 23rd day of October in 4004 BC. This was arrant nonsense, of course, but you can never convince a JW of that. Nor, possibly, an Evangelical Christian or a Mormon. Certainly not a Young Earth Creationist.

It takes all sorts. Especially in the colourful world of religion.

Finally . . .

To amuse . . . A couple of difficult people, described thus Nicholas Spencer’s Magisteria:-

• Endowed with so much talent, Galileo lacked only judgement, tact and modesty. He never outgrew the habit of scoring points off people he judged wrong or stupider than himself, which was more or less everyone. By the reckoning of one contemporary, he preferred to lose a friend than an argument. It was a habit that helped him alienate, anger and arm his enemies.
• Isaac Newton‘s genius for making discoveries was matched only by his genius for making enemies.

Another couple of sayings of my mother that, unusually, weren’t really admonitions or complaints:

• He’s a poet but he doesn’t know it
• There’s nowt queer as folk – ‘queer’ here having its original meaning of ‘strange’.

And here’s a couple from readers recalling their own mothers:-

• I’m not so green as I am cabbage looking.
• It’s dark over [at] Bill’s mother’s [house].

Both of these might be Yorkshire sayings. Though a Yorkshire friend here in Vigo says he’s never heard either of them.

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.