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/Galiza

Pre-election politics:

Blimey, four FT articles this morning:-

• The transcript of a chat with a local who knows his stuff – Spain’s lurch to the right.
• A profile of the (awful) Vox leader.
• Why the PM’s gamble hinges on getting out the ‘beach vote’
• Vox’s support from other EU far-right parties. With friends like that . . .

One of the complications of deciding where to live in Spain is that several important tax rates are delegated to the regional governments, leading to differences that can be massive. I have a feeling that few folk would choose to live in Asturias, for example, but could be wrong. Anyway, here and here are articles on recent IHT developments down in the South East, with useful links.

Talking of taxes . . . So, clarity here – maybe – on the issue of the tolls we’ll be paying on most Spanish roads as of next year.

Down in Alicante, the police have arrested 4 Albanians who happened to have five tonnes of cocaine in their lockup, worth €1billion on the street. This is said to have been hidden in a shipment of bananas. That must have been a helluva lot of bananas. A whole shipful?

I drove a guest to the Pv city train station at 6.30 this morning. The streets were, of course, deserted but for a couple of ‘pilgrims’ either heading out of Pv or into the centre in search of accommodation. And a possible maría dealer and client in Plaza de Galicia.

The temperature was just 16, against the 25 expected for midday today. Which, of course, is 2-3pm in Spain. Anyway, I thought again of all the UK media reports which stress, like this one, that the country is sweltering in high summer temperatures. Well, no more than usual in at least in the northern third of it, known as Green Spain. So, if you’re afraid of dying in the heat next year, Go North! As the Spaniards do. But not to Pv city, please. No beaches here.

The UK

An e-bike rider has been jailed for causing the death of an 88-old pedestrian in the first prosecution of its kind in Britain. The cyclist had been travelling on the pavement/sidewalk at between 33 and 50kph. Possibly should have been garrotted . . .

Lenox Napier has made the point that: Thanks to the dreadful Farage, many thousands of Brits living in Europe lost their bank accounts in the UK. This is very true but the difference is that in Farage’s case the reasons were political/ideological – hence the almighty fuss – while, for the poor Brits, their banks took commercial decisions. And there are other banks available, such as mine. As there probably are for Farage, I guess.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

This Guardian columnist rightly points out the ‘inconvenient truth’ is that Net Zero measures hit the poorest hardest. But, naturally, thinks this should lead to massive subsidies for the latter. Nowhere in the article is any indication of what this will mean in reality by way of taxes or borrowings – a traditional lapse of the Left. Nor of economic realities facing those companies which have raced to invest in green products/services.

Relevantly . . .

• The Swedish energy giant Vattenfall says it will stop work on the multibillion-pound Norfolk Boreas windfarm, designed to power the equivalent of 1.5m homes, because it’s no longer profitable.
• A Scottish gigafactory venture – for batteries – is reported to be on the brink of collapse as it’s run out of cash. And is probably hoping for a government(i.e. taxpayer) handout.

English

Many readers will have heard or read the sentence: And the cock crowed 3 times. Well, I heard the preterite ‘crew’ on the BBC this morning and wondered if it was a mistake in the opposite direction from the ‘strived’ I mentioned the other day. But, no, they’re both correct. Bloody stupid language. But, in its favour, it is capable on endless neologisms, such as yesterday’s phubbing. Though this might not be unique to English, of course. It’s easy to make new words in German, I suspect, just by joining 2, 3 or 4 words together . . .

Gallego

These are Galician equivalents for 3 Spanish words:-

• Rúa – Calle
• Pechado/a – Cerrado/a
• Agás – Excepto

So it is is we have signs in Pv city saying Rúa pechada, agás servicios. Which always prompt me to ask how holidaying Madrileños are supposed to understand this, in their own country. Contrast Welsh signs in the UK, which always – I think – show their English equivalents.

Finally . . .

The first time I went grocery shopping in the USA, I was asked at the checkout if I favoured paper or plastic. Assuming this related to payment, I said ‘paper’ and was given a traditional brown paper bag. I was asked the same in the new ALDI supermarket 2 days ago and, this time, said ‘plastic’, meaning tarjeta (bank card). Which is how I ended up with a large plastic ALDI bag that I didn’t want . . . .

To amuse . . . As I’ve had a Lego-mad 4 year old in my house for 3 weeks now, this struck a cord:-

Welcome to new subscriber: Kirill Hrudzinski, who has a blog dedicated to travel.

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.