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

Spain’s messy election puts King Felipe in a right royal dilemma, says The Guardian here. Can he select a candidate for prime minister without being caught in the crossfire? Answer: No.

Meanwhile, his father – the disgraced ex-king – hasn’t made Felipe’s life any easier, by spending another week yachting in nearby Sanxenxo. He too must be going through a disappointing phase. A victory for the PP/Vox coalition might have meant he could return from exile..

The radical right-wing threat hasn’t gone away, says The Guardian here.

I’ve said a few times that building a Catholic cathedral in the centre of the Grand Mosque in Córdoba was an abomination. Imagine my surprise, then, to read yesterday that: Vatican documents dating from 1590 certify that building a cathedral in the Mosque of Córdoba was a “bad idea”’. HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for that gem.

And for this one too: The Living Philosophy brings us ‘The Mythical History of Camino de Santiago. The history and mythology of Europe’s greatest hiking trail. Which Lenox describes as a full and interesting article. So. I will read it today, if paternal responsibilities allow me the time to do so, after they all get up.

We have a lovely little park alongside the river Lérez, which runs around Pv city, making it a sort of peninsula. It’s called A Illa das Esculturas. The Island of the Sculptures. All of these are ‘modern’, as is this one:-

It’s by this German chap and consists of 5 granite blocks. From travelling all over Galicia, I’d say he’s been extraordinarily active throughout the region, often by the side of roads. And in quarries . . .

I ordered a new bank card on Wednesday and my bank said it’d arrive by Correo Express. This took 2 days, or 1 day longer than the ‘guaranteed next day delivery’ of the UK’s ‘First Class’ mail service of my youth. Things have changed in the world of snailmail, as in many others – certainly in the UK and possibly in Spain.

Which reminds me . . . My son-in-law mailed some tablets for my daughter almost 2 weeks ago, from the UK. As they’ve yet to arrive, I’m wondering if they’ve been nicked or whether this is just an example of the standard July-August Correos service. We’ll possibly never know.

The UK

Bit of a shocker . . . Britain has become a nation of dependents. New data shows that 54% of the population now receives more from the state than they contribute in taxes. Possibly justifying the headline to this article: The once great British middle class is now riddled with entitlement and dependency. I’m pretty sure this isn’t true of Spain, where benefits trail those of the UK and elsewhere. Which would make ‘socialist’ Spain less socialist than ‘neo-liberal’ Britain . .

All part of The Great British Decline???

The Way of the World

This (apparently) nice lady spends a lot of time listening to some (indubitably) un-nice men, on our behalf. The coming decade, she warns, will bring one major crisis: the mainstreaming of extreme ideas. Thanks, essentially, to social media powered, of course, by the not-always-wonderful internet.

The bizarre rules that could see you fined on your next holiday. Including in Spain. As the writer points out, there’s a lack of logic in fining folk who listen through earphones, whether cycling or driving, when motorists aren’t fined for having music on at 11. Or, as I said to the last cop who fined me for this, for having 4 Spanish women in my car shouting at each other, simultaneously.

Spanish

Wasaap: María tells me that this is, indeed, the way Spaniards spell Whatsapp/wotsap. She thinks it might be to indicate an A sound longer than usual, under the (mistaken) belief that this is how native English speakers pronounce it. Which I’ve never heard. But maybe the long A can be heard on the BBC or in what used to be called The Home Counties, in the South East of England. But nowhere else.

Finally . . .

To amuse . . . Galician humour is called retranca. Here’s an example, centred on the alleged indecisiveness of Gallegos and the variability of Galician weather . . .

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.

Which reminds me . . . I was just about to write to John Brierley to tell him of yet another new ‘pilgrims’ hostel in Pv city, only to recall his recent sad demise.