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

What you’ve all been waiting for since at least last winter . . . A [sponsored] guide to secret Spain: A classy Costa Blanca stay, a cool Cadiz retreat or an Ibiza hideaway – here’s where the Spanish go on holiday. Included is this bit on ‘Green Spain’: In summer, Spaniards make for the emerald-hued countryside and white-sand beaches of the north – Galicia is a favourite. Here the weather is more changeable, but with temperatures in the 20s, it can be a good 10 degrees cooler than on the coast further south. But it’s all a lie, put out by the Galiciam Tourist Board. It was 35 here yesterday. And ,when it’s not that hot, it rains every single day. The weather this morning is even duller than in the foto above.

So, don’t come here! You’ll only regret it . . . I recommend lovely Cádiz.

Oh, yes. If you really do want to risk coming to Galicia from the UK, don’t bother looking for flights from anywhere other than the London area. Assuming you don`t want to have to get t London and then take 6-8 hours to fly to SdC involving a change of plane in Barcelona or Madrid. Or to have to make a 2-3 hour journey from Oporto in Portugal.

Vigo is a very commercial city, with a huge port. It looks down on Pv city, even though – or because – the latter is the capital of the province named after it. I suspect the two main reasons for this are:-

• Vigo is 4 times the size of Pv city these days, and
• Pv is not a city of business folk but of bureaucrats, with very few industries*, where more than 80% of businesses only employ 1 or 2 people. Excluding the drug clans, of course.

* Only one, as far as I can tell. This is the cellulose factory on the city’s outskirts, which the mayor has been trying get rid of for more than 20 years now.

María gives us her views from a small Galician village here or here

Europe

The Chinese are coming! Or at least their electric cars are. So . . . Have the Europeans been insufficiently protective in this case, unlike the (North) Americans? And are they less worried about security risks? Click here.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

Has the wind gone out of the sails of the wind turbine business? If so, is this likely to be permanent and with significant implications for Net Zero? See the WSJ here. And Richard North, with more of a UK focus, here

More generally, the FT opines here that Climate politics has entered a new phase.

Quote of the Day

The worst thing a nurse can say when she enters the room just after the doctor has finished your prostate examination. “Who the hell was that?”

English

The cringeosphere: Where excruciatingly bad videos are posted. Mostly on Tik Tok, I guess.

Finally . . .

One of those headlines . . . Secret home cameras caught wife ‘pouring bleach in husband’s coffee. Must have been a strong brew, if he never tasted or smelt it.

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.