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

Politics: After 2008. two new parties arose in Spain: Ciudadanos, a centre-ist party, and Podemos, a far-left party. Both have now virtually disappeared, having had their decade or so in the sun. The VdG today asks – more in hope than belief, I suspect – if the same fate awaits the far-right Vox party:Sycophants: The 23 July election has left a trail of political “corpses” in various parties. One of the most affected has been Vox, where, according to critics, a purge is being carried out and a warning has been sent to Abascal to warn of the danger of the party’s disappearance: “You have surrounded yourself with sycophants,” they tell him. On the opposite wing, the one on the left, there’s an exchange of statements, in an atmosphere of secrecy, about negotiations with the PSOE. In Sumar they say that they are progressing “positively” but the Junts[a Catalan secessionist party] denies this.

A very modern tale: One of Spain’s toughest prisons has been forced to implement ‘shower watch’ shifts due to a female prisoner falling pregnant after a trans inmate was transferred to the women’s wing. It comes after the female section of the prison received a prisoner who’d spent several years in the men’s section. During this period, he underwent a gender transition process, self-identified as a woman and adopted a female name. However, he didn’t undergo hormonal treatments or surgery to complete the process and retained the original male genitalia.A request was then put in to transfer the prisoner to the female population. Once there, the (s)he came out as a lesbian, and quickly struck up a relationship with a fellow inmate. series of steamy shower romps ensued and a short time later a female inmate became pregnant. It’s reported that the trans prisoner has been removed from the women’s wing.

NOTE: Spain’s new ‘Trans Law’, which came into effect in March, allows a person to change their gender identity in the civil register without undergoing a two-year hormonal treatment or obtaining a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as was previously required. Yet its implementation remains pending in penitentiary facilities.

HT to Lenox Napier of Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that the purchase of houses in Galicia is up by 30%. Foreign investors include the French, Dutch and Germans who are thinking about their retirement. From Galicia to Cuba and vice versa: Galicia is receiving more and more foreigners, coming to the region to settle. In the last 25 years, citizens from other countries have gone from 0.7% of the population to 5%. Currently, Venezuela is about to overtake Portugal as the main country of origin, but they also come from other places with close ties to the Galicians, such as Argentina and Cuba.

And Lenox as also sent me this article on Teucro, the mythical founder of Pontevedra city:

A couple of readers have kindly advised me that, while there might be no flights from Northern or the Central England, Ryanair fly from Edinburgh. Why?

The Low Countries

The North Sea will be the new Med? . . . A dip in the North Sea followed by a bowl of moules-frites and large Duvel beer could soon replace the classic combination of the Mediterranean, paella and sangria for holidaymakers seeking cooler climes for their summer escape. The head of Tui, the world’s largest holiday company, expects countries such as Belgium to soar in popularity in the coming years. “We will [also] focus”, he says, “on new destinations like the Nordics and Holland.”

The USA

This is an article on the many SPACs set up for EVs, seen by the writer as mostly scam-ish. One of the comments to the article suggests a (re)read of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, first published in 1841. The Comments also contain this fascinating description of the construction of the (undoubtedly) successful Tesla EV: The design is basically a battery on wheels, built like a washing machine. The ‘magic secret’ of the latest model Y is that they make the battery into a giant glue and foam monocoque that then gets the seats bolted to it and becomes the entire bottom of the car. The coolant tubing and distribution manifolds look like they’re straight out of a washing machine. This is all very clever and puts them way ahead of the other manufacturers (costwise) who are still trying to build normal cars with big batteries bolted inside. The only drawback I can see is, that like modern washing machines, they’re built as throw-aways. Sure you can replace the electric motor and stuff easily enough, but any problems internally within the battery, or collision damage to the exterior that impinges on the giant battery belly pan, or die cast rear structure and the car is toast. I’m not sure a Tesla will be my next car, even they make a very small one.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

Richard North believes that: By far the majority of people, if they have any awareness at all of net-zero, only have the vaguest idea of what it actually is and have almost no perception of how it affects them personally. It is too far in the future and altogether too theoretical for most people to take notice of it. And he quotes a Times columnist who writes: While most of us believe in man-made climate change, this doesn’t give self-appointed climate martyrs permission to visit unplanned, impractical policies upon us. Climate change belief – adds RN – should be tempered by scepticism of dramatic predictions of what’s coming – theories rolled out with great fanfare and based upon massive simplifications. As of now, he sees cloud-cucko-land-ism on both sides of the divide and predicts popular reaction in various forms, in the UK at least. Possibly compelling a belated switch to practical strategies to deal with the (un-denied) challenge of AGW.

Did you know?

Allegedly, you can forget 10,000 steps a day, as: New research suggests walking just 2,337 steps a day will help prevent cardiovascular disease.

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.