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
It can be tough to be a naturist in Spain. Your once-exclusive beaches are increasingly being invaded by los (leering) textiles. For example, in Tarragona.
I see Jérez is high on the list of places to be ‘ruined’ by tourism,. When I went there in 2018, I wasn’t a ‘tourist’ but a ‘pilgrim’, on the camino. Which is very different, of course. . . We don’t stay or eat in the places cited in The Times.
A (very) unfortunate village down South.
Our climate/weather . . . Says the VdG this morning: Cool Galicia: Spain will be the coolest area in Spain. It’s the region with the fewest tropical nights, when the thermometer exceeds 20 degrees Celsius, and the one that will suffer the least from heat waves by 2050. Specifically, according to scientists’ predictions,the Spanish province with the most pleasant summer temperatures will be A Coruña. They believe that, at the current rate, in 25 years’ time the annual average in the hottest months will rise by 3 degrees, while in the province of A Coruña it will only increase by 1.5 degrees. And the rain in the north will be a luxury.
The UK
We all know that the UK is going to Hell in a hand cart. Yet, despite this – for one reason and another – life there is seen by some to be better than in France or several other European countries . . .
As they say, everything is relative.
(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero
More here on the grass factor in wildfires here, with specific reference to Hawai.
Here in Galicia, the non-native, cash-crop and highly-flammable eucalyptus trees play a similar role in creating a tinderbox and then profiting from the death of other slow-growing trees. This year, though – and despite temperatures as high as normal – we’ve seen few fires here, in contrast with the South of neighbouring Portugal. After the horrendous fires of 2006, new land-management laws were brought in and it’s possible these have been complied with, reducing our fire-rate to something like that of neighbouring Asturias. Where, it’s said, land management has always been done better.
The Way of the World
The endless search for total safety and the elimination of risk in the developed world . . .
Confused by these UK road signs?
You won’t be alone. The local council says the new colour scheme is intended to make the area safer for motorists and pedestrians. Understandably, drivers have asked how they’re supposed to abide by the markings when they have no idea what each colour is instructing them to do.
Finally . . .
About the only thing I inherited from my 2nd wife was an (ancient) Moulinex blender. With a family of 2 adults and 3 kids staying with me – and faced with a child who’ll only eat vegetables when they’re puréed – I’ve had to work out how to use it, after more than 20 years in a cupboard. The blender, of course. Not me. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the coffee grinder burned out yesterday, having threatened to do this for a couple of weeks.
Ever the optimist, I’m now waiting for the blender to burn out – the 4th thing in a month or so .
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.
THE ARTICLE |
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
The glass half empty perspective on the reason people choose Britain to come to is, of course, the language. Whether you are in Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Vietnam or the Philippines you’d want to emigrate to a country with a widely spoken language. Even more so if you already know a smattering, as is often the case. Also people are not stupid. The internet provides ample information about Britain’s lax bureaucratic standards and the relative flexibility of the labour market. Imagine having to learn Dutch or Slovak or even German. Daunting. Or having to confront the much stricter and cumbersome German or French bureaucracy. Britain is an easier place in some ways and the grapevine works.
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Yes, I think we are all aware of those reasons. And others, which I will cite tomorrow, from yr despised DT.
Which reminds me. Why not give yrself just one moniker, instead of inventing a new one evert time? No one knows who you are, or cares, I imagine.
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For your “naturist” read Naturist
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Hello Colin,
This YT link did not appear yesterday & it’s QI, because Robert Girouard’s article of 2 days ago, makes reference to a worse climate being a main contributor to the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
Extract:
“Around a millennium later, other civilizations that had flourished thanks to a renewed climatic optimum were hit hard by a new episode of mega-drought, accompanied by famine and migration. We’re talking here about the new empire of Egypt, the Cretan and Minoan civilizations, the Hittite empire, the kingdoms of Mycenae and Ugarit, to name but a few. Within fifty years, they all collapsed, along with the trade networks they had established. The causes of this civilizational debacle known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse are undoubtedly manifold – think of the invasions of the Sea Peoples – but climate change was certainly a factor.”
Full History of the Ancient Britons: Origins to Post Rome.
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