Colin Davies

18 October 2023

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

Two bits of of train news . . .

  • I’m not sure why it had to – perhaps something to do with the different tracks – but Brussels has approved the operation of Renfe’s AVRIL low(er) cost high-speed train in Spain. Which the VdG thinks will accelerate the arrival of a true high-speed service between Ourense and Santiago de C, Pv city and Vigo. Fingers crossed. Especially for some competition.
  • Portugal says it’s reserving a massive sum in its budgets for the AVE high-speed train between Lisboa and Galicia. Don’t know the predicted date of its arrival in Vigo but I wouldn’t believe it anyway. Nor the estimated cost, of course.

Galicia has become the first region to ban the sale of energy drinks to minors. But I imagine they’ll find some way to get hold of them.

Some deaths certainly seem sadder than other. After celebrating her 95th birthday, a woman in Cuntis was knocked down and killed near her house. On a pedestrian crossing. The driver blamed the dark and the rain. Both of which are quite common in Galicia. Especially in autumn and winter.

I’m reminded of the excuse offered last week by a young man accused of having intercourse with a minor. Because she had a low cut dress and a short skirt, he said. he’d thought she was much older than 14.

Another quote from Cees Noteboom’s ‘Roads to Santiago’: Because I hadn’t written about Santiago, I hadn’t really been there. There was always something else that needed thinking or writing about, a landscape, a road, a monastery, a writer or a painter, and yet it seemed as if all those landscapes, all those stories of Moors and kings and pilgrims, all of my own memories as well as the written memoirs of others pointed steadily in the same direction, to the place where Spain and the oceanic West come together, to the city which, in all its Galician aloofness[?], is the true capital of Spain.

The UK

Bad news if you dream of the region of Scotland becoming an independent nation. . . The SNP is a dwindling band of fantasists. But at least your ex leader isn’t in jail or in exile. Or not yet, at least. The Barnett Formula, by the way, determines transfers from London to Scotland, resulting in per capita government spending there always being higher than in England. Part of the reason why most Scots don’t want the apron strings cut.

Germany

The end of free money has plunged the German construction industry into crisis. Negative interest rates turned positive and all heck broke loose in the property development sector.

The EU

Germany has called for EU-wide ‘approval’ of universal basic income(UBI). As for the current situation, Bing advises that: As of early 2022, no countries had implemented a truly UBI model, though a few had launched UBI-like programme specifically designed to aid the neediest individuals. Finland is the first EU member state to have tried to apply UBI, doing so for the 2017-2018 period. However it was not a true UBI programme, as it was limited to a small group of unemployed individuals. The article says that Germany has UBI (Bürgergeld), though Bing advises that: Bürgergeld is not a true UBI. Unlike UBI, it is means-tested and only paid to people who are unable to finance their own living expenses. Spain has the Ingreso Mínimo Vital, for people in a ‘vulnerable economic position’. So – likewise – not very universal. All rather confusing. How are they different from increased welfare payments in the UK?

The USA

I read an article this morning re (North) Americans flooding into London as ‘the quality of life is so much better in the UK’. Bloody ‘ell. Thank god they’re ignorant about Spain. Though they’d surely prefer Madrid to Pv city.

The Way of the World

Two pertinent articles, the first from reader Aleksandras – looking to the past – and the second from The Times, looking to the future:-

Did you know?

I’m passing on these comments from a reader re emails:-

  • You’re right to be worried about emails arriving from known people.
  • Too many people use simple words, easily found by sophisticated algorithms ceaselessly trawling the internet for ways into email accounts.
  • Every spam email you receive from a seemingly genuine source arrives in your inbox because some numbnut chose a stupid password.
  • You can buy lists of ‘live’ email accounts by the thousand for nickels & dimes – genuine accounts whose owners have no idea their accounts are being used to send spam.
  • You need to us a password manager – an open source one, not a commercial (i.e. paid for) one. If that doesn’t make sense to you, Google ‘open source’ and ‘security’.

I’m now beginning to wonder if the numerous comments to my blog from a reader have actually been AI generated for the purpose of creating a false sense of security in respect of later emails with nasty leaks apparently sent by him. Far fetched?

Finally . . .

Thanks – I guess – to the prolonged dry and warm period before this week’s deluge, both my bougainvillea and my lemon tree have seen prodigious growth, with the former seeming to be growing and dying at the same time.

As for the lemon tree . . . It’s so loaded with fruit that I’ve had to shore it up and pull off 20 of the 50-75 lemons at risk of breaking the branches. The tree almost died of an aphid attack 2 years ago and produced almost no fruit last year. Celebrating its survival, I guess.

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.

For those thinking of moving to Spain:- This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers.