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

Spanish property prices are bucking the EU trend and are still rising. Here’s why.

Life in Spain: Lenox Napier has this (valid) observation on his FB page: It’s odd how people at the next table to me shout at each other, as if the TV was on. And we are outside . . .

The chap called Curmudgeon whom I cited yesterday on Spanish banks writes here of his Top 10 bugbears. To which I can relate, of course. But I refer you to the 2nd quote at the top of this post.

Reader David has confirmed that Deportivo La Coruña football club has sunk to the depths of the 3rd Division of the Spanish league. He’s also told me of the massive corruption involving the one-time president of the club and reminded me of the infamous Jesús Gil, of Marbella and Atlético de Madrid infamy. Gil was a larger-than-life figure when I arrived in Spain in 2000 and who, as I recall, seemed to flaunt his vast corruption. Interesting detail from Wiki . . . The English band Prolapse released a song called “Surreal Madrid” the lyrics of which detailed Gil’s controversial tenure as Atlético Madrid’s president

The penultimate quote from Cees Noteboom’s Roads to Santiago: [Again, written in the 1980s] What am I looking for? The same sensations I felt 30 years ago, or 10, and I know I shall find them. The changes have usually occurred in the cities: they are fuller, more modern, the countryside has emptied. You see the signs of modernity there too, but the villages are besieged by the unchanged plateaus, the table mountains, the valleys. I am still in Catalonia now, tonight I will be in Aragón and as I drive towards the interior the landscape will widen, unfold, become more parched and less tolerant of humans, until the travel turns into a solitary swimmer in an ocean of earth stretching up to the horizon, and the earth will take on the colour of bone, sand, crushed seashells, rust, decaying wood, but even the deepest shades will be overlaid with a luminous glow that looks from afar like a veil, as if to protect the eyes from so much vastness and light. In the distance rise churches and convents which commune with visible eternity, they have something to say about the unconscionable past that has been conserved, for whoever comes looking, in the heat and cold of an extreme climate.

The UK

Britain has changed beyond all recognition in the last 70 years, says Effie Deans here. And more change is to come, she believes.

The Way of the World

Dear god! Internet ‘authors’ can make millions from marketing books which are all ghost-written. The “writing” process is relatively simple. First they use free software to see what keywords customers are searching for on Amazon. They choose a niche with as little competition as possible but with high sales, which is then used as the topic of their book. More here.

English

Winter draws(drawers) on, as my first mother-in-law used to say, amusingly . . .

• To draw on: To become closer
• Drawers = Knickers/panties

Spanish/Gallego

• These are football rattles. Or ‘clackers’. In Spanish they’re matracas and in Gallego carracas, I think. But it’s doubtful you’ll get the word ‘clacker’ if you look up these words in the respective dictionaries; you’ll just get ‘rattle’ or maybe ‘football rattle’. Or ‘ratchet’. Is it Northern English, I wonder.
• Chicharra: Buzzer;  Cicada 

Spanglish

Lookazo: A fashion term – A great look.

Did you know? . . .

In the lab, rats double every 47 days. This means that, in just 3 years, a single pair of rats can produce 17 million offspring.

Finally . . .

The Rugby World Cup: So, England were beaten at the death by an inferior South African side, who now head for the final against New Zealand. As with France, Englad were beaten by just one point and should not have lost. Hard to disagree with this Sunday Times assessment: An absolutely incredible match was undeservedly won by South Africa with almost the last kick of the game after a magnificent England performance, probably one of the best 3 or 4 in their history, in which they completely overturned the form book, banished every memory of their mediocre recent performances and played like the true England. The pain will last for a long time because those of us who doubted that England could really compete must admit that they were wondrous, brave, skilful and organised. Asi son las cosas. Life is not fair. The earlier one learns that lesson, the better for one’s future mental health . . .

Last words on this . . .South Africa were profoundly fortunate to get through, they were shaken to their core and the sight of them in retreat will give encouragement to New Zealand in the final. Guess who I’ll be cheering on . . .

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.