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

Only in Spain? Incidentally. One of the names – Stuart – relates to a connection with the famous Duke of Wellington, via a common ancestor – James II of England and one of his mistresses.

Pv province comes well out of an interesting nationwide survey.

How to get a visa allowing you to stay here for longer than 90 days in 180, assuming you’re retired.

Spain’s ignored ‘gorgeous’ museums.

Not everyone is happy with the acting-government’s plan to reduce the working week from 40 to 35 hours, bit by bit. Here’s the right-of-centre Corner on it. And I read a headline yesterday claiming that, whatever the law said, there’d be no change in reality. Which is almost certainly true for the many thousands of folk – mostly compliant South Americans – working in the hostelry industry, where it’s very common to under-report their actual hours – and pay – so as to reduce social security taxes. The Corner claims that: The message to employers, to all of them, large, small and medium-sized, is clear: higher labour costs; more bureaucracy, more control, more reports, more inspections. And this in a country with the highest unemployment rate, or rather the lowest employment rate, in the OECD, and in a society in which, according to all surveys, employment is what most worries the Spanish.

A young woman was savaged to death by 4 or 5 ‘shepherd dogs’ this week, down near Zamora. The dogs will be ‘sacrificed’ and their owner prosecuted and possibly jailed. Worrying to read that the dogs had already threatened other walkers and cyclists passing near the owner’s livestock farm, as well as Camino ‘pilgrims’ on the Ruta de Plata. On which I’ve walked Though I only saw Border Collies back then.

The EU

The UK is not alone . . . Europe’s secret: human rights drive it mad too. Valid final sentiment: Supporters of a more humane system should embrace reform, rather than hypocritical posturing. Meanwhile, who’d have thought that Brussels is ‘the only political authority in Europe currently exempt from the ECHR’?

The subject is a topical one here in Galicia this week, with 390 would-be immigrants having been flown from the Canary Islands* for dispersal in the region.

*Named after dogs, not birds.

France

In case you didn’t read that article on the EU . . . France’s interior minister declared that he would bring forward a bill enabling Paris to circumvent the ECHR in order to detain and deport dangerous criminals. It’s not unusual, of course, for France (and German) to ignore EU rules rather more than the UK used to.

Quote of the Day

Americans just don’t get self-deprecation. Which must mean they don’t get Brits. Or British humour at least. Though some of them obviously do. The smarter ones . . .

The Way of the World

One of the staff in the BBC’s Arabic services is calling for “accurate, balanced, fair and truthful representation” of events leading up to the war between Israel and Hamas. This raises at least these questions:-

• Is this really achievable?
• Does he achieve it himself? [Some say he doesn’t(can’t?]
• Is this actually desired by the majority on social media? Especially among the respective tribes/mobs?

Finally . . .

I had my work cut out yesterday, solving my computer problem. After hours of working on it, I might have resolved the problem, at the expense of uninstalling at least one desired app. Anyway, late yesterday I finally published the post I’d drafted and am now keeping my fingers crossed for today’s. My thanks to reader David in La Coruña for his extensive help.

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