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

I wonder if anyone on the right wing of Spanish politics ever asks if what many of us saw as the misguided, heavy-handed PP response to Catalan developments 6 years ago was a major contributory factor to what has unfolded this week, against which they are venting their fury in the streets. I suspect not. Their own tribe is guiltless.

The BBC, by the way, suggests only right-wing folk are critical of what the PM has done to stay in power but at least one commentator has said that: The Socialist party’s old guard argue that any deal that erases charges or convictions linked to the illegal independence referendum 6 years ago would undermine the justice system and shatter the principle of equality before the law. Be all that as it may, we are clearly in – as we have been for months – for another 4 years of socialist government by the PSOE and its allies. Who knows what this will bring? Apart, probably, from further divisions around separatist demands. María comments on developments in her blog here and here.

María has also kindly responded to my comment on Spain’s poor: The poor nowadays are generally the working poor. Those who have contracts by hours, are paid a misery, who have small children, etc. Also, pensioners who have had manual jobs all their lives and widows. In the villages, poverty is generally masked by land; most families have at least one field they can turn into a kitchen garden, and raise some chickens. In the cities they don’t have that luxury.

If you didn’t read the article I cited yesterday on the train option for the Camino de Santiago, you’ll have missed this accurate paragraph: The Camino is more popular than ever. So far this year more than 435,000 pilgrims have hobbled into Praza do Obradoiro, and, speaking as one who has limped three times into that square having completed it, a pilgrim is not a pretty sight. Feet swollen, skin burnt and personal hygiene compromised, they bring such a fetid atmosphere to the cathedral that the clergy swing the gigantic incense-filled botafumeiro for exactly the same reason you fumigate a teenager’s bedroom with Febreze. And you’ll also have missed this explanation of why I decline these days to join my visitors who want to take a look at SdC: This sacred city of rain-shiny streets and musty religious bookshops had sold its soul for mass tourism. The free tapas have gone, along with the bars that gave them away, replaced by tourist restaurants playing smooth jazz. I wandered past endless souvenir shops in search of the old haunts, ending up like a lost soul in the woods of Parque de Alameda, on a hill overlooking the cathedral. It was here where some believe St James was once buried and where modern pilgrims, arriving by trail or rail, can still find a little peace. But if St James could see what’s become of his shrine — and they hadn’t disinterred him — he’d be turning in his grave.

Hercules gets a third mention, courtesy of my friend Richard in Ferrol: Gibraltar features as the Rock of Hercules and the area as the Gate of Hercules. Also, if you take the ferry to Ceuta you can see the Pillars of Hercules, along the coast:.

Well, at least one weather forecaster says this infernal rain will finally end next Thursday, after weeks of it. Something to look forward to, then.

The UK

Remembrance Day. Let’s hope it passes off peaceably.

Britain is forecast be Set to avoid recession this year. Unlike, say, Germany . . . I blame Brexit.

But . . . UK GDP is poised to stagnate for the next year, with the Bank of England forecasting zero growth until the end of 2024

Europe

Odd? Germany is calling for Brexit established tariffs on electric cars crossing the Channel to be delayed. Presumably in the interests of Germany. You can check on this here.

The USA

DEI and the law of unintended consequences . . . Not just for the USA, of course.

The Way of the World 

Sourdough, it’s said, is toast. And ancient grains are the next big bread thing. “I think people are starting to learn that it doesn’t make a good bacon sandwich and if the holes are too big, your jam and butter can fall through.” These ancient grains are such as teff, einkorn, amaranth, millet and spelt, are increasingly appearing on menus and bakery lists. I guess all those little artisanal bakeries that have sprung up in Pv city and elsewhere will now have to switch in accordance with the new fashion.

English

Those creeping Americanisms are likely here to stay, says this columnist.

Spanish

• Tiranteces: Tensions
• Frontispicio: 1. Fachada o delantera de un edificio, mueble u otra cosa. 2. Página de un libro anterior a la portada, que suele contener el título y algún grabado o viñeta.
• Perroflautas: A derogatory word for someone begging in the streets.

Spanish/Galician

A topical diversion . . . Walking through very fine drizzle yesterday I woundered if the Spanish word for drizzle – llovizna – couldn’t be modified to lloviznilla, to mean very fine drizze. Well, it’s not in the RAE dictionary and Bing says lloviznilla doesn’t exist, ‘except perhaps as a regional variation’ of the ‘official’ diminutive of llovizna, which is lloviznita .

So, I then asked Bing if llovizniña exists in Gallego. It replied that it didn’t but gave me:-

• Bajareque: Llovizna ligerea.
• Poalla: Un tipo de precipitación que se caracteriza por tener un tamaño de gota pequeño, and
• Sirimiri: Llovizna ligera. The only one I was familar with.
• And for the feature of the last 3 weeks’ . . . persistent drizzle’ – Calabobos.

For anyone mad enough to want to pursue this further, here’s an article on the 100 words for ‘rain’ in Galicia, sent to me by a Gallego friend this morning.

Did you know? . . .

Edward Lear’s recipe for amblongus pie, 1872:

• Take 4 pounds (say 4 1-2 pounds) of fresh Amblongusses, and put them in a small pipkin.
• Cover them with water, and boil them for 8 hours incessantly; after which add 2 pints of new milk, and proceed to boil for 4 hours more.
• When you have ascertained that the Amblongusses are quite soft, take them out, and place them in a wide pan, taking care to shake them well previously.
• Grate some nutmeg over the surface, and cover them carefully with powdered gingerbread, curry-powder, and a sufficient quantity of Cayenne pepper.
• Remove the pan into the next room, and place it on the floor. Bring it back again, and let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. Shake the pan violently till all the Amblongusses have become of a pale purple colour.
• Then, having prepared the paste, insert the whole carefully; adding at the same time a small pigeon, 2 slices of beef, 4 cauliflowers, and any number of oysters.
• Watch patiently till the crust begins to rise, and add a pinch of salt from time to time.
• Serve up in a clean dish, and throw the whole out of window as fast as possible.

Finally . . .

Britain’s Edwardian age – 1901-1910 – is said to have been a time of fashionable self-help books. Possibly inspired by one of these, Francis Younghusband – ‘Britain’s last great Victorian adventurer’ – had this to say about himself in 1908: My chief defects I take to be shyness, timidity, touchiness, sensitivity, peevishness, too little warmth of heart and true sincerity, fear of giving myself away, letting myself go, meagre capacity for enjoyment. To remedy these faults he proposed to:‘ Mix with manly men to learn virility and power. Mix with womanly women to learn tenderness and sympathy. Seek especially full blooded men and women. Is that still good advice, I wonder . . .

The Usual Links . . .

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.