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/Galicia

It’s possible that one benefit of the PSOE staying in power is that Spain and the UK might well soon sign a new accord in respect of Gibraltar. Something very unlikely to happen under a PP government in hock to the far-right, Spanish nationalist party, Vox.

Life in Spain:

• My Madrid-based daughter tells me that a pharmacist mistakenly revealed she was going to charge €120 for a jab which would cost her only €60. So, a 100% mark-up. My daughter went to another pharmacy, where the charge was €83. I doubt there are any poor pharmacists in Spain. One of Spain’s auto-regulated industries. Or ‘cartels’.
• Overnight carpark costs can vary enormously. We’ve paid 8, 11 and 20 euros this week. The highest being in not-cheap Ávila.
• In Segovia’s Plaza Mayor, I asked for a shandy made with gaseosa, not limón. When the waiter said he didn’t know what that was, I suggested the brand name Casera. When he said he didn’t know what that was either, I tried what gaseosa is sometimes called down in Andalucía, blanco. When this got a blank look, I asked for a caña. Which was tiny and expensive but at least came with a decent tapa.

I recently posted birthday cards to both of my daughters. The good news is that each of them arrived on the day of their birthdays. The surprising news is that the Madrid-destined one took over a week to get from Pv and the UK-bound one took over 2 weeks. It used to take 2-3 days for mail to get to and come from the UK, so I guess we could blame Brexit for that. But the card sent to Madrid? Is this now Correo‘s normal service?

A Galician fishing boat sank off the coast of Newfoundland several months ago, with the sad loss of some crew lives. The VdG reported this morning:- The ‘Villa de Pitanxo’ was pushed to the limit: Five months after a robot filmed the boat 700m deep, experts have reached some conclusions. The ship’s net, full of fish, got caught on the bottom and attempts to forcibly release it caused the boat to list, take in water and sink within 13 minutes. This differs from the skipper’s explanation that: “She lost the engine, drifted and sank in the strong waves”. One wonders why.

The UK

Scotland’s form of corruption. Down to all-embracing nationalist aspirations?

The USA

Reading is believing . . .

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

The good and bad news from the FT

Quote of the Day

Since 2008 there is a sense that the western financial system is a confidence trick held up by central banks working together. We have lost the idea of money being grounded in the realities of work and trade. Instead, we have a bubble continually blown into, waiting to go pop.

Spanish

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that colín has a new meaning in the RAE: Pieza de pan habitualmente cilíndrica, muy delgada y crujiente – formas compuestas como masa madre, línea roja y pobreza energética. 

Finally . . .

Bing: I asked it about getting on Line 11 to Nuevos Ministerios on the Madrid metro and it gave me wrong advice, involving changing at stations that don’t connect with Nuevos Ministerios. So . . . Be careful with Bing.

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.