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

Politics: The VdG today: Two Congresses, three Lefts: A new legislature has begun. Congress and the Senate held a joint opening session of the mandate, presided over by the king, who called for “a solid and united Spain”. But his demand was short-lived. The president of Congress took the floor and her speech provoked criticism from the PP and Vox, who considered it too political. In Galicia, too, the Left seems disunited, despite the pacts which secured the PSOE’s investiture. The Sumar party will contend the regional elections in all 4 provinces: “The BNG* or PSOE are not enough for Galicia”, the party says. Divide and rule for a while, perhaps.

*The Galician Nationalist Block, itself a coalition of the Left.

Not for the first time, Brussels is still having trouble finding out where its money has gone in Spain.

Despite the mergers and acquisitions since 2007, Banco Santander is still the only Spanish bank to appear on the liste of financial institutions of global importance.

As of today, Asturias will have a high-speed train from Madrid to its capital, Oviedo. Well, almost. It’ll stop at a place 20-30km south of there. Construction began 19 years ago and completion has been delayed 13 years. This is bad but nowhere near as bad as for Galicia, where the delay is closer to 30 years. And the high speed train slows down before Ourense, a good hour away from the capital, Santiago de Compostela, and and two hours from Pv city. And even more from Vigo. Someone seems to have (conveniently?) overlooked the fact that it’s slow and expensive work taking train tracks through mountains. And into/around major cities. Or maybe the North is less important than the North East and the South.

Fascinating Spain on 2 impressive places in Spain – Cangas del Narcea and, somewhat larger Madrid.

The UK

Is it ‘far-right’ to be concerned about immigration numbers, both illegal and illegal? Richard North insists it ain’t. And that ignoring concerns about it is risky.

Drivers in Wales are said to be baffled by 8 speed limit changes on a 3km stretch of particular road, where the speed allowed varies from 20 to 60mph. I should introduce them to the N550 between Pv city and Santiago de Compostela . . .

France

On the brink of civil war, it’s claimed here.

The USA

There’s a surprise . . . Donald Trump has been accused of using his company’s funds to pay his tax and legal bills, in breach of a court ruling that requires him to notify a financial auditor before withdrawing cash.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero/Quote of the Day

From the FT article I cited yesterday: In containing runaway climate change, humanity is, predictably, succeeding at what it does best — technological innovation — and failing at what it does worst — reaching difficult political agreements. The question is whether the successes of the former will outweigh the failures of the latter. I believe optimists have long felt/hoped that human ingenuity would solve the global warming problem, possibly without banning all fossil fuels. With luck, they will be right, whatever the politicians do and don’t decide to do.

Spanish/Spanglish

This article details some of the new words admitted into the RAE’s dictionary but I find it confusing . .

• Appearing in the online RAE this morning: Sexting and Banter.
• Not appearing but . . . : Referee. cf. Réferi Pixilation: cf. Pixilación.
• Not appearing: Plug-in

I do like chunda-chunda: Which is what loud and repetitive music is known as in Spain. I wonder if there’s a word for the loud level of every-day conversation that compares so starkly with, say, the low level in next-door Portugal.

Finally . . .

I’ve read that Netflix is happy – globally – with its attempts to stop password sharing. Here in Spain, though it’s reported that 1.6m subscribers have fled to Amazon Prime. So one wonders if Netflix are happy here.

Talking of Netflix . . . Its film/movie Obliterated is described here as brainless/intoxicated teenage-boys’ fantasy nonsense that is a new low for the streaming company.

Bing: When I asked it yesterday how long it’d take to get to Nuevos Ministerios on the metro from SW Madrid, I already knew how to do it and that it’d take around around an hour and involve 2 changes. But not only did Bing give daft suggestions about changes, it also said the trip would take 15-18 minutes. So, for the 2nd time in 2 days, I’ve told Microsoft that their AI advice is duff. The first time they thanked me but not yet for the 2nd response. Perhaps I’m non grata now.

The Usual Useful 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.