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 . . . 3 articles on the recent post-Covid regeneration subventions from Brussels:-

• The Spanish begin to emerge from the long grass on this subject.
• Despite the transfers, investment in Spain isn’t growing but falling.
• In Galicia, EU funds for new projects are beginning to arrive. At stake are €2.5billion, says the VdG. . . But bureaucracy is holding back Galicia’s future. I wonder if this ‘bureaucracy’ centres on attempts to prevent fraud.

Sadly, Spain is very well represented in the list of the 10 worst art restorations in history.

Decidedly not good news.

This is the Casa de Cortés in the old quarter of Caceres. I have my doubts about it being the place Hernán built when he came back, loaded, from South America.

A great-great-grandson of Charles III of Spain, born in 1866. was given – ‘in line with the aristocratic fashion of the time’ – more than a couple of forenames. His full name was Alfonso María Isabel Francisco Eugenio Gabriel Pedro Sebastián Pelayo Fernando Francisco de Paula Pío Miguel Rafael Juan José Joaquín Ana Zacarias Elisabeth Simeón Tereso Pedro Pablo Tadeo Santiago Simón Lucas Juan Mateo Andrés Bartolomé Ambrosio Geronimo Agustín Bernardo Candido Gerardo Luis-Gonzaga Filomeno Camilo Cayetano Andrés-Avelino Bruno Joaquín-Picolimini Felipe Luis-Rey-de-Francia Ricardo Esteban-Protomártir Genaro Nicolás Estanislao-de-Koska Lorenzo Vicente Crisostomo Cristano Darío Ignacio Francisco-Javier Francisco-de-Borja Higona Clemente Esteban-de-Hungría Ladislado Enrique Ildefonso Hermenegildo Carlos-Borromeo Eduardo Francisco-Régis Vicente-Ferrer Pascual Miguel-de-los-Santos Adriano Venancio Valentín Benito José-Oriol Domingo Florencio Alfacio Benére Domingo-de-Silos Ramón Isidro Manuel Antonio Todos-los-Santos de Borbón y Borbón. Why, exactly?? Anyway, in the family, he was known as Alfie. Honest.

Germany

Following the shock decision of the Constitutional Court on the national budget, specific woes are beginning to pile up. A major one is that the crisis could affect plans to hand out billions of euros in government subsidies to chip companies, potentially stymying its hopes of playing a significant role in the global semiconductor industry. An executive of one chipmaker has declared: “Germany is not just the sick man of Europe, it turns out it’s also the dumb man of Europe.” More here on this.

Quote of the Day

There was a time, perhaps in the Noughties and certainly in the Nineties, when knockabout [male] humour could be excused or waved away as ‘banter’. But this defence no longer washes in our age of the new Puritanism, when risqué humour is no longer tolerated and being ‘offensive’ has become blasphemous. In these po-faced times, all jokes are taken literally.

For some reason, a bit of poetry sprang to mind – by William Wordsworth, as it turns out:-

Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive
But to be young was very heaven.

But this was about the French Revolution, not the death of comedy. And not quite apposite.

The Way of the World

Technology helps fraudsters attack more victims, more effectively. Artificial intelligence allows them to generate convincing fake pictures, video, audio and written messages. The next attempt to impersonate one’s children will be more credible than the SMS message ‘Hola, Papa. He perdido mi móvil’.

And, meanwhile, the tech giants refuse to take responsibility for their collusion in online crimes.

Did you know? . . .

The most unattractive colour in the world is Pantone 448 C. For pretty obvious reasons, I’d say.

Finally . . .

I have no heating and, for the 2^nd time in less than a year, water is descending from my kitchen ceiling, And my houseplants are dying because my kind neighbour overwatered them. But, unlike the last time I returned from Lisbon, I haven’t been burgled. So, that’s something to be grateful for.

As I write, the heating engineer is having great difficulty getting my new boiler connected to the thermostat and the plumber is knocking holes in the bathroom wall, in search of the source of the water leak. Just another day in Paradise, as they say. The good news – maybe – is that my lawn is a mushroom farm. . . . .

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.