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’

Travel News

06.30

• I’ve done this sea trip many times and, if this isn’t the smoothest, it certainly isn’t the roughest. That was that last time I did it, in January 2022, when the furniture took flight and all the restaurants were closed. And sea spume reached the windows on Deck 8. I’m told that a storm is forecast for this morning and that the UK weather over the next few days will be dreadful.
• Probably because it was a late booking, I have a cabin which – from the nearby noises – is close to the kennels.
• There was quite a bit of hull-knocking during the night, plus an odd rattle. I thought the latter might be the shower curtain or coat hangers rolling back and forth on their rails. But it turned out to be 2 AAA batteries in the bin. I could have killed them but they were already dead.
• I used only 30 minutes of my free wifi last last, so was surprised/annoyed to find, early this morning, that my time of 90 had expired. But when I went back and started again with the free option, I got a new code and another 90 minutes. If this happens again later today, it’ll be a nice wrinkle to know about for the future.
• Needing a coffee 45 minutes before the café opened, I made for the machine opposite the Information desk, only to be told that it wasn’t working, as it needed contact with the satellite and this is it didn’t have. I’m told this might be why my TV isn’t working either . . .

0940

• Well things have certainly got rougher. There was a severe bang a short while ago and I’ve just seen the consequences in the Tapas Restaurant. It’s a tad difficult to move around. But at least my TV is now working, after I followed the expert advice to unplug and re-plug it.
• The funny thing is that one side of the boat seems less rough than the other. So, I’m sticking to that . . .
• As ever on this boat, I’m struck by the mix of passengers. From the conversations at the tills, some are clearly getting discounts. So, I wonder if these are on a 4 day trip from Portsmouth to Santander and back, more than half of which is spent on the boat. It might be mid winter but some people are walking round in T-shirts and shorts. And wearing baseball caps indoors.
• Well, going back to the start didn’t work a 2nd time with the wifi and I’m now told I’ve used up my free 90 minutes, whereas I’ve only used about 60. Explanation: The timer starts running at the first activation and does not stop until the time has run out. It’s not possible to pause it. No idea why I got a free 2nd package. I had thought it was because I use a VPN and this confused the computer but apparently not. It would have been nice to be told this when I first logged on.
• I used to reckon on 18 hours on the boat to Plymouth and 23 to Portsmouth. But this trip is taking 28 hours, CET: 1800 to 22.00 next day. Which gives us all the chance to buy at least one extra meal. Perhaps just a coincidence. Oh, we also get more opportunities to have more drinks in the bar and to listen to a not-very-good singer there. Slim pickings. Literally as he’s playing the guitar. Not quite the cabaret enjoyed on boats larger than the Santander. Especially by the 3 Spanish ladies who came with me to my niece’s wedding several years ago.
• I recall now that, during my last trip, I commented that – post Covid – the accountants has taken over. Brittany Ferries is still an admirable company but the value for money has certainly decreased. Unlike the prices.

Cosas de España

I read this headline and, naturally, thought the article would be yet another one on Pv city: People are proud of this green spirit of ours’: how a small Spanish city rejected cars. But no; it’s about a city in the Basque Country. The name of which, by the way, is not Vitoria-Gasteiz but Vitoria OR Gasteiz. One is Spanish and the other Basque. Interesting to see that the city has a relative lack of tourism and digital nomads. So, 2 curses successfully dealt with.

Here’s Lenox Napier’s latest BoT post. His final comment: The only thing that hasn’t changed is taking out Spanish nationality. It’s still as long and as tiresome a process as ever it was. See my blog post on this here.

The EU

France and Germany announce an Agreement on reform of EU fiscal rules, says a headline. Time will tell how substantive this is, I suspect.

France

Good news for Brits with a 2nd home there . . . They’ll now be allowed to spend 6 months a year there, in defiance of the 90/180 post-Brexit regulation. Can Spain be far behind on this? And how happy are the Brussel bureaucrats with this development? As if anyone with a dog in the fight really cares.

P.S Despite the jubilant mood, there remain reservations about how the new rules will work and when they will come into force because no date has yet been set. There are also concerns that the change could be struck out at the Constitutional Council, France’s equivalent of the Supreme Court.

The USA

There are conflicting views on the judicial development in Colorado barring Donald Trump from standing in the presidential primary elections there:-

• On the one hand: It’s a very positive precedent for other states to emulate. And: US states line up to block Donald Trump from the ballot.
• On the other: It’s just what The Orange Clown wanted and will prove disastrous for his enemies. Trump’s enemies have made a massive blunder in Colorado. Four liberal judges have unwittingly boosted Trump’s campaign by depriving Colorado voters of the opportunity to exercise their own judgement on Trump in the state’s March 5 Presidential Primary election.

‘Obviously Putin has his number’: why Russia wants a Trump presidency again.

Quote of the Day

There is a good chance that, following the Alice in Wonderland logic that seems to determine Trump’s fortunes, the ruling in Colorado might actually help him. The narrative Trump has crafted for himself of being a Zorro-type outsider pursued by deep state special interests is as absurd as it is apparently compelling to large numbers of his supporters. And so we find ourselves in the perfect catch-22. The greater Trump’s transgressions and the more severe the censure from his detractors, the more entrenched his popularity with Republican voters appears to grow. It may not win him the presidency next November – there are too many variables around undecided voters in the middle – but it seems increasingly likely that it will ensure he beats his Republican rivals to get on the ballot.

Did you know? . . .

Here’s a tip for those who open and save articles to their browser but find later, when there’s no wifi, that the articles can’t be read – Try Reader View. Works for me, in Chrome at least. But you need to have Reader View as an extension first.

Finally . . .

A follow-up . . . Here’s how to enjoy the in-drink of tequila in a sophisticated fashion. For pathetic would-be sophisticates, I guess. Not really; the advice sounds fine. Taster: The senseless slamming of tequila shots is a practice well past its sell-by date. That said, this sounds rather pretentious to me: Mezcals can be more challenging on the palate, but they are peerless in their artisanal credentials.

Click here to find out why The risk of penile fractures rises at Christmas. Among both men and some unfortunate transwomen, I guess.

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.