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 see Renfe is about to offer a lot of cut-price train tickets, so I wonder if there’ll be any for trips between Galicia and Madrid this time around. Since I won’t be home for quite a while, I’m betting there will be.
I had thought this sort of Southern-Spain scam had ceased to happen. It’s not normal for Spanish property purchasers to use a lawyer and I wonder how many of those conned into forking out large sums did so. None, I imagine. Caveat emptor. Especially in Andalucía.
Something that will never be seen in Spain or anywhere outside the UK. And almost certainly not even there.
Portugal
I’ve said a few times that, externally, Portugal gets a free pass on slavery, despite being the European pioneer in this business. Internally, too, it’s accused of glossing over its colonial/racist past.
The UK
Going to meet my elder daughter and my grandkids, I had the (now-lost) pleasure of driving through serpentine lanes in the lovely Cheshire countryside. Something which, I later learned, used to terrify all my US visitors. Not, of course, because of my bad driving but because they’d never experienced such roads and tight bends. I guess they feared an American behemoth – or even just an SUV– might be coming to meet us. Not an old woman on a bike.
(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero
In a break from the relentless reporting of record hot temperatures around the world, this article gives us those at the other end of the spectrum.
The Way of the World
The New York Times is suing Microsoft and OpenAI for billions of dollars over copyright infringement, alleging that the powerful technology companies used its information to train their artificial intelligence models and to “free-ride”. Presumably, this will involve, on both sides, the world’s richest lawyers and the show will run and run, watched closely by other parties in the creative industries concerned that their intellectual property is being breached.
Effie Deans is a Scottish blogger whose large following presumably agrees with her anti-SNP and anti-independence views. Even if you don’t, you might, nonetheless, have some sympathy with her views on censorship and the cancel culture. [Incidentally, her pen/keyboard name is that of a character in Walter Scott’s Lily of St Leonards]
English
Rizz: A shortened version of ‘charisma’. A slang term that means style, charm, or attractiveness, and the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner. It is mostly used by young people, especially on social media platforms like TikTok. I know I’ve cited this before but I’d forgotten what it means and feared you might have too.
Did you know? . . .
In 1589, a German farmer was forced to confess – on the unbelievably agonising wheel/’rack’ – that he was a werewolf. Well, who wouldn’t? From the engravings, it’s clear one of the indignities he suffered while having all his bones broken was the slicing off of his right breast.. Why? Hard to believe this was the coup-de-grace – the final straw which tipped him into lying about his alleged crimes. La última gota. Perhaps the executioner was some sort of fetishist.
Finally . . .
That book on Things to See in Liverpool cites the once-glorious Adelphi Hotel, where the famous(‘) cowboy Roy Rogers was visited, when sick in bed, by his horse, Trigger. I mention this only because I had a nice – never-before experienced – flashback of them on stage in the city’s Empire theatre, doing this sort of thing. Bing tells me that the Empire is the largest 2-tier theatre in the UK. Which – if I’d ever known – I’d also forgotten.
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.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 