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

An insight into the Spanish digital nomad visa scheme.

The Corner’s (right-wing) view of deveopments in the rental sector.

Some more odd Spanish female names from readers David, María and Javier:-

• Concepción
• Maria Adoración
• Rosario
• Encarnación, and
• Consuelo

And my all-time favourite male name:- Jesus-and-Mary. Which, on seeing the first time in Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, I was convinced was 2 people.

The UK

Not for the first time, I’ve noted how much the cost of property has outstripped that of cars over the last several decades. Meaning that relatively modest houses now all have 2, 3 or even 4 quite expensive cars on the tarmac that used to be the front lawn. Plus, of course, there are now several more ways of financing a car purchase, allowing you to kid yourself you’re getting a good deal on a car costing more than you can really afford. Progress.

Quote of the Day

Soemthing from Richard North with which I readily empathise . . . When summarising pieces for the blog I often find that, by the time I have removed the duplication, the extraneous colour writing and the unnecessary quotes, I can often reduce the word count by three-quarters or more.  But I’m relaxed about butchering articles as I very much doubt the writer will ever see my handiwork. Unless they egotistically pay for a very comprehensive ‘cuttings’ service.

AI

Talking about egotism . . . I just put blog from pontevedra spain into each of the 4 AI engines:-

• Bing: Came up with mine immediately but cited a post from 2021
• Chat GPT: Nowt: “I don’t have access to real-time information or the ability to browse the internet”.
• Perplexity: Came up with:-1.Trevor Huxham’s Blog features a post about the Old Town of Pontevedra; 2. Eye on Spain: This website hosts a blog with thoughts from Pontevedra [not for a long time!]; 3. This blog
• Bard: Nowt on blogs. A general article on Galicia

Finally . . .

Just up from Penny Lane – opposite the chippy that doesn’t have Penny Lane on its window – there’s a large sign saying Spanish Lawyer, in front of some offices. Suspecting there aren’t a lot of Spaniards living in the area, I wondered why he or she would have an office there. My sister correctly guessed it’s all to do with getting property-purchasing advice. More particularly on how to avoid being cheated by builders or mistreated by banks in Spain. Or, if you have been how to get your ‘investment’ back, maybe. Probably worth the money. If you can’t find an (honest) English-speaking lawyer in Spain. But much better before the investment than after.

The Usual Links . . .

You can get my posts by email as soon as they’re published. With the added bonus that they’ll contain the typos I’ll discover later. I believe there’s a box for this at the bottom of each post. I guess it’s logical that this doesn’t appear on the version given to me . . .

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.