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

Life for would-be teachers in Galicia, where rote-learning counts for more than classroom experience, in a system designed and run by bureaucrats, for bureaucrats . . Today’s VdG: Punished Teachers: The Oppositions exams in June for teachers will return to the original design. So, priority will given to candidates who study full-time over half-way candidates who combine employment with the syllabus. Those who are working are punished again. Work experience, for example, will only garner 5 points, when until now it was 7. All to join the list of civil servants, which in Galicia has broken a record: the Xunta has a payroll of 117,000 public workers, to which we must add 3,500 from the State and local [provincial and municipal] administrations. A layer too many, say some. Productive of corruption.

Reader David in La Coruña adds this on setting up a company in Galicia(Spain): It costs around €800 just to set up a company. Over 200 of that to the Registro Comercial. The notary gets a big chunk too. And it takes weeks. It is, however, there forever, and at no further cost your company can be activated. Hence, I suppose, why no deregistering goes on. So, low ‘carrying-cost’. Well, nil in fact.

David also adds that: Until Covid I had a UK based company. It was a minimum of 1 pound to set up. I did it online in about 10 mins. Not sure if it is still as easy or cheap, but the GovUK website takes you through each step in a simple to understand manner. I had the same experience in the UK setting up a company back in the 1990s. Spain seems to favour high upfront costs in several areas, usually involving the inevitable notary. A widespread lack of trust – and the chance to get at least some taxes – might have been the original reason for this in earlier times. But it’s very hard to ‘modernise’ and to change established practices. Witness the obligatory taxes paid by those who set up as an autónomo (sole trader). Less than they used to be during the very early years, but still harsh. And unjustifiable. Unless you trust no one and think every applicant is a fraud. And you want tax revenue from the low-hanging fruit.

Moving to Spain? Latest UK government advice on key matters. And don’t miss the final para below.

The UK

Shades of Cataluña . . . When nationalist leaders get delusions of grandeur and act as if they’re running an independent state.

Dear dog! The average cost of car insurance hits £995[€1,144], an increase of 58% on the year before.People just eligible to drive, at 17, received an average quote of £2,877[€3,308] – a 98% increase. This comes after insurers registered a surge in the cost of claims. More here.

Germany

Hmm. Germany was the world’s worst-performing major economy last year. As you’d expect, I blame Brexit. . . . Others point the finger at other factors.

Looking beyond this year, more bad news here.

I am considering sending food-parcels to my dear friend in Hamburg, who might now be reduced to eating out only twice a week.

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

In her new book, ‘Not the End of the World‘ Hannah Ritchie dismantles many of the worst predictions of ecological doomism, and lays out clearly what is already happening and what tools we have to halt the worst environmental destruction. This comes from an article headlined: The scientists fighting back against the climate-doomers. Climate anxiety is affecting many, especially young people, but what they need most is hope. Ain’t that the truth.

The Way of the World

British police are investigating a case involving a virtual sexual assault of a girl’s avatar. I wonder how the latter will give evidence. In ‘person’? Or via the geek who invented her?

A friend tells me that a director of a Galician college has told him that they’re advised by the administrators to deal with the question of pronouns for those identifying with a different gender by using a new word “Elle”. Which certainly works aurally. My friend has cited this article on the subject of new Spanish words.

I wonder if I’ll live long enough to witness the end of the shelf-life of this madness.

English

Gazundering: When a buyer lowers their offer on a previously agreed sale price, just prior to the contract being signed. A reflection of a falling market: Compare with gazumping, in a rising market. Both of these are possible because of the bizarre nature of the UK law on property deals. Nothing is fixed until the actual contract-signing ceremony. Which usually takes months, with concomitant risk for both buyer and would-be – cost-incurring – seller.

Did you know? . . .

I’m currently having extensive dealings with the NHS around my hospitalised daughter’s illness. If proof were needed of the claim that the NHS would collapse without foreign workers, I’m certainly getting it. Yesterday, for example, I dealt with a Spanish doctor, an Indian doctor and Nigerian and Russian(!) nurses*. This immigration is, of course, legal but I wonder if the visibly high level of it transmutes into anger at the (very much lower) levels of attempts to enter the UK illegally. I should add that everyone I deal with is delightful and professional. Except the British ones. Just joking . . .

*Spain and Russia are not ex-colonies, of course. Which distinguishes the UK from Spain, with its reliance on South American immigrants in the Healthcare – and other – sectors. My last doctor in Urxencias in Pv city was, in fact Cuban. And the previous one Venezuelan. Etc., etc.

Finally . . .

Nice to see that several readers – well, 2 that I know of – share my aversion to self-checkouts.

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.