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

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this item: One of the best preserved Roman mosaics in the world is in Noheda (Cuenca) a village with less than 20 inhabitants. Photos and a video here.

One of Spain’s – indeed, Galicia’s – claims to fame.

The Governor of the Bank of Spain has warned of the medium-term risks to the tourism sector. And he’s detailed the factors that will affect future success or failure, here.

The Spanish political right is said to be proud of the country’s imperial past. So it’s not hard to understand its reaction to the ‘woke’ plan to ‘decolonise’ museums. More here

Some hack/tips here on getting RENFE deals on long.distance train journeys. The sort of thing that never seems to be available for the 5 or 6 Galicia-Madrid trips I make annually.

The UK

Spaniards are said to be leaving the UK in droves, especially nurses. Some stats . .

• All Spaniards in the UK in 2016, 7,130 – compared with 5,114 in mid 2023. a fall of 2,016
• Nurses in the UK in 2016, 4,675 – compared with 1,457 in mid 2023. a fall of 3.218.
• So . . . an increase in non-nurses of 1,202. Not quite consonant with the headline.

The EU

Belgium now holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council and is looking to boost the competitiveness and efficiency of the bloc’s single market key focus areas during its 6 months in charge. Its first step is to seek ideas from big business on this huge challenge.

France

Allegedly . . . The farmers’ revolt has turned France into a tinderbox. The countryside holds a special place in the French soul, and it’s being ravaged by EU and green rules. More evidence that we’re living through The Age of the Bureaucrat?

The USA

Is Trump unstoppable?

Russia

It’s said that more and more (self-interested?) military folk fear that an increasingly belligerent Putin could attack Nato territory in less than a decade. Richard North – never one to pull his punches – writes on this here.

The Way of the World

Why men can’t win at anything* . . . Men are confused. Derided, emasculated, ridiculed, crushed, called out and diminished, persistently by women – wives, mothers, public figures, daughters, female workers, Twitter feeds etc. but also, very often, at their own hand. They are useless, aggressive, sexist, insensitive and idiotically Neanderthal. Sounds about right. But don’t let me start on women . . . .

* Except blog-writing, of course

Did you know? . . .

There’s said to be a new coffee snob cult and, naturally enough in this Me-Me age, it’s all about ‘self-care’. For a growing number of people making a brew has become an obsessive ritual and they’re prepared to spend huge amounts on kit to perfect their espresso. Astonishing details here. I’m ashamed to say I just lashed out for a cafetiere costing all of 8 quid.

Finally

After 24 years, I finally made my first real tortilla tonight, with caramelised onions and potatoes. Not bad at all but not a patch on those made by my friend Marta. The best in Pv city.

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.