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

According to NBC here: The sentencing of a football star to more than 4 years in prison for sexual assault has been applauded in Spain as a victory for a pioneering [albeit belated] sexual liberty law that emphasizes the lack of consent of the victim as key to determining crimes. This, I guess, was the badly-drafted – now amended? – law which allowed many men convicted for sex crimes to have their sentences reduced. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose one could say. If one had to.

Talking of crimes . . . Booking Holdings faces a landmark fine from Spanish regulators for anti-competitive practices.

More mundane offences . . . The VdG today: Farmers v. the dairy companies: After the rulings of the National Court against the dairy companies that formed a cartel to fix prices, now it’s the turn of those affected, the farmers. According to agricultural organizations, 33,000 farms were affected when the plot began. There are already more than 13,000 plaintiffs throughout Spain asking for compensation for damages.

From an AI search: The average age of cars on Spanish roads is 13.9 years. In 2021, more than 16 million vehicles in Spain were over 10 years old, with 44% of them being more than 15 years old. The aging of the vehicle population has implications for road safety. Not only that: it also has implications for Spanish drivers compelled to conform to EU rules on carbon reduction. Get ready for another revolt. One cap don’t fit all, as they say.

The UK

It’s probably incontrovertible that Britain is now in a doom loop. But here’s someone who thinks she knows how it could get out of it.

The EU

Claims a Telegraph columnist . . .The Brexit revolt is spreading across Europe – and the Brussels elites are terrified. The bloc is falling apart under the pressure of the migrant crisis and stifling green regulations. Yes, well, the bloc has a history of doing whatever it takes, however strictly ‘illegal’ it might be, in order to survive. I doubt its collapse is imminent.

The USA

Voting trends are not in Biden’s favour . . .

Russia

Caitlin Moran asks this morning: Did Putin invade Ukraine to impress his new girlfriend? Now that the Russian president can no longer perform kung-fu or ride horses topless, his three-quarter-life crisis is having a devastating effect.

Russia v Ukraine

Some brave Russian women.

English

A chyron: Graphics or words at the bottom of a TV screen, usually unrelated to the current viewing content.

Did you know? . . .

In the early 1920s there was established in Washington, D.C. the Anti-Flirt Club. Its main purpose was to protect women from men who abused “the precedent established during the war by offering to take young lady pedestrians in their cars”. Its rules were:-

1. Don’t flirt: those who flirt in haste often repent in leisure.
2. Don’t accept rides from flirting motorists; they don’t invite you in to save you a walk.
3. Don’t use your eyes for ogling; they were made for worthier purposes.
4. Don’t go out with men you don’t know; they may be married, and you may be in for a hair-pulling match.
5. Don’t wink; a flutter of one eye may cause a tear in the other.
6. Don’t smile at flirtatious strangers; save them for people you know.
7. Don’t annex all the men you can get; by flirting with many, you may lose out on the one.
8. Don’t fall for the slick, dandified cake-eater; the unpolished gold of a real man is worth more than the gloss of a lounge lizard.
9. Don’t let elderly men with an eye to a flirtation pat you on the shoulder and take a fatherly interest in you. Those are usually the kind who want to forget they are fathers.
10. Don’t ignore the man you are sure of while you flirt with another. When you return to the first one you may find him gone.

I love the concept of a ‘dandified cake-eater’. I must stop reciprocating the tactility of Spanish women with a pat on the arm . . . .

BTW . . . The term ‘lounge lizard first appeared around 1911 and reached peak usage in 1924. It then declined until 1991, when there was a brief but small uptick. It’s been in decline since then.

Finally . . .

The wit of Samuel Johnson – The only conversationalist who triumphs over time – Number 6: Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything.

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.