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

This report from elDiario is particularly relevant after the fatal Valencia fire. Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically, says the headline. Spain is one of the countries with the highest percentages of apartment dwellers. The concentration of the population in small spaces is even greater than in countries such as Switzerland, Germany. or Italy. Only in South Korea do more people live in collective dwellings than in Spain’. HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this item.

Reader Peter tells me there’s is a book dealing with the child abductions of the Franco era – “The Fountains of Silence” by Ruta Sepetys. It’s fiction but based on fact, adds Peter.

It seems odd that the Spanish government protects workers in the private sector better than it does its own workers. Which is not to the liking of Brussels.

The number of Spanish homes purchased by foreigners declined by 7% in 2023. Interestingly, demand from the USA grew by 154%. Probably all readers of this blog . . .

Mapping Spain answers here the question on everyone’s lips – What’s it like living in Muxía in Galicia?

The UK

No one dares mention our real problems. Trenchant rationale here. Disturbing.

The USA

What is Donald Trump saying on Truth Social? Chucked off Twitter, Donald Trump now spouts forth to just 7m followers on his own social media platform. Will Pavia has trawled through 2 years of ‘truths’ so you don’t have to. Click here.

English

• To cark it: To die. Who knew?
• To truth: To tell the truth. An ugly new verb

Did you know? . . .

This is Spain’s most dangerous snake. Not much of a threat below The North, though.

Finally . . .

The wit of Samuel Johnson: Number 6: No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.

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.