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

Madrid – a famously carnivorous city – is increasingly exploring its herbivore side — to delicious effect such as callos a la madrileña (tripe stew). My experience of the calamares sandwich mentioned is that it could not have been worse. Maybe I was just unlucky.

Fallas time again, down in Valencia. I must get there one year.

The VdG this morning: Galicia’s reservoirs are overflowing. The reason is the intense rains of recent weeks. And now another train of storms is arriving. The fact is that, though the summers are very different, it rains more in Galicia during the winter than it does even in ‘rainy’ Manchester. Though, not always. And, these, days, by the time the winter rains arrive, the reservoirs can be worryingly low. Famine or feast.

Reader David in La Coruña has permitted himself a rant against several things in a comment to yesterday’s post. I have only one little quibble with it; I would write gob shite as just one word . . I recall when I first met the post-Covid introduction of 1.5 hour ‘turns’ in a Pv restaurant. Surely, I said to my (sceptical) Spanish colleagues, this would force a structural change in Spanish society. Places would have to open before 9pm. Especially, I added, because Spaniards are rarely punctual. ‘Not so!’, said one of my co-diners. To which I replied ‘FFS. You just arrived 20 minutes late and we couldn’t order until you were here. So now we only have an hour to eat.” “Yes”, she retorted, “But I was seeing my family.” So, bear in mind: In Spain you’re not late if you have a reason which everyone will accept as reasonable. Of which there are many. Anyway, I don’t see much evidence of my predicted structural change taking place. Either you’re rushed or the restaurant will stay open later than before. Bugger the health of the staff. Immigrants have a poor bargaining hand. Like it or lump it, is the background motif of the industry. Especially when it comes to false returns re hours and wages. No wonder the Tax Office can use a set of objective criteria, rather than the tax submission of the owner.

BTW . . . I wonder if David has ever read this coruscating attack of how things are done here in Spain. Much praised by some – even Spaniards – for its accuracy and much criticised by others – even non-Spaniards – for its distortions/exaggerations. You can’t please everyone . . . It is true that it’s badly written. One has to get past this.

The UK

The world’s earliest forest has been discovered, along the Devon and Somerset coast. At 390 million years old it is about 4  million years older than the previous record holder, found in a sandstone quarry in the town of Cairo, New York State. More here.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

Climate hysteria needs a reality check, says this writer. Who might well know what he’s talking about.

Quote of the Day

The UK Chancellor’s ’s claim that the health service is “the biggest reason most of us are proud to be British” was scandalous.

It’s impossible to believe he really believed what he was saying. No UK politician is remotely unaware that the NHS a very poor service, deteriorating further by the day. But they can’t say this because they have no idea of a politically feasible way of turning it round. So, by default, it gets ever vaster sums of money thrown at it. Here’s a’right-wing’ view of the institution.

Gallego

I’m guessing that not a lot of folk went to the link yesterday and found that this wasn’t there.

Finally . . .

Oh, dear . . .

I loved thee, beautiful and kind,
And plighted an eternal vow;
So alter’d are thy face and mind,
‘Twere perjury to love thee now.

— Robert, Earl Nugent (1709-1788)

The aphorisms of 18th-century German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: A golden rule: one must judge men not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made of them.

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.