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

If interested, take your pick of articles on the woes of the PM caused by his amnesty Bill. In The Times, in The FT or in The Corner.

Interesting to see that the amnesty won’t cover the infamous Pujol family – which made a fortune from illegal commissions over many decades – or the President of Junts, Laura Borras

Talking of high level corruption, the bane of Spain . . . The partner of the President of Madrid – Isabel Ayuso – is being investigated for fraud and tax evasion. It’s claimed that in less than 2 years and via bogus companies he billed €3.5m, and gained a commission of c.€2m from one of the companies being investigated in the Caso Koldo. Ms Ayuso says it’s all very unfair . . .

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that down in some parts of Murcia, relatives don’t post ‘tombstones’ in the local press but pay for a car with a loudspeaker to drive around announcing the passing of the family member, with accolades and other material shouted out to the passers-by. Well, as many/most Spanish families take out death insurance, the bill for this will usually fall to the insurance company. Video here.l

Reader and fellow blogger María regrets the educational trends of recent decades, as I – a fellow-lover of history – do too.

Portugal:

Forbes magazine reports here that Portugal has killed the most popular Golden Visa in Europe and that rich (North) Americans are now choosing France or Spain. I wonder if it’s also a factor that one day you might be able to understand the local language.

I didn’t know that Oporto’s beautiful São Bento train station – which was cheek by jowl with the city’s red-light district back in 1999 – is a former Carmelite convent.

The UK

Poor benighted country . . . We have a Tory Party that has no answers to the deep social problems the country is facing. And we have an opposition that is equally devoid of ideas, principles or solutions to what ails us. And so our political class has retreated into its comfort zone – virtue-signalling and throwing the race-word around like confetti. Hot air is all they have left. Rarely have voters been as poorly served as they are right now. Ain’t that the truth. But, looking around, which country can boast decent politicians these days? Maybe unaccountable EU technocrats are a lesser evil, after all. What an indictment. But, then, the EU founders never did trust a public capable of putting such inadequates in power.

Russia

A tale to bring tears to the eyes of a parent. Or grandparent even.

Of more general application . . .

Covid

No such thing as the long variant, say these folk.

Quote of the Day

Well, here we are in a week where first Britain and then the world lost its goddam mind over … a photo of the Princess of Wales. To clarify: not a nude photo. Not a photo where she was flicking a V-sign at some endangered penguins. Not even a photo where she was wearing a stained fleece or rocking a bad perm — seismic events if your job is being the Princess of Wales. No, this was just a photo of Kate and her kids on a patio, smiling and captioned “Happy Mother’s Day”.

Spanish

When I was on the terrace of a Cádiz bar a few years ago, a waiter asked me: ¿Ete caco e tuyo? Which I finally figured out was ‘Is that crash helmet yours?’. I was reminded of this by Lenox’s item: Êttandâ pal andalûh or Andalusian as she is spoke, at Wikipedia here.

Nice to know – again from Lenox – that the Russian president in (very) commonly known in Spain as Hijo de Putin.

Did you know? . . .

The British really do apologise an awful lot and, after 24 years in Spain, I too find it amusing. But not as funny as having a Chinese tot apologise for walking across me in a supermarket last night. Clearly raised here in the UK, albeit by Chinese parents. Which is why he said, not Sorry, but Sowy. . . . Still I was impressed by his manners.

Finally . . .

I’ve recalled that – back in the UK in1994 – I was offered pet insurance for my border collie puppy but declined it on the basis that he was from farm stock that had been culled of weaknesses for several generations. I later brought him to Spain, where he lived to be almost 18. Never costing me a cent for vet treatment in all that time.

I might have posted this before but worth a 2^nd sight, if so:-

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. And this is something on the so-called Beckham Rule, which is beneficial – tax-wise – for folk who want to work here.