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

700, 000 small or medium-sized Spanish companies made a loss last year. Seems a lot. Some details here.

Back in 2016, it looked like Spain was going to see sense and move back to the same time zone as the UK to the North of it and Morocco to the South of it. Not to mention the Canary Islands and Portugal. But, no. The moment passed. And they’re still eating and sleeping very late. The Guardian has something here on what this means for many Spaniards. In the current political climate, says one cited observer, issues such as long workdays, late-night bar openings and even sunset easily become another excuse for partisan fights and hyperbolic rhetoric.

Here’s the current inflation figures. One wonders why food items are still going up more than others,

Talking of prices . . . Mercadona’s are among the highest in Spain, as are their (increasing) profits. Which possibly explains the initiative described here.

My father would have said that this is the most popular place in Europe. As people are ‘dying to get into it’. How we kids used to laugh, every time we heard it. As my daughters do now.

Most Spaniards don’t like picante food. Here’s something on their relationship with chillies.

Here’s Mac75 on the most poisonous spider in Spain.

The UK

Who’d have thought it . . . ? London – with more 5-star TripAdvisor reviews than Paris, Barcelona and Rome – tops the table of best European cities for food. Allegedly.

Germany

My Hamburg friend has sent me this foto a converted WW2 bunker which used to have large artillery guns on top of it.

Pretty but it took 6 years, he says. Compared with, say, 6 weeks in China . . .

Russia

Covid

It’s claimed that a serious bout of the virus could well have made you stupid. As Boris Johnson had one of these earlyish in 2021, this could explain a few things.

Quote of the Day

If this is how Britain treats Kate, no wonder so many young women are struggling. Unrealistic expectations are being imposed on women, thanks in large part to our toxic social-media culture. . . .  impossible expectations are being imposed on the Princess, inflamed by online trolls. It is hard to think she would have been treated this way if she were a man. And she’s not alone. In a sense, her experience reflects more generally the way in which women and young girls are forced to navigate an increasingly toxic social-media culture – with some singularly depressing results. . . . Technological advances have undoubtedly enriched the human experience in many ways, but the truth of the matter is that it has also left many feeling distant, not only from other people, but  from systems of power and from a sense of place.

The Way of the World/Social media

The case for not giving smartphones to children. Teenage loneliness and depression is soaring worldwide. We all know the culprit: screen time and social media. The book reviewed – The Anxious Generation and – its contents are summarised in its subtitle: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. People of my age have watched this with horror: Society collectively made 2 mistakes; we decided that unsupervised outdoor play was rather dangerous, but unbridled access to social media via smartphones – addicting, attention-addling and dehumanising – was just right for young people at a vulnerable stage of brain development .

Did you know? . . .

Australians have the world’s highest per capita losses from legal gambling. About 40% of them gamble every week.

Something which will interest readers who drive a Tesla.

Why do people in bygone days wear such gloomy expressions? In the 16th and 17th centuries, smiling wasn’t encouraged in part because of poor dental hygiene. Louis XIV had no teeth, and the Mona Lisa may have been trying to hide gaps or stains in her smile. Beyond the dental challenge, broad smiles and open laughter were often actively criticized, seen as reflecting a distressing lack of emotional control. Upper-class manners insisted that a boisterous laugh was a sign of poor breeding, really no better than a yawn or a fart. Children might smile, to be sure, but an adult should have learned to know better. Things finally changed with the Enlightenment — John Byrom wrote in 1728, “It was the best thing one could do to be always cheerful.”

Finally . . .

WordPress gave yesterday’s post a Eurovision label. Beyond me.

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.