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

Should you want it, this company will give you a slavery-oriented tour of Madrid. And, I think, of other Spanish cities, via collaborators. A Guardian article on this here.

Interesting to read that Graham Green, when touring Spain researching for his 1982 novel Monsignor Quixote was also spying for Britain. Perfidious Anglo.

Be warned . . . The Spanish rules about non-EU citizens having enough money, proof of accommodation, etc. are reported to be being applied to Brits looking to cross the border with Gibraltar for short visits to Spain. A passport might no longer be enough.

For rich readers . . . How to get a Golden Visa in Spain and (still) in Portugal.

The UK

An article in The Times on the poshest villages in England describes Cheshire’s Alderley Edge as ‘achingly hip’ and claims the average price for a house there is £1,312,058[!]. Ironically, I lived there in my first year of adult employment, when my income was at its lowest. Albeit in a rented room on the road out of the place . . . The Beckhams later lived nearby, in Nether Alderley. But never invited me round.

The USA

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this item. Foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum has said: “Trump has decided that he doesn’t want money to go to Ukraine . . . It’s really an extraordinary moment; we have an out-of-power ex-president who is in effect dictating American foreign policy on behalf of a foreign dictator or with the interests of a foreign dictator in mind.” 

Russia

HT to reader Perry for the news that: Russia’s shadow fleet is a disaster waiting to happen. The escalating situation poses enormous risks to law-abiding ships, the environment and the unfortunate countries controlling the waters in which these accidents occur. Perry writes that: NATO should stop all Russian uninsured oil tankers sailing without a pilot in the Baltic and seize the cargoes, to pay for oil spills, But I take this to be a personal view, not that of any government.

The Way of the World

Minced cricket rarebit, pulled cricket tacos: Why 2024 is the year of insect dining. Maybe.

English

• Nether: Lower. As in Nether Alderley, The Netherlands; and, of course, one’s ‘nether regions’.
• Errand dressing: A Gen Z thing. Seems to mean getting dolled up to do the shopping. Not, for example, in ‘baggy joggers, a soft knit and trainers’. Says a woman of an earlier generation: There’s enough pressure on girls and women to conform to existing feminine beauty ideals, so do we really need another one that harks back to 1950s housewifery? No, we certainly do not. This slinky dress code is ludicrous and oddly regressive.

Did you know? . . .

Transwomen are not women. ‘Autogynephilia’ lies at the heart of male-to-female transition. The fascinating explanation, from a transsexual, can be found here.

Finally . . .

It’s claimed that everyone in Japan could end up with the same surname, though this would take a mere 500 years. The Civil Code needs to be abolished or everyone will be called ‘Sato’ by 2531, predicts a professor. Who presumably knows his numbers.

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.