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

El País’s founding editor has been sacked after criticising the PM, Pedro Sánchez. The dismissal fuels accusations that the newspaper is now a ‘slavish mouthpiece’ for the government. The sacking has divided its readership and fuelled concerns over the country’s polarised politics.

El País has ‘form’ in this area:Fernando Savater, a founding columnist and the country’s most prominent philosopher, was sacked in January. He, too, is a critic of Sánchez.

On Spanish politics more generally . . . The leader of the opposition PP party has said that: “The political class is the worst in 45 years.” He added that he included his own party in this accusation. The tone of Spanish politics has radically coarsened over the past year, with insults traded in parliament and corruption allegations miring debate. TBH, they don’t, to me, seem much worse than they did when I came here 24 years ago. But perhaps I’m inured to them and that’s a false memory.

On less tendentious grounds, here are 2 article on Spanish wines:-

• The best of them.
• Why those from Ribera del Duero are so good.

I prefer the Toro variety, from a tad further West. From a lovely little family bodega in Tordesillas.

Here’s Lenox Napier on graffiti, which is certainly a blight in Pv city’s old quarter. Nothing new lasts more than day before it’s sprayed by a cretin or two. As with cyclists and e-cyclists on the pavements, I wonder if the police would do anything if they caught someone in flagrante delicto.

The USA

This book comes out – in the UK – on 11 April. I look forward to reading it and, hopefully, laughing as much as John Cleese says he did. I’m pretty desperate for some guffaws right now. It might already be out in the USA, I guess.

Meanwhile . . . Trump’s bizarre, vindictive incoherence has to be heard in full to be believed. Excerpts from his speeches don’t do justice to Trump’s smorgasbord of vendettas, non sequiturs and comparisons to famous people. And he could well be the next President.

Russia v Ukraine

Not many folk predicting a Ukraine victory these days. What implications for the future, apart from an upsurge in the sale of armaments to most/all European nations but especially those close to Russia?

Quotes of the Day

• The modern fashion – and it is no more than a fashion – to protect individuals from hurt feelings comes fundamentally from a regressive, tyrannical and oppressive instinct. It is one that left-of-centre parties should be opposing with every ounce of energy they possess.
• The trouble with vaping is not that it kills you. It’s that it makes you look like a moron. At least smoking was a bold, handsome and statuesque act; plastic vapes are nasty, garish toddler-like props.

The Way of the World

A warning . . . . Trans ideology is as pervasive as ever – our children are the first victims. We need hard laws to safeguard school pupils, not mere guidance which teachers can seemingly ignore

Spanish/Gallego

Reader Paideleo has kindly told me that:-

• Panoja: Outro nome de cartos en xeral. Which can be divided, of course.
• Dividir con la caraja: Significa dividir coa borracheira que levas.

Did you know? . . .

A young Michelangelo once aged a sculpture artificially to bring a higher price. He began working on a sleeping cupid in 1495, at age 20. He aged it falsely to resemble an antique and then passed it on to a dealer, who sold it to a Cardinal. The latter erupted when he discovered the artifice, and Michelangelo offered to take back the sculpture, but the dealer wouldn’t hear of it, and Michelangelo ultimately kept his share of the money. The work has since been lost but it helped to establish the artist’s reputation and first brought him to the notice of patrons in Rome. Who says crime never pays?

Finally . . .

• I am in total agreement with this view of champagne: If I must drink fizz, I prefer a good cava or prosecco to even Moët or Taittinger. They are less acidic, to my uncultured palate, and don’t cause that particular high-pitch hangover. But the very word champagne is synonymous with celebration, so in not serving it a host may be accused of downplaying an occasion or, worse, cheapskatery. But I feel people enjoy champagne less than the idea of it.
• Talking of my (unsolicited) views . . I saw a sign in a café this morning: It’s cool to be kind. I felt like adding: And cruel to be over-kind.

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.