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

Oh, dear . . . First you see him, then you don’t. Which really shouldn’t have happened. I suspect there’ll be a lot of rat-smelling among Spanish folk. And maybe a few foreigners too.

Not before time . . .

Possibly, on balance, not good news for older folk who live above the ground floor. Or the ‘first floor’ in the American dialect . . . La nueva normativa estatal sobre ascensores podría afectar en mayor o menor medida a 65.000 aparatos instalados en Galicia. La disposición entrará en vigor el 1 de julio y, entre otras medidas, obliga al presidente de la comunidad a ser el responsable de someter al elevador a las inspecciones periódicas. Si la inspección no está en regla, la maquinaria deberá ser paralizada. La norma incrementa las medidas de seguridad y exige la adaptación a ellas de todos los ascensores.

The UK

There’s a surprise . . . A sociologist has has questioned the 2021 national census findings of 262,000 trans people in the UK, claiming that the official data  is “seriously flawed”. He points out that the question about trans people was remarkably similar to one proposed by a transgender campaign group in 2007. The latter had been criticised because of feedback that “non-trans people would not understand” it, especially if English wasn’t their first language.

Germany

Spies galore.

A related tale.

And another one . .

The USA

I admire all the US TV commentators who keep repeating the name David Pecker without a trace of a smile, I guess this would be even harder to do if he were called (Richard)Dick Pecker.

Less frivolously . . . An American civil war is far-fetched, and yet … America’s perceived turbulence is becoming the greatest strategic risk for the West.

Quote of the Day

In this article, there’s a line about Russell Brand which elicited a LOL response from me.

English

In Spanish, the word ‘sensible’ means sensitive, whereas in English it means something like prudent. An AI search came up with:- The English word “sensible” initially meant “capable of being sensed or felt, perceptible to the senses”. However, during the 15th century, the meaning shifted to “having good sense, capable of reasoning, discerning, clever” . That said, in the 19th century, some British folk – eg Byron’s wife – were still using ‘sensible’ to mean what it had done back in the early 14th century and what it still does in Spanish. So, a ‘false friend’.

Did You Know?

William Shakespeare’s works brimmed with references to the weather, it says here.

Finally . . .

Writing the above bit about David Pecker, I was reminded of a chap I once met called Alistair Dick. Despite being in his 60s, he’d clearly never got over having his name read out from the class attendance register every day as ‘A Dick’. Kids can be so cruel.

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.

If  you’re thinking of moving to Spain, go to one of my early April posts to see a link to an excellent guide on this challenge.