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!

BUT . . . The Bard also wrote:-

A red morn, that ever yet betokened
wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field/
sorrow to shepherds.

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable – Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’

Cosas de España . . .

Telefónica is Spain’s main telecoms company. It’s alway had very good relations with the government of the day, possibly helped by the number of ex-politicos on its board. Anyway, Q1 of this year saw a 79% increase in profits, year on year. Which is indisputably outstanding.

Five things to know about Cataluña, ahead off regional elections there.

I’m sure everyone will be as pleased as I was to read that: The investigation into Shakira’s alleged tax evasion in Spain has been dropped, after a
court decided that  irregularities in her 2018 tax return did not indicate intent to defraud. Good lawyers, I guess. Accessible to us all.

The Voz de Galicia today: España ha marcado un nuevo récord de población. Sumamos 48.692.804[!] habitantes, de los que 2.7m viven en Galicia y el 52 % de ellos son mujeres. La comunidad gana residentes, pero la mayoría no son españoles. En un año se han ido 7.700 nacionales y han llegado 15.200 de otros países. Mostly from South America, I guess. Without assimilation problems of any magnitude. Lucky Spain.

Portugal

Pretty border towns

The UK

One view of what the country is in for, starting late this year.  Britain wants Labour – but it must prepare to be poorer. Our country’s prosperity will be sacrificed on the altar of ‘red-green’ socialism. There will be other views, of course.

Germany

An enterprising German company is trialling a robot dog, to see off graffiti artists. ‘Spot’ can’t be bribed with sausages and is too slow to chase offenders. With a maximum speed of 7km/h, its mission is not to catch artists but to transmit live, high-resolution footage of them to Deutsche Bahn’s security staff.

The USA

Who’d believe it? . . . Even the US right draws the line at shooting puppies. There are 2 lessons from this little episode for our polarised politics. First, the partisan bubble in which politics is now conducted is so tightly sealed that politicians can lose touch with the tastes and sentiments of the wider voting public. . . . Second, the story fits a picture in which trust in partisan media has dwindled so much that politicians — on both sides — think they can say more or less whatever they like, true or false, because their side will believe them and dismiss anyone who takes issue with it as peddling “fake news”.

China

The EU’s wall against Chinese EVs is said to be breaking.

The Way of the World

Can this be a consequence of  the ‘child-led’ upbringing philosophy? Gen Z has lost the ability to manage basic adulthood.

Russia

A Russian-owned castle on the Kent-Sussex border that had its diplomatic status removed this week is suspected of being used by Russia’s military intelligence agency to meet and recruit UK agents. Seacox Heath boasts mock-Gothic turrets, chiselled balconies and terraced lawns on its 30 acres of grounds. The estate includes two detached cottages, tennis courts and a football pitch. A good setting for Bond movie, then . . .

Back in the USSR . . . Wishful thinking?. Confirmation bias?  Putin’s victory parade is a sign of Russia’s ‘degraded’ armoured supplies. Just one tank. But plenty of nuclear missiles?

Spanish

Placa base/madre: Motherboard. Or, possibly, just placa?

Did You know

Paper airplanes existed long before real airplanes. Every Little Boy’s Book, from 1864, includes instructions for a “paper dart”: “The paper dart, when thrown from the hand, rarely hits the object aimed at, as it generally makes a graceful curve in passing through the air.”

Finally . . . .

The reappearance of a foto at the top of my blog doesn’t mean I have my laptop back. After 3 weeks(!), it’s still in the shop and I’m still waiting to know whether or not it needs a new motherboard, after only 2.5 years of use. It means I found one of my own fotos on the net and downloaded it to my daughter’s Mac.

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.