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 Galicia/España

The world’s oldest wine has been discovered in Spain.

Galician kids did well in a recent international assessment of creativity. El pensamiento creativo gallego: La capacidad de generar ideas diferentes, de buscar soluciones distintas, de descubrir y de evaluar situaciones. Esto es el pensamiento creativo, y parece que los jóvenes gallegos tienen más que la mayoría. Al menos así lo indica el último informe PISA. España está por encima de los demás países de su entorno y Galicia, Madrid y Castilla y León sobresalen en este aspecto. ¿Pero qué pasa si se les pregunta a los directores de colegio? Uno de cada cinco piensa que sus alumnos carecen de imaginación.

Talking of Galicia . . . Another narcosub has been discovered at sea – possibly on its way back to South America to be fitted out for a return trip, or two. Certainly bigger than previous ones . . .

The night of San Juan approaches, when we all eat sardines and some of us jump over fires. And the price of one particular fish doubles overnight.

This is where I’ll be doing this on Sunday night with friends. If you’re on the Camino, it’s on that, in Rúa da Santiña. It’s open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, offering a very reasonably priced menu del día on the first 2. Or, rather it would be on the Camino but there’s currently a temporary deviation from this at the end of O Burgo bridge which you’ll need to ignore to get to the place. And the backtrack to the diversion as the Camino is blocked further up that street.

The UK

Richard North feels there’s enough evidence gathered to state with confidence that the Muslim vote is a significant factor in this election. He cites this article from a non/British journal.

More widely . . . This – always entertaining – right-wing columnist is none too optimistic about the future of the country: Britain is about to pass the point of no return. Labour will have free reign to unleash a technocratic, socialist redistribution of wealth, and to install a Brownite constitution from hell.

And this one thinks that this will destroy the case for the UK’s first-past-the-post system. Thought it’s just possible he wouldn’t think this, if the boot were on the other foot . . .

Quote of the Day

Geri Halliwell in her fellow Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham: She’s a cheap, common, uneducated, talentless, greedy little moron. No wonder they never got back together. Or did they? Just for the money.

Did you know?

A Rubens masterpiece – The Judgement of Paris – was retouched 4 times by other artists. to make it ‘less erotic’.

Finally . .

What could be madder than to make a Mecca pilgrimage in a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius? It’s reported that almost 600 pilgrims have died so far this year doing this. I’m not sure this is what Allah would have wanted.

Finally, Finally .

I’ve started on the task of reading 13 back copies of Private Eye and 6 editions of Prospect magazine. Well, skimming the pages of the former for decent cartoons to post here. This one made me laugh:-

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.
• 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. Finally, some advice on getting a mortgage.