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/Galicia

This is a paean of praise for Oviedo. Which is a fine city but not my absolute favourite. Had an unsatisfactory meal in a famous cider place there last October.

My review of the Impar restaurant was rejected by both Google and Treep yesterday, with the suggestion I was doing something by way of promotion. Once I’d edited the text to exclude the (informative) link to Wiki on torreznos, they went through. Not what I’d call promotion but there we are.

One of the unattractive aspects of being in the UK for 6 months – another being the price of booze – was the need to listen to tales of appalling treatment at the hand of the ‘best health service in the world’. But it was still shocking to read this morning that thousands of would-patients have had to was 3 days in the A&E department before being seen. All the parties currently vying for power claim they will transform the NHS into the best healthcare service in Europe. But they won’t of course, as they’ll simply throw more money at a badly-structured and mismanaged organisation that needs to be replaced.

France

Astonishingly, someone has a good word about Britain, at least relative to France. It’s no longer Europe’s ‘problem child’, says this columnist.

The Way of the World

The company which makes the back-up laptop I recently invested in – ASUS – has written to me, addressing me as ‘Dear friend’. Which I’m not. And, if I were, I’ll immediately cease to be once this laptop also packs up.

Quote of the Day

Beware a man who talks what he knoweth, for he will also talk what he knoweth not. Francis Bacon. Who knew a thing or two.

English

• Mustelidae: Otherwise known as mustelids, are a diverse family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, stoats, badgers, otters, martens, grisons[?], and wolverines. And maybe estate agents/realtors .
• WiFi: This was invented, rather jocularly, by analogy with HiFi, or High Fidelity. But there’s no such thing as Wireless Fidelity . . .

Did you know?

Back in the Dark Ages, England – or much of it anyway – was a Danish colony, with its capital in what was then Jorvik but became York. Eventually, the Anglo-Saxons – having shoved the original Celtic Britons westwards – moved North and replaced the Viking rulers. Many Danes had of course, settled in England by then but – in one of the most stupid acts in history – in 1002, the king – Ethelred the Unready* – ordered every Dane – man, woman and child – to be slaughtered. That night – the St Brice’s Day Massacre – led to Danish revenge and, in due course, to the Norman invasion in 1066. Something, by the way, which never would have happened if English troops hadn’t disobeyed orders and chased the (apparently) fleeing Norman infantry, only to be cut down by the sneakily-hidden Norman cavalry at the bottom of a hill which the (despairing) Normans had persistently failed to reach the top of. The rest, as they say, is history.

*Almost certainly not the best adjective for him.

Finally . . .

My readership soared yesterday, which was odd. Could it be because the text contained the word ‘prostitution’?

Finally, Finally . . . Pseuds’ Corner

´New York is a place of so many possibilities’, Doro said over a bowl of bull-penis-and-testicle soup at Naks, a new Filipino restaurant in the East Village. From the New Yorker magazine.

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.