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

More here from The Corner on that Vox/PP development and on the latest Catalan threat to the stability of the PSOE government. And here’s The Guardian on the former.

Two negatives are re-entering our local lives this weekend . . . After a couple of days respite, rain is predicted to return for another few days. And the disgraced ex-king is back in town, to take part in yachting races off nearby Sanxenxo.

But some good news . . . We might eventually have better urban rail services. The VdG today: Un cercanías en el horizonte: Nueve autonomías españolas tienen una red de cercanías que une sus principales ciudades y sus áreas metropolitanas, pero Galicia no. Suman  más de 2.200 kilómetros de vía. El Gobierno ha iniciado ahora el estudio para la creación de este servicio en la comunidad gallega, empezando especialmente por las líneas ferroviarias que unen Ferrol con A Coruña, y Vigo con Pontevedra.

Back in 2000, a coffee cost 100 pesetas in Pv city, or 60 centimos. Come the euro in 2002, this became 1 euro, or 100 centimos – an increase of 67%. Nowadays, a normal coffee costs at least 1.40, more than double what it cost in 2000, I was prompted to do this little calculation by the news that inflation here in Spain is higher than in other EU countries and that food increases are the main factor in this. Actually, eating-out also seems to be more than double what it was in 2000. But this might well be true in other countries. I doubt that wages have kept pace.

Which reminds me . . . When I bought a battery for my watch a few years ago, it cost 50 centimos. Yesterday, it was 3 euros. Possibly because the first time was in a Chinese bazar, while this time it was in a specialist watch shop.

The Guardian claims that the Spaniards are excited but stoic about tomorrow’s big football match. I can’t see them being beaten by England but, as is often said, ’It’s a funny old game, football’. Certainly, the better team doesn’t always win. Especially if a drawn/tied match goes to penalties.

The Camino de Santiago . . . Below, there’s some advice for pilgrims leaving Pv city across O Burgo bridge.

The UK

A (humorous) right-wing view . . . To live in Starmer’s Britain, you need to learn Labour’s bewildering catchphrases. More here.

Germany

Does this suggest that the railways are now run better in the UK – albeit far more expensively?

The USA

Hollywood elites propped up Joe Biden. Now they could destroy him. George Clooney is one of many celebrity supporters and donors calling for the embattled President to go. But the worst may be yet to come

Just a thought . . . If Biden is forced to retire and his replacement then loses to Trump, will his ego drive him try again in 2028, when he’ll be just shy of 86. As a Catholic, he’ll surely know that Noah was a lot older (600 in fact) when he built the Ark and saved the entire world, not just the USA.

A wider issue: Even if Biden’s still running it . . . Will debt sink the US empire?

Relatedly . . . Should we worry about the end of the USA?

The Way of the World

The rise of the millennial and middle-aged Swiftie speaks to the infantilism of our age. This is a time when trigger warnings are slapped on any media deemed too ‘adult’ for our supposedly feeble minds to handle. Where endless demands for safe spaces and emotional coddling have taken over public life. The adulation for Swift and her juvenile love troubles feels like yet another product of a society that’s stuck in an extended adolescence. World War Three should put an end to this.

Quote of the Day

Even Hamlet knew when it was time to accept that life passes us by. Joe Biden should heed the signals. History will be kind to him if he does.

English

More definitions of the obsolete terms cited yesterday. As before, several, if not all, of them come from ‘thieves’ cant’:-

• Freshwater mariner or whipjack – A beggar who pretends to be a sailor.
• Drummerer – One who pretends to be unable to speak. [I’ve seen modern Romanians do this.]
• Drunken tinker- Obvious, I guess.
• Swadder or pedler – A hawker or huckster.
• Frater – ??? I can only find definitions around ‘brother’, though there’s also ‘A monk who isn’t a priest’. Not normally assumed to be a crook.
• Abram – Insane, mad: naked.

Did you know?

The survivors of the Titanic were picked up by the English passenger steamship Carpathia, which conveyed them to New York. This presented a delicate problem to the Social Register. “In those days the ship that people travelled on was an important yardstick in measuring their standing, and the Register dutifully kept track. To say that listed families crossed on the Titanic gave them their social due, but it wasn’t true. To say they arrived on the plodding Carpathia was true, but socially misleading. How to handle this dilemma? In the case of those lost, the Register dodged the problem — after their names it simply noted the words, ‘died at sea, 15 April 1912’. In the case of those living, the Register carefully ran the phrase, ‘Arrived Titan-Carpath, 18 April 1912’. The hyphen represented history’s greatest sea disaster.”

Finally . . Advice for pilgrims leaving Pv city via O Burgo bridge.

At the moment, the main route up through the barrio of Lérez is closed and you’re advised to turn left and take the first right, just after the petrol/gas station. My advice is not to do this but to keep walking a minute or two until you arrive at a zebra crossing, where you’ll see a path to your right, alongside a tributary of the main river. This is flat and far more shaded. After a few hundred metres, you’ll arrive at a tarmac road, with a small, narrow bridge to your left. Here you can either carry straight on across the road or turn right onto the road and then join the main route after 200m. If you take the first option – my recommendation – you’ll follow a path as it bends to the right and comes out on the main route, further along than with the 2nd option.

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.