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!

Cosas de España/Galicia

Property expert, Mark Stücklin, sees Spain benefitting from new taxes expected to be brought in by the left-wing lawmakers of the UK and France. Ironically, of course, Spain has a left-wing government.

The estimable Max75 waxes (very) lyrical here on the fiestas around the imminent feast day of St James the Greater, Spain’s patron saint. All well and good but there’s no hint of a suggestion that he doesn’t subscribe to the nonsensical beliefs which are the origins of the fun-filled celebrations. Incidentally, I’ve been below the huge, 80ko botofumeiro as it swings close to the heads of of those in the side chapels and would say that this is as frightening as it is spectacular.

Good to see that Galicia has not just 1 but 3 entries in this list of the Top 10 cities for tapas dishes – Santiago de Compostela, La/A Coruña and Pontevedra. As for the last, I’ve never seen lamprey on a menu in 24 years. But it’s a seasonal ‘delicacy’ and I imagine you’d be better off looking for it down in Tui, alongside the river Miño. I tasted it once – from a tin – and won’t be repeating the experience. But some folk love it, of course. I’m guessing that ‘cockle [berberecho] patties’ are one of the several varieties of empanada that we enjoy here, though it’s not one of the standard ones.

Football . . . An intriguing question: Has Basque influence made the outstanding Spanish team more English than Spanish – by adding resilience and tenacity to brilliance? See the answer here.

The UK

Richard North – something of an expert on the subject of energy – is not impressed by the plans of the relevant UK minister, Ed Miliband: In attacking our energy supply, he poses a greater threat to Britain’s energy security and future prosperity than Putin. . . . The reality is that even if the UK achieves all its self-imposed targets, it wouldn’t make the slightest difference to global temperatures. More here.

France

Has Macron sent the country into meltdown? Answer here.

The USA

It’s tempting to say it’s a shame the would-be assassin wasn’t accurate enough, by just a centimetre or so. But this would be too flippant, of course. The sad truth is that it’s an enormous shame that it happened. In many ways. This is just one relevant comment of the very many we’ll be reading over the coming days and weeks . . . Extremism monitors have warned that the biggest danger of political violence is from lone wolf attackers, radicalised by political polarisation, as the street violence of groups such as the Proud Boys or Antifa has become relatively low key compared with 2020. Experts say the use of extreme language by mainstream figures has had a dangerous effect, with both Trump and Biden portraying the other as an enemy of democracy. Will it now stop? Doubtful.

English

The fascinating origin of some common terms and phrases.

Finally . .

During the summer, Galicia has several wild-horse events, called rapas das bestas. Or ‘shaving of the animals’. This starts with a round-up of all the wild horses of a mountainous zone, after which the stallions and foals are separated out in a circular corral, so that the manes and tails of the (unhappy) mares can be cut there. This usually involves wrestling horses to the ground by loitadores* – ‘fighters’ – which can be quite spectacular. Not to say dangerous. This is a video of the biggest and most touristy of these events. This morning I took my 5 year old grandson to a smaller one not far from Pv city, where we were surely the only non-Gallegos. And where I learnt that, although he now speaks Spanish better than me, my grandson couldn’t understand the commentary in Gallego, meaning that I could get one over on him. And it made me smile to see him laugh at the Gallego diminutive suffix of iño, as in potriño for ‘foal’. We didn’t actually stay very long as, not for the first time, I hadn’t catered for a drop in temperature. This time of 5 degrees up at the top of a (small) mountain. Not that this stopped Daniño asking for an iced lolly on the way back to the car. Nor me getting an (expensive) choc-ice. Kids together . . .

• luchadores in Spanish

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.