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

Phew! Nowhere in Galicia features in this article on the best affordable coastal holiday spots in Spain. Excellent advice, I’m sure . .

There’s a new Netflix series about our narcos, called Clanes, or ‘Gangs of Galicia’ outside Spain. At least, I think it’s new, as the last one was called Fariña (Gallego for ‘flour’), or ‘Cocaine Coast’. I must get round to watching one or both of them.

I took my grandson to see a puppet show in Pv city’s Alameda last night. Entertaining but all in Gallego, which he doesn’t understand. He asked me why this was and I suggested it was because it was funded – effectively – by a nationalist mayor who wants to protect and advance the language. Which is fair enough. He’s been voted in 5 times now, so the electorate is perfectly aware of his underlying beliefs. As I’ve said, long gone are the days when everything was in Spanish. Or even both languages. Which will surely be reversed if and when a mayor is from the PP party.

I walk down this street 4 times a day. This time of the year, it’s always festooned in something pretty. Last year it was coloured umbrellas, as I recall. All the initiative of one admirable resident. Brightening our days:-

The Camino de Santiago . . . Below, there’s some advice for pilgrims leaving Pv city across O Burgo bridge. That no one whom I pass is taking . . .

The UK

Richard North is unconvinced that the various Muslim political pressure organisations aren’t religious/sectarian but are all about ‘community politics.

I was astonished to see this Dream Team in a Spanish paper yesterday. For it contains Kane as centre-forward. A man who has been universally vilified in the UK – and elsewhere – as being past it. One UK commentator went so far this morning as to describe him as ‘plodding’.

France

For years now, Paris has got away with breaching the EU rules on deficit limits but Brussels finally seems to be taking punitive action – albeit rather slower than it has been in respect of Hungarian and Polish ‘crimes’. This article relates.

Not much of a surprise, against the backcloth of recent developments . . . Wealthy French are looking to move cash abroad. Much the same as in the UK.

The USA

JD Vance once called Trump ‘America’s Hitler’. Now he’s his running-mate. Some change of heart! In this profile the phrase used is ‘dexterous political gymnastics’. Final para: Pundits speculate that Vance is part of a new generational cohort that sees Trump as merely the first step in a broader populist-nationalist revolution that is already reshaping the American right. The end justifying the means, I guess.

My latest theory is that, once in power, Vance will have Trump properly assassinated, so that he can take over the reins and complete the revolution.

BTW . . . Vance would never win an election the UK because 1. He’s bearded, and 2. He’s a Catholic who ‘does religion’.

Meanwhile, this campaign poster will doubtless be very effective but is there really anyone in the world who believes he loves anyone but himself? Talk about chutzpah.

A provocative statement, if ever there were one . . . The US itself could be the biggest loser in this election. Comparisons with the last days of the Soviet Union are revealing. Rationale here.

Russia

Putin is leading Russia into a demographic catastrophe: It is simply not true that ‘Moscow can always find more men’.

Not very surprising news . . . Russia is poised to block YouTube, which has 90m users there and is one of the few places left for Russians to access uncensored news about the war in Ukraine. It’ll probably be unblocked once Putin has got at least some of what he’s demanded.

The Way of the World

An interesting comment I saw below some article on US developments . . . Reporting on how the fringe nutters are spinning conspiracy theories is junk journalism. You might as well interview inmates at an insane asylum for their take on it. Who cares? Here’s a news flash: the vast majority of normal people are quite aware that the lunatics on the extremes who spin this rot are not to be taken seriously. So why do you waste our time covering them? Because you are too lazy to dig out a real story that would actually inform us. The crackpots are easy to find and quote. We don’t need your help to know what they-re saying. So how about getting out of your all-day pyjamas, getting off social media, going out into the world, and finding us some news that isn’t just retweeted crap.

AI

It’s impossible to read an article on this subject without ending up more confused than before you did. Witness this FT article on the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Act, aimed at ensuring ethical use of the technology. Some points from it:-

• The law is the first piece of legislation of its kind, emerging from the EU’s desire to become the “global hub for trustworthy/AI”.
• It formally comes into force in August and will be implemented in stages over the next 2 years
• The EU’s digital chief claims: “With these landmark rules, the EU is spearheading the development of new global norms to make sure AI can be trusted.” But . . .
• Many tech start-ups are concerned that the well-intentioned legislation might end up smothering the emerging industry in red tape.

The EU might not be world-leading on many things these days but this Act might end up being an example of what it does seem to do best – over-regulation. Which will surely hinder rather than help commercialisation ad economic growth.

Net Zero

Another right-of-centre view on the UK’s (‘world-beating) plans for this

Sidereal:

• 1.Of, relating to, or concerned with the stars or constellations; stellar, starry; astral.
• 2. Measured or determined by means of the apparent daily motion of the stars.

Spanish

Incinerar: This means, inter alia, ‘To cremate’. Oddly, it always makes me feel a tad uncomfortable, lacking euphemistic properties. I guess Quemar would be worse . . .

Finally . .

In Spain, the TV series ‘Hill Street Blues; is called Cancion triste de Hill Street. Why? Because someone has a job to justify? Even up here in the provinces we have an annual festival of Blues & Jazz, not Canciones Tristes & (?)Música de los negros de los 1920s

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.