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

The PM’s wife – The plot thickens . . . Pedro Sánchez’s wife allegedly met a businessman 8 times before €23m contracts. But did she meet others who didn’t get contracts?

A very positive consequence of Spain’s triumph on Sunday

Like the UK, Spain is said to have a growing housing crisis. As with all left-of-centre governments, rent controls have been seen as a way to mitigate this. As usually appears to be the case, these have had the opposite effect. This is something relevant I read this morning, on the UK market: Some politicians are convinced that rent controls are the answer. However, history and economic realities indicate that such measures are doomed to backfire. As economist Assar Lindbeck concluded in his analysis of their impact in Sweden, “Rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing.” Capping prices discourages investment in rental properties, leading to a deterioration in property quality and fewer available rentals. Landlords facing reduced profitability may even exit the market, tightening supply and worsening the root causes of the crisis. Or change their focus, as in Spain. Legally or illegally.

In other parts of Spain air traffic volumes have fallen after the introduction of the AVE high-speed train between major cities. But not here in Galicia. This is very probably because, after only 2 hours to do the 505km from Madrid to Ourense, inadequate track thereafter means a 3rd hour for the 102km to Santiago de Compostela and then another hour for the 65km to Pv city and 15-30minutes for the 27km to Vigo. Things might eventually change, at least for the airports of La Coruña and SdC, if not for Vigo’s.

Despite all the scare stories in the egregious tabloid press, the Brits keep coming to Spain. And spending more than other nationalities. In aggregate, if not per person.

There’s reputed to be quite a lot of anti-Americanism here in Spain, particularly on the Left. Here’s Wiki on the subject. And here’s something I recall reading some years ago. I was reminded of it when listening to a podcast today on American imperialism at the end of the 19th century. Specifically about the USA engineering a war with Spain in 1898 and colonising Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Except that isn’t quite right, as a provision in the statute authorising the war in Cuba expressly forbade the colonisation of that island. Which wasn’t the case for the other 3 acquisitions under the Treaty of Paris. In Cuba, the US satisfied itself with a permanent military base in, yes, Guantanamo Bay and with a provision in Cuba’s post-Spanish-rule Constitution giving the USA the right to invade Cuba any time in the future. It’s said that 1898 was the peak of American imperialism but some might take a different view. Maybe the word should be colonialism.

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

The UK

Very possibly true . . . Our elite has turned contempt for England into an art form. Nobody does sneering at this nation better than the English. I think Orwell said something similar. But maybe only about Left-wing intellectuals.

Final comments on the football Final: What made the final with Spain so anticlimactic was that they received precisely the punishment that their past displays suggested they would. Which is why I quit watching it at half-time, fed up of England’s aimless play and the waste of so much individual talent. I wasn’t surprised to later see the stat revealing England’s poor passing accuracy, especially compared with Spain’s very high percentage. And also that of losing possession. Unforgivable.

France

The victorious new left-wing coalition is said to be breaking up. No huge surprises there. It’s a speciality of left-wing collaborations, each faction being purer than the other.

The USA

So, it’s true. The Lord works in strange and mysterious ways . . .Trump is closer to the Christian evangelists than ever. He might not exude piety but recent events have convinced the Christian Right he is a political godsend. Donald Trump’s assessment of the failed attempt on his life was clear. “God alone saved me”, he said, and of course, his most devoted supporters agreed. One prominent Evangelist commented: “What we saw was an actual miracle … we need to  pray for another”. And there’s this from an ex-Trump aide: “There will likely be many comparisons made between Trump and Jesus during the Republican National Congress and after it about leaders persecuted to the point of death. I doubt Trump will be seeking to discourage those comparisons. I’m not sure that there is anything Trump can do at this point that will cause conservative Evangelicals to abandon him.”

Dear god!

What a country! Like Iran, effectively taken over by theists. Bring back the irreligious Roman empire, say I. Well, the one before Constantine and his muscular Christianity.

Lenox Napier on the possibility of life imitating art . . . A few weeks ago I read a thriller called ‘To Kill the President’ by Sam Bourne (AKA Jonathan Freedland). It’s about Donald Trump and the plan of one of his crew to stage an assassination attempt to bring the voters to his side. In the book, he wears a bulletproof vest and survives the shooting.

China

Vance is bad news for both Ukraine and China, it says here.

Spanish

One of the Gallegas in my Pilates class this morning said to me: ‘Para moverse, tiene que pedir el permiso del enterrador’ and I’m still trying to find out what the (presumed) figurative meaning of this is. If there is one. Possibly an allusion to Spain’s infamous bureaucracy. María?

Did you know?

The world’s first purpose-built cinema was opened at Colne in Lancashire in 1907.

Talking of that era . . . I learnt yesterday of this remarkable woman, born in 1898 and already composing songs by 1909. aged just 11. More on her here. This is one of her albums but there are more on YouTube. Her voice seems to have influenced Bob Dylan’s. For the worse.

Finally . .

Maria has set me straight on the issue of Hill Street Blues: The name refers to both the blue uniforms police tend to wear and to the economically depressed inner city, which creates “the blues” in its inhabitants. It has nothing to do with music, which is why I could never understand the translated name. I guess whoever did the translation was not such a great English speaker, or was not at all familiar with American culture. My excuse . . . Having never seen the program, I was taken in by the Spanish title into thinking its title had something to do with the Blues.

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.