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

Correction: As some might have guessed, the typo in yesterday’s paragraph on excess levels of administration should have been: Apart from increasing the opportunities for corruptions at all levels . .

Back to today . . . . At least one city is getting really serious about cracking down on unregistered tourist flats. Whose owners are possibly not all declaring their rental income to the Hacienda.

If you’re in business here in Galicia, the competition can be brutal. I recall being told when I first came here that a driving instructor who’d declined to join the local cartel and then offered lower prices had had his offices burnt down. More recently, a friend’s daughter had the same thing done to her new dog kennels. Now I’ve read this morning that a local vineyard had 900 of its 1,000 vines cut down 2 nights ago. One wonders what vendetta lies behind this.

Someone who might or might not have any competition . . . .For at least the past 20 years, there’s been a (reputed) male prostitute who sashays* through the Pv city streets in a variety of bizarre outfits only fotos could do justice to. Yesterday, his choice of apparel was a gaudy leotard – with matching hat – and a gold medal hanging around his neck. A far cry from the normal clothes he used to wear when standing at the entrance to the car park at the end of the Alameda. Perhaps he’s getting desperate for (premium price?) clients.

* Just in case . . . 1. To walk or proceed, especially in an easy or casual manner. 2. To strut or flounce in a showy manner. 3.To perform the chassé in dancing.

The UK

Such was the variety and the nature of punishments dished out to criminals in 1577, it’s quite harrowing to read William Harrison’s chapter on them. To cite a few:-

• Holing of one or both ears
• Cutting off one or both hands
• Having a letter branded on your forehead
• Burned ‘through the ears’
• Hanging until dead
• Hanging, drawing – while still alive – and quartering
• Decapitation
• Burning at the stake (witches)
• Boiling in water or lead
• Strangling with a chain or rope
• Ducking or drowning in a ducking stool
• Drowning attached to a pole on a beach
• Tied to a stake as part of a new wall, after not repairing a wall and causing folk to drown, and
• In Halifax, decapitation via a contraption operated by cords held by spectators [An early guillotine?]

Harrison is notably proud of the fact that torment[torture] is not used in England, in contrast to the haulings and tearings used in other countries. This, he says, is ‘one cause why our condemned persons go cheerfully to their deaths.’

And in a very modern way, Harrison complains that the England’s custodians of the peace don’t always meet their obligation to pursue miscreants but merely tell you: ‘God restore your loss! I have other business at this time.’

His other complaint – he was a priest, after all – is that the punishments handed out to ‘harlots and their mates’ are not harsh enough. “I would rather they be condemned to the galleys, for that would be more bitter to them than standing outside in a sheet, though the weather be never so cold. For what great smart is it to be turned out of hot sheet into the cold or after a little washing in the water [a ducking] to be let loose again unto their former trades?”

A nice man, but very much of his time . . .

The EU

Yet to deliver on the promises of 25 years ago. So, will it ever? Or will it always remain over-ambitious? And fall further behind the USA, China and, possibly, India?

The Way of the World

If you’re tempted by the current boom to do Pilates, this is a must-read – on the rush to cash in on heightened interest. And on questionable/dangerous practices, shoddy equipment and inadequate, rushed training. Reading it, I was relieved that I attend a class of only 6, with a teacher who certainly seems to know about muscles and where we very rarely use machines. It’s certainly been great for my back pain born of ‘incipient arthritis’

Transgenderism

The 2 controversial boxers at the Olympic Games . . . I’ve read these 2 descriptions of their condition:-

• They have a DSD (difference of sexual development). They are not “intersex” — ie between or a “mix of” the 2 sexes — because no one is. They almost certainly have 5-ARD: they are biological males with XY chromosomes but whose bodies lack the receptor that creates external male genitalia.
• They are women suffering from hyperandrogenism – a medical condition characterized by excessive levels of androgens (male hormones) in the body. It affects about 5-10% of women of reproductive age. 

An AI search says that: While hyperandrogenism can occur in individuals with DSD, they are not the same thing. Hyperandrogenism describes a hormonal imbalance, whereas DSD encompasses a broader range of genetic and developmental conditions affecting sexual development. In the context of sports, both conditions have been subjects of regulation due to their potential impact on athletic performance, leading to controversies and legal challenges. You can say that again.

I guess that only in the first case is a male claiming to be female and is, thus, transgender. Hence the support for him from the ’community’.

English

• Felon: Per William Harrison: The word is derived of the Saxon words ‘fell’ and ‘one’, that is to say, an evil and wicked one, a one of untameable nature and lewdness not to be suffered for fear of evil example and the corruption of others. In like sort in the word ’felony’ are many grievous crimes contained. To him, all of them merited execution in one form or another. And he classed a lot of crime as felonies!
• Those difficult phrasal verbs and the importance of getting the right preposition . . . . A (British) football match commentator said that one team was feeling up their opponents, when he presumably meant feeling out. Quite a difference.

Spanish

Altillo: Attic, loft, garret, mezzanine and . . . hillock.

Did you know?

Beethoven’s hand-writing was so bad that it’s now thought his famous Für Elise, was actually Für Teresa. It wasn’t possible to ask Herr B about this, as the manuscript was only discovered 40 years after his death. When no one knew who the hell Elise had been. But might well have known who Teresa was.

Finally . .

Yesterday I read a reference to what was said to be an old joke but I don’t recall ever hearing it . . . About a dog always chasing a car – What would he do if he ever caught it?

Finally, Finally . . .

Gardening note: I’ve spent quite a lot of money and time trying to get fine grass to grow in the bare patches in my lawn but without success. So, I’ve given up with seeds and am now allowing the dreadful gramón grass to spread its rhizomes – which I’d previously routinely ripped out – as it wishes.

I suspect it’s better suited to my soil, and to the weather. Nature can be a tough adversary. Especially if your lawn is already 95% bloody gramón. Which is called Bermuda grass in the USA, I think.

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. And this article ‘debunks claims re wealth and residency taxes’. Probably only relevant if you’re a HNWI. In which case, you’ll surely know what that stands for.