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

Fellow blogger Lenox Napier occasionally mentions ‘institutional advertising’, by means of which local governments subsidise newspapers that toe their line. This one – from the Xunta – appeared on Saturday in both the Voz de Galicia and the Diario de Pontevedra, and probably in other local rags too.

I need Paideleo’s help with the text – Pideche, camiño, pideche – as Google translates this as ‘I beg you, way, I beg you’. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Right now, it seems to me to be the equivalent of ‘Give me strength, Camino’.

Yesterday I mentioned chatty folk blocking the narrow streets, showing a lack of consideration for others. Far worse, in fact, is standing in the doorway of one restaurant while waiting for a table in the place opposite. Which I saw twice while having my Moroccan Sunday lunch yesterday. But at least none of the perpetrators was smoking. And they moved on when politely asked to do so.

Graffiti is a plague in Pv city. A flashy new dental surgery is about to open just off Plaza de España and this is how its plate glass windows currently look:-

In due course – assuming they’re scrubbed off – we’ll be able to see the patients being treated – very much the fashion in Pv city these days. Where at least 6 of these ‘High Street’ clinics have opened in the centre of the city in the last few years. Possibly reflecting – like the opticians – an ageing population.

The UK

There’s been (relatively) small scale-rioting the in the UK in the last week or so, born of ‘ethnic conflict’. These riots won’t be the last, says this columnist, as the UK government continues to fail to address the core reason(s) for them. Per the author: The state – under both Labour and Conservative governments – has demonstrated an ‘ideological inability to address ethnic tensions frankly and to manage them effectively. Possibly this is because:  Political discourse in Britain evades ethnicity for a focus on race in a way unusual outside America. . . British liberals – squeamish at ethnic identities, especially their own – instead obsess over the politics of race. Ethnic conflict is taboo to even discuss in the abstract: but minority racial rioting, even over imported grievances, is viewed sympathetically. Instead of reflecting our lived reality of a country now composed of multiple ethnicities, among which are the majority native British, an entirely artificial racialised binary has been constructed for ideological purposes, in which the ethnic British, along with other Europeans, are merely white, while non-white Britons are encouraged to self-identify as a counterbalancing force.  Doesn’t bode well, especially as ethno-religiously orientated parties are now part of the British political scene. It’s hard to see a Labour government ceasing to place the emphasis on race, rather than on ethnicity/religion.

France

Not much better at dealing with its own multiculturalism challenge, it often appears. In fact, a lot worse in the banlieues of Paris.

The USA

At least one (American) columnist in a British paper thinks Ms Harris can do it. What is for sure, she says, is that American politics has been given a way out of a very dark and dangerous place in which pernicious lies and ignorance were being allowed to foment inchoate rage. Whatever happens next cannot be worse than that.

Quote of the Day

After Dolce & Gabbana launched luxury perfume for dogs, a vet has said: This shows that the wealthy are finding new ways to spend their money but canines will be unimpressed.  Dogs’ sense of smell is so sophisticated that they will still be able to sniff one another without becoming confused by perfume. Does this count as a superstrength?

Did you know?

One way to deal with phone scammers.

Finally . .

On Friday evening I went to the office in Pv city which allows you to pay your motoring fines, to find that, in summer, it only opens from 10 to 2. Nice work, if you can get it. I wonder if they get paid for an 8 hour day. . . Anyway, I tried again this morning only to be told that – things being so local here – I have to pay it somewhere the my barrio of Poio, where the (very) local police there had been the ones to fine me. I tried to pay on line, of course, but none of the numbers on the – rapidly fading chit – was recognised. Irritation upon irritation . . .

To amuse . . .

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.