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 fugitive ex-president of Cataluña seems to be back in Spain, but evading capture by the authorities, with the help of an obliging Catalan cop.

I can’t say I’m keen to learn ‘mind-blowing’ facts about the Spanish royal family but, if you are, click here.

I find it hard to believe that any Brit with the right of residence is still relying for evidence on the old A4 green certificate, or even the little green tarjeta, as opposed to a TIE. But, if you’re one, you need to read this.

More here on how the Valencia region is tackling illegal holiday rentals.

There’s much unhappiness in at least La Coruña and (tiny)Cádiz about the many thousands of folk who spew out of cruise ships these days. I guess there’ll be even more unhappiness when the residents learn that there’s to be cruise ships 8 times the size of the Titanic.

HT to Lenox Napier for the news in the latest edition of his Business Over Tapas bulletinnthat an 80m2 flat in next door Marín will cost you €76,000, as against €550,000 in Ibiza. But the price will be rather higher than Marín in Pv city, of course.

Several of the bars and restaurants in Pv city have notices in the window begging people to send in CVs. I had difficulty understanding why there’s a shortage of staff but I read this morning that it takes 2 years for ‘foreigners’ – read ‘South Americans’ – to get a work permit in Spain. So, if they came back to Spain after Covid, they might still be waiting for this.

There’s also reported to be a shortage of workers for September’s grape harvest – la vendimia – here in Galicia but I can’t see this being due to a shortage of the South Americans, though it might be.

Galicia has a new type of fast train between here and Madrid – the AVRIL. But this is not as fast as the (still-awaited) AVE. And it’s very prone to technical faults, even complete breakdowns. The result is that only 25% of them arrive on time. The trains are made a Spanish company, Talgo, and the national carrier, Renfe, is now suing them for financial compensation. While changing their conditions of travel to make it harder for passengers to claim money back from them. You can do this when you have little or no competition.

Ukraine v Russia

If it wasn’t so serious, it’d be funny. After invading Ukraine 2 years ago, Putin has now described incursions into Russia as ‘provocative’. I suspect he’s had all Russia’s irony metres destroyed. Or at least imprisoned.

English

‘To swiftboat: A pejorative American neologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. It’s derived from the name of the organization “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” because of their widely publicized—and later discredited—political smear campaign against 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry.

Spanish

Caravana: Does a lot of work . . .

• 1. A travelling group: A caravan
• 2. A vehicle: Camper: RV: Caravan 
• 3. An organized line of vehicles: Convoy: Motorcade:
• 4. A traffic jam: Backup: Tailback; Line of traffic

Finally . .

The saga of the much-delayed packet from the UK got worse. The postman brought it back today, having talked to my daughter about it yesterday, as he had to ask me if I wanted to accept or decline it. If I did the former, there’d be import duty to pay at 50% of the value of the DVD and the (not actually therein) book. Naturally, I said the DVD could go back to my sister in the UK. All quite surreal.

Finally, Finally . . . .

I feel I shouldn’t laugh at this sort of thing on FB but I do . .

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.