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

Like the UK, Spain has a big problem with would-be immigrants arriving in boats. There are so many of these that several regions have demanded action after reaching ‘breaking point’ in terms of arrivals. In the southernmost region of Andalucía, accommodation for migrants is said to be at an occupancy rate of 115%. Though I’m not sure what this means

My 2019-2024 price comparison is done and will summarised here tomorrow. Nothing, of course, compares with the increase in the price of olive oil. Having paid 9.50 for a litre yesterday, I was interested to read today that Mercadona has ignited a price war, lowering the cost of a litre of the so-called ‘liquid gold’ of its Suave and Intenso varieties.

Here’s the estimable Lenox Napier on all those articles on secret/magical places which the writer of might or might not have ever visited. And for which neither adjective now applies.

Unexpected local news . . .

• 1. Investigations are taking place into the presence of great white sharks off our coast – ‘an emerging tourist hotspot’. Or coolspot, to be more accurate, if you’re from Madrid. Experts are focusing on these waters because they believe there could be a great white ‘nursery’ in there, where female specimens leave their young and let them learn how to feed, navigate and avoid predators. 
• 2. From this morning’s VdG: It’s a trickle. ‘One day you realise a cow is missing, the next day a heifer.” The complainant is a farmer who has already lost 17 cattle on his extensive livestock farm near Ourense. At first he thought they were wolves, until the alarm went off among the area’s farmers: animals are being stolen.

My friend Mark tells me that A Mariña is up on the Lugo coast, divided by Google into West and East Mariña. Hence the 3 suggestions I got yesterday. So. not in/near Cambados in Arousa Bay. Mark, by the way, is a Camino guide and so is one of those . . . people, responsible for bringing ‘pilgrims’ through Pv city. But at least his charges break up when they arrive and don’t clog our narrow streets in groups of up to 50. Plus, I occasionally join him and his (mostly) rich US walkers, who can be very generous. So, I forgive him . . .

Talking of ‘pilgrims’. . . The DdP had something this morning about another one needing help. This one left the camino path to ‘attend to her needs’, fell down a slope and needed to be pulled out of a ditch. Which must have been a tad embarrassing.

As predicted, the postman finally reappeared this morning and delivered my Private Eye dated 2 August. When I first came, this used to seriously upset me. But I lowered my expectations years – nay, 2 decades – ago.

The USA

Does anyone know if Trump is being sincere when he moans about people being nasty towards him because he himself likes to avoid making personal comments about his political opponents? Can he really believe the latter? My guess is he can.

Russia

When Putin feels under pressure, he goes walkabout. The reclusive Russian leader only meets the public when it’s absolutely necessary, which makes his recent behaviour so revealing. There is one sure sign Putin is desperately seeking validation: when he “spontaneously” walks out to meet a crowd of supporters. Which is exactly what happened on Tuesday during the Russian leader’s first trip out of Moscow after Ukrainian troops made a daring cross-border raid and seized swathes of Russian land in the south west.

The Way of the World

• A significant – and rising – percentage of folk are said to be avoiding the news, which is seen by some as a problem for democracy. Which I guess it is.
• Almost everyone in the West, at least, agrees on 2 things:- 1. We need to have and protect free speech, and 2. There can never be absolutely free speech. There must be some curbs. As there are in the US, even though free speech is enshrined in its famous Constitution.

Thereafter, perspective differ on the degree of necessary curbs, especially in this age of social media disinformation and false news, etc. Needless to say, the greater the authoritarian nature of a government, the greater the degree of censorship of media content that threatens positions of power. In democratic states, there’s another factor at play: left-wing governments want the populace to be as pure as they are and have a hearty dislike of what they tend to label Far Right or Fascist. In these states, there now seems to be a tendency to use the word ‘terrorism’ to curb free speech. It will be interesting to see if this is a feature of Kamala Harris’s government. I expect so.

AI

This has the ring of truth about it . . . For all the billions being spent on it, AI doesn’t have anything like a sustainable business model. It also needs much more organic data to train its models, as the alternative of using synthetic data produced by other models is likely to result in the AI equivalent of mad cow disease. This is a reference to the sometimes astonishing errors. Not to mention inconsistency and duplication within the answers.

Spanish

Tirar las orejas a alguien: An AI search confirms my conclusion that this is the equivalent of a ‘slap on the wrist’. It conveys a mild reprimand or warning. So, if someone receives a “tirón de orejas,” they’ve essentially been given a gentle admonition. [AI repetition?]

Did you know?

There a web page – unhinged.com – which features songs of a scurrilous nature, apparently – but probably not – recorded in the 1940s to1970s. The title of one that came up in my YouTube link rather took my breath away. So, don’t go to the site unless you’re very broad-minded.

Finally . .

A joke from my elder daughter . . . I’m always confused between the words jacuzzi and yakuza. Now I’m in deep water with the Japanese mafia . . .

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. If you do this but don’t read the posts, I will delete your subscription. So perhaps don’t bother if you have other reasons for subscribing . . .
• 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.