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

Urban foxes might be a challenge in the UK these days but here in Spain a far more aggressive and dangerous beast has become the problem.

I’ve written that, post-Covid, cafés and restaurants in Pv city have reduced their costs in several small ways. For example, by no longer providing wi-fi or newspapers. Going for a Sunday morning coffee on the terrace of the Parador this morning, I was surprised to see that even they had stooped to the latter. So, I didn’t stay.

Rúa da Ponte is a street in Pv city’s old quarter. It’s down near the river, at the bottom of what is officially known as the Wine Quarter but which should really be known at the Booze Quarter, being full of bars serving every kind of drink that don’t open until very late at night, and shut in the very early hours. It has 2 claims to fame, one modern and the other not so modern: 1. It forms part of the camino as this approaches O Burgo bridge, and 2. Back in the 1830s, George Borrow, eminent author of The Bible in Spain, stayed in an inn(posada) on it. This is what he wrote about it: The posada was one of the most wretched description, and to mend the matter, the hostess was a most intolerable scold and shrew. Antonio having found fault with the quality of some provision which she produced, she cursed him most immoderately in the country’s language[Gallego], which was the only one she spoke, and threatened, if he attempted to breed any disturbance in her house, to turn the horses, himself, and his master forthwith out of doors. Sadly, we don’t know which building it was. But this is my candidate, for no reason other than, to me, it looks like the most likely candidate

I guess it has a 3rd claim to fame as being one of the few streets in Pv city’s old quarter which hasn’t been totally gentrified. Or had many of its premises turned into tourist flats. Though this is certainly happening now.

I’ve put an extract of Borrow’s chapter on Pv city below and will add more over the next day or two.

The UK

How the e-scooter boom turned to bust. Messy regulation and illegal riders made London’s e-scooter scheme ‘the worst in Europe’

France

Writing in 1759, Laurence Sterne – as Tristram Shandy – said this of Paris: So, this is Paris! The first, the finest, the most brilliant . . . The streets, however, are nasty. But it looks, I suppose, better than it smells. Modern critics of the left-wing major might well say the same, what with all those rats running around . . .

The USA

• A sceptical/skeptical take on the DNC convention. Possibly even cynical.

• As I’ve said, the August 2 issue of Private Eye arrived very late. Which explains this – woefully wrong – forecast:- So, what about Kamala Harris’s pick for VP? Conventional wisdom is that the Democratic candidate will pick a white man to reassure voters that a mixed-race female president would not usher in the apocalypse. The short list includes Arizona’s Mark Kelly; Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro; Kentucky’s Andy Beshear: and the Transport Secretary, Peter Buttigieg. Not to mention None-of-the-above.

Russia

I wonder if he knows this: The fall of Vladimir Putin is now only a matter of time.

The Way of the World

At least one person thinks DEI has died

Covid

This is the opening paragraph from a Private Eye article on the fist stage of an official enquiry into the British government’s handling of the epidemic. Can much the same be said about almost every other government, I wonder: None of the flaws uncovered by the Covid public inquiry’s Module 1 report on the UK’s resilience and preparedness will surprise readers of Private Eye. The UK prepared for the wrong pandemic and our only (‘flu) plan was outdated; those responsible for emergency planning were not up to the task; there were fatal flaws in assessing risks; emergency planning ignored health inequalities and deprivation; we didn’t learn from previous emergencies and outbreaks; and political, civil service and other advisers failed in the run up. In short, it was a clusterfuck.

English

Upliftment: A US neologism, the meaning of which can be guessed at in the context of the ‘joyful’ DNC centred on Kamala Harris.

Spanish

Taburete: Stool, of the bar type. Also the name of a group who performed in Pv city last week. No problem in Spanish but I guess any Anglo group would think twice before calling itself ‘Stool’.

Finally . .

Having lost 0-3 in their first match of the season at home, my team Everton went one better against Spurs in London yesterday, losing 4-0. But there are 2 things to be positive about: 1. There’s a long way to go before the (apparently inevitable) annual relegation battle, and 2. There are a few other companies languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table with zero points out of 6. And I guess there’s a 3rd . . Some of the defence might turn up next week. As I said last week, things can only get better. If only because they surely can’t get worse.

George Borrow on Pontevedra City

Our next day’s journey brought us to Pontevedra.

As there was no talk of robbers in these parts, we travelled without any escort and alone. The road was beautiful and picturesque, though somewhat solitary, especially after we had left behind us the small town of Caldas.

There is more than one place of this name in Spain; the one of which I am speaking is distinguished from the rest by being called Caldas de los Reyes, or the warm baths of the kings.

It will not be amiss to observe that the Spanish CALDAS is synonymous with the Moorish ALHAMA, a word of frequent occurrence both in Spanish and African topography. Caldas seemed by no means undeserving of its name: it stands on a confluence of springs, and the place when we arrived was crowded with people who had come to enjoy the benefit of the waters. In the course of my travels I have observed that wherever warm springs are found, vestiges of volcanoes are sure to be nigh; the smooth black precipice, the divided mountain, or huge rocks standing by themselves on the plain or on the hill side, as if Titans had been playing at bowls. This last feature occurs near Caldas de los Reyes, the side of the mountain which overhangs it in the direction of the south being covered with immense granite stones, apparently at some ancient period eructed from the bowels of the earth.

From Caldas to Pontevedra [the camino in reverse!] the route was hilly and fatiguing, the heat was intense, and those clouds of flies, which constitute one of the pests of Galicia, annoyed our horses to such a degree that we were obliged to cut down branches from the trees to protect their heads and necks from the tormenting stings of these bloodthirsty insects. Whilst travelling in Galicia at this period of the year on horseback, it is always advisable to carry a fine net for the protection of the animal, a sure and commodious means of defence, which appears, however, to be utterly unknown in Galicia, where, perhaps, it is more wanted than in any other part of the world.

Pontevedra, upon the whole, is certainly entitled to the appellation of a magnificent town.

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.