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

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the only part of Europe which wasn’t still using (clumsy) Roman numerals was Iberia. As an occupied peninsula, it had moved to the Arabic numbers of the Muslim invaders. Which, as I’ve said, the Arabs got from India, including the concept of zero. This info comes from this nice podcast, featuring Toledo.

Talking of numbers . . . As I drove to Lérez this morning and then walked into town, I was passed by 50 (be-ponchoed/ bedraggled) ’pilgrims’ heading for Santiago de Compostela. In only 15 minutes, 10 times more than I used to see during an entire day during my first camino in 2009.

I’ll be visiting Alicante in November, the first time I’ve been back there since a disastrous visit in 1970, described here, penned in 1972. Still makes me laugh. And cry.

Actually, that was not only my first visit to Alicante but also to (a rather different) Spain. The trains and buses have certainly improved a lot since then and you never encounter these days the pungent street smells of 50 years ago. Which some might miss, but others not.

This is an eyesore at the bottom of Pv’s old quarter, opposite the market. It’s been like this since at least 2000 – in recent years, fenced off because of the risk of falling masonry:-

I always assumed it would be gentrified one day, with the façade retained, as required by law. But now I read that it’s to be demolished and the bill presented to the owner, assuming they can find him/her. I’m guessing that a modern version will go up some time in the future, with the owner defraying the cost of demolition by selling the land.

Portugal

Says The Times. . . The pristine sands of the wild west coast not far from Lisbon have, for years, been a well-kept secret among the discreet British upper classes. To the wealthy, well-connected and in-the-know, the coastal towns of Comporta and Melides are a chic, low-key escape from Lisbon to a place of perfectly unspoilt coastline near national parkland. Not much of a secret now, with Harry and Meghan buying a place there.

The UK

Looking forwards . . . .Following its loss of power in the last general elections, the Conservative party is in the final stage of a long process of appointing a new leader. So, time to remind ourselves of the 2 long-established labels for the party:-

• A broad church, albeit one without any faith. Witness the divisions over the ECHR. And,
• The stupid party. Witness the choices of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss as leader and the desire of many members to bring back the former.

Looking backwards . . . This is an article by the chap I cited yesterday, on the Saxons, their migrations to Britain and their end as the hands of the Normans.

The EU

The Guardian addresses current challenges here. Some nice quotes therefrom:-

• The next 5 years could be a messy, politically tempestuous period for the EU. 
• It has become a wry joke in Brussels that the most stable country in the EU is Italy, once infamous for its succession of short-lived governments.
• There is a sense of urgency in Brussels about the state of the world and how Europe is losing out
• Weak national governments are facing an agenda that is important rather than urgent. And when it’s not urgent, it is very difficult to mobilise the political will of 27 – or at least a good majority of national governments – to act.

The USA

• Concern seems to be growing that Harris won’t defeat Trump. One observer writes: Many struggle to understand why she is now in such a precarious position. She’s raised significantly more money than Donald Trump, she leads (narrowly) in most public polls, her campaign is smarter, the media is mostly supportive, she offers generational change, she benefits from the passionate support of well over half of Americans for reproductive rights and she will generate, Democrats hope, a big surge in young voter registration. Also, surely Trump’s increasingly bizarre antics must be damaging the erratic former president? They are. There is no majority love in the US electorate for Trump. But distaste alone is not enough to beat him.
• Another writes that Harris might well lose because US presidential elections are about ‘performance’ and she needs to get better at this PDQ. After all – as well as lying, cheating, womanising, defrauding, exaggerating, defaming, failing to deliver on promises and committing criminal offences – Trump is pretty damn good at performances aimed at his target audience

Galician

• Coello: Rabbit, cf. conejo in Spanish. Apparently hunted almost to extinction here in Galicia. So, being left to proliferate. For which they’re quite famous, of course. Might take a week or two for the requisite level to be reached for them to be slaughterable again.
• Xábarín: Wild boar, cf. jabalí in Spanish. Open season was declared on these last week here in Galicia and this year, as theyre now such a bloody nuisance, you can kill as many as you like.

Spanish

• Enebra: Juniper. To be compared with the French genièvre and the Dutch genever, from which English got ‘gin’. The drink took off in England after Billy of Orange came over in 1688 to rule with his English wife Mary, bringing with him lots of his Dutch mates and their booze habits. As a prelude to banning French brandy and making the production of gin easier and cheaper.
• Ginebra: Gin . . . Not to be confused with . .
• Jengibre: Ginger

Did you know?

When your stomach rumbles that’s a womble.

Finally . . .

It’s still raining here in Galicia, and in most of Spain, I think. . . . Not good for the hundreds/thousands who’ve left their arrival in Santiago until October or November. Still, they’ll all be thrilled when they get there and can towel themselves down.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts, either after reading on line or in my FB group Thoughts from Galicia.

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.