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

As in the UK, there’s an acute shortage of properties in Spain, especially for the young. Back in the phoney boom years, Spain built more properties in 2006 than Germany, France and the UK put together, leading to a massive overhang when the economy duly crashed. Some developments still lie largely empty, having been built in the wrong place. Mark Stücklin comments here on an article on the issue, saying that the cited report’s emphasis on public intervention underscores the need for policy solutions to address the housing deficit and ensure access to affordable housing for all residents. Feast to famine.

Here’s Mark Stücklin again on the property market in Barcelona. Recent government interventions in the residential property market will make the existing housing crisis worse, argues the influential Association of Balearic National and International Real Estate Agents (ABINI).

If none of Spain’s 40+ (increasingly crowded) caminos de Santiago attract you, here’s news of an alternative. South-east Spain’s Camino is well off the tourist trail. The 800-year-old pilgrimage to Caravaca de la Cruz in Murcia is perennially warm, much less crowded than the famed Santiago path and surrounded by beautiful vineyards.

The wheels of justice in Spain . . . Almost 20 years after construction was halted, the infamous – and illegal – Algarrobico hotel in Almeria will finally be demolished.  Maybe.

I wrote last week about all the students on the Friday local trains, bringing dirty washing home to Mum in Pontevedra or taking it to Vigo. This is from an article in a local paper today on Renfe’s failings . . .

Italy

The apparently successful policy of moving would-be immigrants for processing to Albania has fallen foul of judicial interpretation of the ECHR law. As did the UK government’s Rwanda scheme. Richard North comments today: Within the EU, Italy’s Albanian deal is the most advanced attempt to resolve the burgeoning illegal immigrant crisis and, while the Italian government intends to appeal, the scheme as it stands is dead in the water. So, what next? The only certainty is that some lawyers are going to (continue to) get awfully rich.

English

Apologies to galegofalante readers for misspelling the Galician for ‘wild boar’’. Paideleo (Leo’s dad) tells me it’s xabarín: (or porco bravo, wild pig) not xabalí. Should have looked it up . . Ironically, I’ll be eating it in November with my friends of Os Porcos Bravos 7-a-side football team.

Spanish

• Aspaviento: A fuss.
• Alucinero: Quienes suelen empotrar sus coches contra los escaparates de varios negocios para despues robar en ellos. Ram-raiders.
• Alunizaje: Ram-raiding.

Did you know?

Darwin was inspired by an estate’s wild boars.

You Have to Laugh

Try this satirical podcast – Everything is News. But maybe only if you’re British. And familiar with UK politics.

Finally . . .

It’s still raining. The needle on my barometer rose overnight, raising my hopes first thing this morning. Only to see them dashed during the day. The forecast was for light rain. So, naturally, we got an hours-long heavy downpour. It was rather like being in Indonesia during the rainy season. Minus the heat. I felt rather sorry for the Canadian camino hikers I chatted with last night. I’ve been through the forest after Pontevedra in the rain and the dripping trees make everything worse.

Nationwide, the weather is said to be a roller-coaster – una montana rusa – at the moment. A ‘Russian mountain’. The bottom line is that a so-called DANA will descend in the Mediterranean in the coming days and ‘could favour rain and storms in the peninsular Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands.’ I struggle to be sympathetic.

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.