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

Today’s news centres on Valencia province, where at least 50 people have lost their lives to truly atrocious weather. If you aren’t already aware of this, you can read here of ‘Mayhem’ in Valencia, Biblical storms in Alicante, and Electrical storms along the coast and inland. My old friend and I are nearby, in Cuenca, but have only suffered persistent rain. And that was yesterday; today has been sunny and dry here. But we’ve naturally suspended our plan to move north eastwards into Castellón and then down to Valencia.

In other news . . .

Here’s the FT on Spain’s macro performance, which continues to be impressive set against that of most EU members.

A (controversial) judge has launched a new corruption inquiry into the PM’s wife. Said PM continues to blame ‘ultra-right-wing organisations’ for the claims.

Spain has an unusual system of protection from prosecution for some 250,000 people, called los aforados. It’s referred to as ‘parliamentary immunity’ but, in fact, only about 20%, or 50,000, are actually politicians. There’s a description of this system below. It’s said of it that: It is intended to protect politicians from undue pressure or politically motivated prosecutions. However, critics argue that it can be used to shield politicians from legitimate legal consequences.

For Spanish history buffs . . . a key battle in July of 1212.

Halloween was unknown in Spain until the 1990s. Sadly, this is no longer remotely true. In Galicia, it says here, Samhain, or ‘samain’ as it is known there, is full of excitement and passion, with packed itineraries across multiple towns and cities. The spookiest town is said to be that Cedeira.

The UK

Britain’s socialist future has arrived, claims this DT columnist.

The Way of the World

If my experience with pious Catholics is anything to go on, this won’t make a jot’s worth of difference to their belief that the Turin Shroud is genuine.

English

If you combine an exclamation mark with a question mark, it’s known as an interrobang.

Spanish

What to make of this? . . . This morning I needed to be sure that a bath plug in Spanish was or wasn’t enchufe. So, I checked with Google, which said it was tapón. An AI search confirmed this. But the receptionist in the hotel looked totally confused when I used tapónes and only understood my complaint about their absence from my bathroom when I used enchufes. So, I checked if the latter was used in South America, only to be told in an AI search that it wasn’t. Advice, please, from mainland Spanish readers.

Finally . . .

Welcome to new subscriber from Portugal who’s suggested more items on our neighbour and advised that: Friday is a public holiday and our local market lasting two days, depending on the weather, – in Valença I think – will have a good stock of animals including donkeys, should any one be interested.

Travel News

• We are in Cuenca for a day or three. We decided yesterday evening to walk from our hotel in the new quarter to the old quarter only a kilometre away. Google said it was a 15m walk. But that was before Google Maps led us a merry dance in the new quarter and we found that the last 500m was up a 1 in 3 hill . . . More like 25 minutes, if not 30. In heavy-ish rain.

• These are the remaining 2 ‘Hanging Houses’ of Cuenca.

• I had an old experience when I got back to my room from the old quarter and decided to have a hot bath to ease my aching leg muscles. Only to find there was no plug for the bath. And this in a 4-star hotel! Fortunately, I never go anywhere without a travel-plug, which has proved invaluable over the years, as I don’t usually run to 4-star places and the no-plug problem is not uncommon in establishments catering for lower class clients.

• My new experience centred on me hearing a low rumble as the bed on which I was lying to read parted from the headboard and slid forwards, allowing the pillow and me to fall slowly through the gap thus created. In the end, I had to amass quite a few things at the end of the bed to stop this happening. Including the heavy unit on which the TV was situated . . .

LOS AFORADOS

These are individuals who enjoy parliamentary immunity in Spain. There are c. 250,000 people who have this but only about 20% of them are actually politicians. Approximately 232,000 are members of the State and Regional Security Forces and Corps and about 17,600 belong to State and Autonomous Community institutions

Key Privileges

The parliamentary prerogatives granted to aforados include:

1. Inviolability: Legislators cannot be judicially prosecuted for opinions expressed or votes cast in the exercise of their official duties
2. Immunity: Aforados may only be detained if caught in the act of committing a crime (in flagrante delicto). For any legal process to be initiated against them, authorization must be sought from the assembly in which they were elected
3. Specific Jurisdiction: Parliamentarians can only be judged in the first instance by the Supreme Court of Spain. This practice has been criticized as it potentially undermines the right to appeal to a higher court

Non-Politicians with Aforado Status

1. Members of the Judicial System: Judges and magistrates, Prosecutors, Members of the General Council of the Judiciary
2. Law Enforcement: Members of the State Security Forces and Corps, Members of regional police forces
3. Other Government Officials: Members of the Court of Auditors, Members of the Council of State, the Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) and regional ombudsmen
4. Royal Family Members: Certain members of the Spanish royal family.

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.