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
Possibly because of its tie-up with El País. The Guardian has had several articles on the Valencian floods and their aftermath:-
Videos of the protests can be seen from the BBC here and DW here.
Walking on the camino through thick forests – in one memorable case, on a narrow path with high stone walls on both sides – I’ve more than once wondered how safe it is for the many women I see walking alone through Pv city. So, I was saddened but not surprised to read this article on attacks.
Another reminder to hurry, if you’re thinking of taking advantage of Spain’s Golden Visa opportunity.
The UK
Surely the truth . . . It’s absurd that a country responsible for no more than 1% of the world’s man-made carbon emissions should posture as a big player in the “great game” of global energy.
The USA
More fascinating(?) post mortem comments . . .
- Welcome back to Trumpland.
- We are at the end of the vibe era, when the left could chuck around terms such as “democracy”, “empathy”, “progress” and “optimism”, and expect people to vote for them. Too many on the left use the hopey changey stuff to avoid questions about the economy, immigration, taxes — subjects the right may be just as bad at handling, but don’t fear discussing . . . It turns out that if you mindlessly parrot niche academic theories, the mainstream public will think you’re bananas. The worst mistake the Democrats could make now would be to retreat into reactionary extremism, defining themselves purely as the opposite to the Republicans.
- Kamala Harris never stood a chance. She was only ever a liberal prop. . . . Far from being American democracy’s nemesis, Trump is its cruel, absurd consummation. [And, like all populist demagogues, he played to the fears that either already existed or that he created. The Progressive Democrats having given many opportunities for this.]
The Way of the World
Another Guardian article on the floods, this time on the genuine images that people believe are false.
Social Media
From that article . . . There’s a nice positive feedback loop in which creators of AI slop profit from feeding the engagement algorithms of social media platforms, which in turn profit from the increasing “engagement” that viral images attract. The trouble with positive feedback loops, though, is that they give rise to runaway growth, and to the question of what happens to social media when they become terminally enshittified as a result. Which is where Meta and co are headed.
Quote of the Day
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” ― John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
English
- AI slop: Images and text created using generative AI tools. Be prepared to see a lot more of this.
- To enshittify: Have a guess
Spanish
Bache: Pothole
Did you know?
Illegible handwriting is called griffonage.
You Have to Laugh/Cry
There’s a deep pothole in a street near my house which has been ‘repaired’ at least 20 times over the years. Arriving back last night – after a road trip of 2,700km – I hit it in the dark, destroying a tyre – just hours before my car was due for its annual road test. Fortunately I was able to get a replacement tyre fitted at 9.30 this morning, the Spanish equivalent of 7.30.
Finally . . . Gardening news
The weeds continued to proliferate during my 2 week absence and the crazy (dead-but-still living) bougainvillea sprouted several long sucker branches, one of which was 83cm long, or 33 inches. Which means it grew at just under 8cm a day, or 2.4 inches . .
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.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
Buen día Colin —
I have found interesting the articles you have linked regarding the support in the U.S.A. of Trump by a large part of the population and his election. The writers are generally confounded and have theories of how this could be. In the larger context of U.S.A. history and culture, I myself have been amazed how consistently large numbers of those citizens vote against what seems to me to be against their own self-interest and for the benefit of oligarchs and big businesses whose policies and conduct exploit those citizens. (For another day is the question of whether they ever really have, or are willing to make, a meaningful choice.)
In this context, the writings of novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who was a man of that culture but who could also step outside of it, are, to me, the most insightful of all I have read. The following from his 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five seems particularly apt to the present (and many past) situations in the U.S.A.:
“While the British colonel set Lazzaro’s broken arm and mixed plaster for the cast, the German major translated out loud passages from Howard W. Campbell, Jr.’s monograph. Campbell had been a fairly well-known playwright at one time. His opening line was this one:
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich? ‘ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand-glued to a lollipop stick and, flying from the cash register.
“The author of the monograph, a native of Schenectady, New York, was said by some to have had the highest I.Q. of all the war criminals who were made to face a death by hanging. So it goes.
“Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.“
Así son las cosas.
Aleksandras
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Thanks, Aleks. Sorry about delay in responding . .
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Well, as the American circus guy once said : “No one ever went poor underestimating the intelligence of the American people”.
Great quotations in your comment. Thanks again.
C.
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