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

A heart-rending account from El País – in English – on the impact of the flash floods in one street in a township west of Valencia city. Remarkably – as in other townships very badly hit by floods – they didn’t see a drop of the rain during that fateful Tuesday.

Mention is made in that article of Utiel, further west of Valencia, where it certainly did rain during Tuesday 29 October. I knew this at the time, as it kaiboshed our plan to drive east from Cuenca to the province of Castellón the next day. So, surely the Valencian government knew of the ‘biblical’ rain that fell on Utiel during Tuesday. And somebody might well have asked what this would do to the rivers flowing down from the mountains where it’s situated, 720M above sea level “at the feet of the Sierra de la Bicuerca”. But not the president of the Valencian region, it seems.

So far, there’ve been no banners, protests or demonstrations about this in Pv city but we might get all of them one day . . . El precio del alquiler en Pontevedra casi triplica a la inflación durante la última década. La subida supera el 57% desde 2014 y es la más alta del mercado local, por encima del aceite o el azúcar, alimentos más inflacionados. Los expertos atribuyen el fenómeno a la tensión entre oferta y demanda provocada en parte por la proliferación de pisos turísticos.

The BBVA bank forecasts that Galicia will have the highest per capita regional GDP growth rate between 2019 and 2125, well above the national average. I wonder why. Zara exports? Rapidly increasing tourism to a less hot part of Spain? Even more cocaine and heroine smuggling? Research required.

An annual tapas competition takes place every year in Pv city. Today I tried one of the 2 on offer in a favourite tiffin place. The evaluation card I then had to fill in demanded my full name, my barrio, my phone number and my ID number. I mean, why?? Wouldn’t a phone number be enough?

I read that our rubbish collection bills will soon be based on a mix of the catastral value of our property and our water consumption. Not sure why. But large families – those who create most rubbish – will continue to get the Franco-era discount.

There’s speeding and then there’s speeding. Mine is totally unintentional but I doubt this was the case for the local chap caught on radar, doing 182kph in a 90 zone.

Portugal

Also getting a lot of rain at the moment, because of a DANA down in the Algarve, very possibly the one causing problems in the Málaga-Cádiz area. One assumes flood prevention measures will be better than those in Valencia 2 weeks ago.

The date for introduction of the Vigo-Oporto high-speed train has been confirmed as 2032. Maybe.

The USA

This is a good podcast/video on Why Trump Won. A ‘mass populist revolt, reflecting class divisions which are supposed to be a British speciality.

The Way of the World

• COP29 wasn’t attended by the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide, raising serious questions about the economy-impacting Net Zero measures being taken by other countries.
• To say the least, Richard North is a Net Zero sceptic, at least as it’s currently planned. He doesn’t pull any punches here. Especially as regards the UK prime minister, whom he regards as a ‘malign fool’.

Quote of the Day

Al Jazeera is based in Qatar. It reports without fear or favour from everywhere – except Qatar.

AI

Google is now offering an AI tool which can turn one’s blog posts into podcasts. Quote: This will be hosted by a pair of virtual presenters who ‘banter’ while explaining the contents to the listener. The hosts are equipped with high quality voice models which can mimic conversation – pauses, laughter, intonation – with startling fidelity.

Net Zero

• Dunkelflaute: German for ‘dark doldrums’ – when the sun doesn’t shine nor the wind blow, making reliance on other sources of energy essential. If they can be accessed. A kind of double whammy, I guess.
• Another sceptic says here that: The latest COP in Azerbaijan is all about money – a massive annual trillion dollar heist planned by global elites as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. But Trump’s election has blown these plans out of the water. He is the ghost of the president yet to come . . .

Spanish

• Desalojar: To evacuate
• Desajolamiento/Desalojo: Evacuation
• Jabato: Brave
• Placero: Market trader: Stallholder

Did you know?

The fictional character Robinson Crusoe was based on a real castaway – Alexander Selkirk. The latter was thrown off a boat by a captain who got fed up of Selkirk’s comments about the unseaworthiness of the ship. Shortly after Selkirk was deposited on the island where he was to spend more than 4 years, the ship duly sank. Cold comfort, I guess. Or would have been if he’d known about it at the time.

Finally . . .

For unknown reasons, when I listened to the above Spiked podcast, the ads at the beginning and the end were in Dutch. Possibly a VPN glitch. Or sabotage . . .

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.