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

Manos Limpios is far-right group of possible Franco fans who finance law suits again Lefties they don’t like. Or their wives, in the case of the PM. In Spain, private citizens can initiate a criminal investigation, if they can find a judge willing to take it on. It seems that it’s not too hard to find a judge with (far)right-wing sympathies in Spain and, so, Manos Limpias engages in quite a lot of lawfare. This week they’ve presented a case of manslaughter against the head of the state meteorological agency, AEMET, and against 2 members of the Valencian government, alleging negligence around the floods of 29 October. They might well have a point as regards the latter.

A different, but interesting, law suit.

The menú del dia is one of Spain’s great institutions. Here’s a report on how it’s risen in price in the last few years, while remaining good value for money.

Cousas de Galicia

Several years ago, it was decided to give Pv city a new bypass road, the A-57. I’ve never understood why, as we already have one, the AP9. It’s a gash in the hills opposite my eyrie and I can see that progress is slow, though the first 15km stretch is said to be near completion, whatever that means. But things might just be delayed by an accusation that the approval process was fraudulent. I wonder if I will ever get to travel on it.

The Xunta says it’s going to speed up the process of checking whether tourist flats actually have the required licence. For whatever reason, they seem to have been taking this very slowly to date.

The UK

Someone’s idea of what the UK still does better than any other country.

The USA

Social Media

Quelle surprise! . . . Doom scrolling really does make you more depressed. People with poorer mental health are more likely to read negative content when browsing, which in turns makes them feel worse.

The Way of the World/Quote of the Day

If you go through the door to X, don’t be surprised to find yourself in a cess pit. And don’t start clutching your pearls.

Net Zero

A shocking reality? Trump’s fossil future heralds a global reset: Trump’s embrace of oil and gas may help curb US inflation but it will also shatter international harmony on the use of green energy. Bottom line . . . It should be noted that it won’t make much difference to the planet’s warming. US carbon emissions have been falling sharply as a share of total emissions for years. China is now responsible for 3 times as much and India is rapidly catching up. In fact US carbon emissions per capita last year were back to pre-Second World War levels, thanks to much more efficient use of energy. As America’s technological and economic lead over Europe grows, the question for Europeans will be: how much longer do they want to go on committing economic suicide with punishing emissions restrictions that undermine their own economic performance and make only a small dent in global emissions?

That question is even more acute for the UK, of course – as the Labour government strives to be a global leader in reduction of its (very small) contribution to the total.

Spanish

Tal cual!: Exactly! Just how it was/is!

Did you know?

Birdsong is always in pitch. Birds sound wrong only when frightened.

Finally . . .

Readers might recall me writing about a crypto-currently crook who garnered billions by defrauding people out of their life’s savings, destroying their lives in the process. The last I heard, a year or two ago, was that she’d crossed the Bulgarian mafia and had been fed to the fishes, bit by bit. But maybe not. More likely, Ruja Ignatova is hiding in a South African suburb popular with gangsters – sheltering behind high walls in one of South Africa’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. But I wish the previous story was the more accurate one.

Finally, Finally . . .

In the UK for 6 months earlier this year, I used to pop along to Sainsbury’s to buy this wine – the 2023 Taste the Difference Albariño, Which is . . . Made from hand-harvested 20-year-old vines, wild fermented with their own natural yeasts present on grape skins. Which helps to explain why this scented, floral, stone-fruited saline albariño is so darned delicious. Dry, tangy albariño is a surprisingly versatile festive white, equally great with smoked salmon and turkey leftovers. Try it, if you can.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts, either after reading them 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.