Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the stars to flight.
And, lo, the hunter of the east 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

The ‘Father of modern Catalan nationalism’ is 94 and is accused of corruption to the tune of €290m  euros. He might or might not eventually stand trial for this. Most likely not, as he knows where all the bodies are buried.

In a survey of Spain’s coastal towns by the UK consumer magazine, the top spot went to San Sebastian the Bay of Biscay. Nerja, on the Costa del Sol came in second place, while Cartagena, Jávea, and Sitges were joint 3rd. Puerto Banus came bottom but is still visited by more than a mullion Brits each year

I’ve occasional noted that the Spanish lack of radar/antennae when it comes to the presence of other people. This is a good example. I had to weave my way through the 2 couples blocking this street last evening. Of course, if I’d said Permiso, they’d have apologised profusely.

Cousas de Galicia

Guess where you can find Spain’s best seafood . . . . the article is sponsored, of course.

A friend has told me that the original plan for the A-57 I’ve written about – more than 30 years – was for it to begin in Vigo, not in a small village between Vigo and Pontevedra. It seems that self-interested opposition led to this section being abandoned, meaning that it’s hard to avoid the toll until you get to this village.

I regularly read about – and witness – the reduction in retail outlets in Pv city. This is a shop which I pass 2-4 times a day and in which I’ve never seen any customers.

A notice on the door says that the 2 hipster owners have moved their business to Vigo. As it’s on the Camino, I suspect there’ll be conversion into another knick-knack place.

The UK

Rumours abound that the mad multi-billionaire, Elon Musk, is going to give a million dollars to Nigel Farage for allow Reform to replace the Conservatives as the main opposition party. As Richard North says: There is no doubt that such an injection of cash into a minority political party would be a game-changers, although it is difficult to predict precisely how the game would change. But with the man reputed to be the richest man in the world behind Farage, politics will certainly be different for a while.

Bad advice for tourists visiting the UK.

Ireland

The IRA (Irish Republican Army) has come a long way since its formation in the early years of the 20th century and its ‘political wing’ recently won most votes in a general election. However, it’s unlikely to form the government, asn o other party is willing to go into a coalition with it.

The EU

The UK is said to be planning to tell Brussels: OK. We’ll take your students, if you help our financial and legal professionals to work in the EU.

The USA

I guess that to our US cousins it doesn’t seem ludicrous for their president (and his cabinet colleagues) to sport a baseball cap much of the time. As for the rest of us . . . I mean, imagine Keir Starmer – or Maggie Thatcher – looking like this.

English

• I wanted a single word to describe citizens of the USA, as an alternative to Yankees. Spanish has estadounidenses [plus gringos, yanquis and grenchos] but this has no equivalent in English. ‘North American’ doesn’t really cut it, as this term includes both Canadians and Mexicans. Translation machines give the incorrect term Americans’’. So, I asked an AI engine and it came up with these additional non-contenders: Northerners, New Yorkers, and Patriots. Any suggestions? Or neologisms?
• Beserkers: Norse Warriors who purportedly fought in a trance-like fury

Spanish

• Grencho: A gross individual, apparently.
• Carne picada: Mince in Spain and Argentina.
• Carne molida: Mince in the rest of S America.

Quotes of the Day

• Unless we start to disentangle racial prejudice against ethnic minorities, many of whom tend to be Muslim, from criticism of Islamic teaching, we [in the UK] risk sleepwalking into accepting new blasphemy laws because we are too embarrassed to look racist by protesting against them.  . . . We need to insist aloud that you can cause religious offence to Muslims without being racist, and that the right to do so is fundamental to the British way of life. . . .  The main problem is that very often the need to discuss an important issue clearly, unambiguously and freely, as the argument takes you, is greater than the need not to upset certain groups of people by the words you use. When it comes to addressing social problems, policing offensive statements — religious or secular — should be the least of our worries.
• If liberals won’t enforce borders, fascists will. Liberals have lost the argument on migration. To stave off the far right, tough decisions must be made, and made soon.

Net Zero

Britain has a choice: amend the electric car mandate or let the industry go bust. The fiasco of the UK’s net zero policies are now costing serious jobs – and threatening entire regional economies

You Have to Laugh

Finally . . .

As it’s the start of the month . . .  Some readers, I hope, will know that the verse I cite at the top of my posts is the opening quatrain of Fitzgerald’s wonderful – but very ‘free’ – translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which you can read about here. Some verses are well known, of course, eg:-
The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

But my favourite is:-
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
doctor and saint, and heard great argument
about it and about: but evermore
came out by the same door as in I went

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.