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

In case the link was broken in yesterday’s article on Vox’s appeal to the Spanish young, here’s a better one.

Brussels continues to demand a budget from Spain. And from Belgium and Austria, but Spain is the only of the trio with a (theoretically) functioning government. So is different. Unique even.

Back from the USA, Lenox Napier tells here of a brief flirt with Spanish bureaucracy.

And some gold-digger(?) woman tells here of her not-so-brief flirt with the disgraced ex-king, whom she admits to blackmailing over it, after setting him up for it, using her brother or her son. I’m not sure her word can be believed on the latter.

The best night of our lives . . . The verdict of a El País reviewer on Paul McCartney’s gig in Madrid last night. For folk of all ages, it seems.

Cousas de Galicia

The Xunta notes with great regret that, despite its efforts to ensure the opposite, the use of Gallego has decreased on social media. Sad but probably inevitable. Unlike Basque and Catalan, it long ago ceased to be the preferred tongue of the middle and upper classes. I believe.

Portugal

Becoming the El Dorado of medical cannabis production in Europe?

The UK

The New European is a journal aimed at ‘The 48%’, in other words the ‘Remainers’. It publishes an annual Shit List. As you’d expect, as far as I can tell 49 of the 50 folk on this (98%) are right-of-centre, to one degree or another. The one left-winger is the Guardian columnist Owen Jones, whom even Leftists find hard to stomach. Though not Jeremy Corbyn, I imagine. The list – here – is certainly amusing, if a tad scurrilously so. And it might well be accurate. The paper also has a podcast called The Two Matts, which is quite enjoyable. Or very, if you’re a Remainer. They are both Leftists but certainly don’t like ‘The kid Owen’.

The USA

Trump – My one sentence verdict: A lying narcissist who displays the Dunning-Kruger effect but who knows he’s lying, in order to become President solely to make money for himself and his family and cronies. Other opinions might vary. And whole books will be written on the issue.

The Way of the World/Transgenderism

In this podcast – episode 310 of the Brendan O’Neill show – a gay socio-political commentator explains why the transgender campaign was always going to end in disaster for everyone involved, especially children – in sharp contrast with the Gay Pride campaign. Go to minute 50 and stick with it until after minute 53 for a few minutes. You can also find the episode on other podcast platforms, of course.

Spanish

Tostón: 1. Crouton 2. Fried plantain 3. Roast suckling pig 4. Bore, drag, pain, nuisance. There’s said to be only a thin line between this and brilliance. In respect of the 4th meaning, I guess

Did you know?

The Autodidact Professor bring us here The Battle that Shaped Legends, and which certainly determined Spanish history. Note: As you might know, the Franks were a Germanic people who came from near the Lower Rhine, south of today’s Netherlands. They first emerged into recorded history in the 3rd century CE. A separate Germanic tribe were the Alemanni, of the Upper Rhine, first mentioned by the Romans in 213 CE. Two thousand years later, the Spanish for French is francés and alemán for German. If you didn’t already, now you know why . . .

Finally . . .You Have to Laugh

I couldn’t suppress a smile – indeed I laughed – at this graphic on the stages of the Vigo-Oporto high-speed train. Not as the elements of it but at the time-lines.

A flight of purest fancy, if ever there were one. Let’s hope it’s not more than 30 years late, like the (still unfinished) Madrid-Galicia line. I don’t think I’ll be around in 2064.

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.