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

Property prices keep on rising here, especially in the traditional hotspots.

After an adverse parliamentary development, Spain has suspended its decision to end its Golden Visa scheme. If you have €500,000 or more to invest in property here, you still have the time and opportunity to do so. And I have some lovely places in verdant, not-so-hot Galicia for you.

Talking of politics . . . The Spanish PM has accused the leader of the opposition PP party of playing with marked cards and colluding with [right-wing] judges. I’m not clear what the former means but wouldn’t be at at all surprised if the latter were true. Justice doesn’t always seem to be impartial in Spain. As in the USA.

It’s very important in Spain to have fun. The Spanish even plan for it, and are very good at this. And even better at execution. Here’s the Olive Press with a few suggestions for next yea

Cousas de Galicia

Xmas is a good time for restaurants, of course. But I read that some in Pv city are getting tougher with customers – because of the problem of reservas fantasmas. Some folk, knowing that it’ll be hard to get a reservation in December, do so well in advance, and then fail to cancel. I’m not clear yet what this new toughness will amount to. A large deposit? Or even full (fixed-price) payment closer to the date? I imagine sending a bill after the event would be pointless. Especially if the customers were local politicians.

Europe/The EU

The introduction of the new Entry/Exit system has been postponed several times but Brussels assures us it certainly will be introduced in 2025, albeit in a phased way. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Europe’s economy has not fared anywhere near as well as the USA’s since the global shock of 2008. Which compels one to wonder if the leaders of the former are capable on doing anything about this. And, if not, what are the consequences for ourselves, our children and, above all, our grandchildren.

Another article on this theme of decline.

The USA

Trump is urging millions of Yankees to buy his perfumes as a gift. As someone has pointed out, it only takes one letter to turn ‘gift’ into ‘grift’. But this seems to be lost on said (gullible) Yankees. Which reminds me . . . I forgot one word in my one-sentence description of the man – shameless.

Only in the USA? The reaction to the murder of the CEO of a healthcare insurance company – joyful memes, novelty merch, gushing support – is undeniably callous and points to a deeply dysfunctional system.

Russia

The wages of sin . . .

The Way of the World

• FIFA is one of those global institutions which can’t seem to avoid corruption on a considerable scale. They’ve just awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, which has quite a lot of money with which to finance greenwashing. Here’s The Times’ (disgusted) football correspondent on this scandal/‘outrage’.
• We’re losing the right to offend – and that should frighten us all. A press watchdog ruling says journalists cannot call a trans woman ‘a man who claims to be a woman’ – so what should we call her? The job of a journalist, we used to think, is always to tell the truth, whether people like it or not. It seems, however, that times have changed. Because nowadays, the job of a journalist is to avoid telling the truth, in case it hurts someone’s feelings. .

Quote of the Day

When it comes to speech, offence is the price of freedom.

Transgenderism

Belatedly, puberty blockers have banned  indefinitely in the UK, as they pose an “unacceptable safety risk” for children wanting to change gender. Possibly too much money is involved for this to happen in the USA, whatever the medical consensus elsewhere. Anyway, this means that private clinics will not be able to prescribe or supply the drugs in the UK, although a clinical trial of puberty blockers in children at NHS clinics will still go ahead next year. It’s more than a tad difficult to see this being ethical.

AI

A friend takes the piss pit pf AI search engines for their errors and ‘hallucinations’. There’s no denying these happen but I find the AI engines vastly better than Google when, eg, I’m researching dehumidifiers. This (worried) expert wonders if we shouldn’t take an Amish approach to the technology.

English

For non-native speakers . . . Do you know the difference between

• Few people are worth talking about, and
• A few people are worth talking about.

Humanitarian grounds: A phrase that in Moscow clearly means something very different from, say, London or New York.

Spanish

• Cazafortuna: Golddigger
• Flota de cerco: Purse seine fishing fleet. Characterized by: Surrounding schools of fish with a large circular net: Using a net 250 to 1000m long and about 50m wide: Catching mainly pelagic species such as sardines, anchovies, horse mackerel and mackerel
• Flota de pincho: The bottom longline fleet. Characterized by: Using the bottom longline fishing gear, which is highly selective: Catching demersal species, with hake being one of the main ones: Catching one by one, minimizing the impact on the fish.

Did you know?

• Pelagic fish: Fish living in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters – being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore
• Demersal fish: Also known as groundfish, these live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes. They occupy the sea floors and lake beds, which usually consist of mud, sand, gravel or rocks. 

Finally . . .

As someone who wakes at 6 – even when I don’t want to – I took comfort from this article on the benefits of early rising. One of the disbenefits here in Galicia is that I sometimes have to wait 3 hours before I see the sun rising on the distant hills.

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.