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

A Galician – Rafael Louzán – has been elected president of the Spanish Football Federation. Years ago, when he was president of the Pontevedra provincial government, a bodega owner in his home town told me of strong suspicions of corruption. Given the way football is governed around the world, perhaps a certain laxity towards this is a key requirement of his new job.

The property boom rolls on, says Mark Stüklin here. And today’s DdP reports that property sales this year in Pv province have have been higher than in the final full year – 2007 – of the cheap finance/construction-driven phoney boom of 2002-2008.

Be warned about this QR scam. And be careful of an email purporting to be from Customs saying that a packet for you has been held up there. If you get the same one as I did today, you’ll see the tell-tale sign of the misspelling of the Spanish verb for ‘confirm’.

Cousas de Galicia

The prices of the normal Xmas items have increased by 60% in the last decade, it’s reported. The dreadful percebes (goose barnacles) are €80 a kilo, which is a lot – and 30% up on last weeks price. But, many years ago, I was told the restaurant price in Madrid at Xmas was €300 a kilo. I wouldn’t give them mouth room, even if they were gratis.

Not something you see every day on an autovía . . .

Half of the drivers in Pontevedra province stopped for a drug test proved positive. This might help to explain why our insurance premiums are among the highest in the country. I wonder if the high percentage reflects the police selecting a particular cohort of drivers to test.

Talking of driving. . . Hard to imagine that some local kids thought they’d be OK with a rear number-plate made of cardboard and with their registration/matriculation number written on by a felt-tip pen. On a top-of-the range Merc . . I wonder what they tested positive for, apart from stupidity.

The UK

My grandparents had a large – 3 bars – pub in Birkenhead, near the entrance to the Mersey tunnel. The unused bar – for ‘Ladies’ – had a dartboard in it and I spent a lot of time there trying to improve my skills in this essentially working class game. It’s come a long way since then and here’s how. I see it’s now officially a sport, not a mere game. But I can’t imagine anyone in the UK saying ‘Fancy the sport of darts down at the pub?, instead of the traditional ‘Fancy a game of darts?’. So, I wonder what they do say these days.

France & the EU

This member state, not Italy, is now the ECB’s big test. The eurozone’s 2nd largest economy has suffered from a climb in its borrowing costs relative to Germany since snap parliamentary elections were called by President Macron in the summer. A minority government fell this month, leaving the country with no budget plan for 2025. The issue of whether the central bank will “rescue” France with an instrument it has never used is becoming a live one. I’m guessing they will do so.

Germany

Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the Bundestag on Monday afternoon, paving the way for early elections that look likely to end his tenure as chancellor of Germany.

The USA

Private Eye advice on how to avoid jail there:-

• 1. Fight all your cases and refuse to accept any guilty verdicts.
• 2. Become president of the USA and all charges are dropped. . . *
• 3. Err . . . That’s it. You are now innocent forever.

* Not quite right, I believe. Not for the case of Stormy Daniels’cash.

Russia

Strange news . . . A high ranking general has died, not from falling out of a window but from a bomb in a scooter parked outside his home. I wonder who could have done that. Seems pointlessly expensive if he’d annoyed Putin by falling down on the job.

The Way of the World

The only degrees now being advertised for the next academic year at Wales’s oldest higher education campus are two courses to be largely taught in Chinese.

English

• 
  To kvetch: To complain persistently and whiningly. [Its origins lie in Yiddish, specifically kvetshn, which means “to squeeze” or “to press”. This is derived from the High German quetschen, which also means “to crush” or “to press”. . The etymological journey continues back to medieval French with the word esquasher, which shares a root with the English word “squash” 
• Kvetch: A chronic, whining complainer.
• The importance of punctuation . . .
• Tosspottery: Nice British slang for stupidity, contemptuousness, or drunkenness. Originally only the last of these, from the ‘tossing’ upwards of pots of ale.

Spanish

• Cara y cruz: “Heads or tails”. (From a coin bearing a cross on one side and a face on the other)
• Estar entre cara y cruz:

1. Dualidad de Situaciones: Puede referirse a una situación que tiene tanto aspectos positivos como negativos. Por ejemplo, un proyecto puede tener un gran potencial (cara) pero también riesgos significativos (cruz).
2. Contraste en Personalidades: Puede implicar que alguien tiene una personalidad compleja, mostrando un lado amable y accesible (cara) y otro más reservado o difícil (cruz).
3. Decisiones Difíciles: Puede usarse para describir momentos en los que se debe tomar una decisión complicada, donde cada opción presenta sus propias ventajas y desventajas.

• Falta de respeto: Lack of respect, disrespect. A phrase/complaint I seem to hear a lot on the streets or in shops
• A pie de la casa: Close to home (Lit. At the foot of the house)
• Curtido: Tanned(treated/cured); Hardened/leathery/weather beaten/tanned; Seasoned

Did you know?

These are the calories in a glass of various alcoholic drinks – and the time it takes to get rid of them with exercise. From L to R: Red wine, White wine, Cava, Small beer, Cubalibre, Gin tonic, Vodka soda

You Have to Laugh

A UK quiz show exchange:

• Q. What airtight container range was launched in 1946 by Earl Tupper
• A. Carrier pigeon

Finally . . .

As happens every year, around about now someone tells me that it’s Xmas Day next week and this comes as a huge surpris to me I guess this stems from not participating in any religious event. Or going shopping.

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.