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

Spain’s latest move shows how seriously it is taking its overtourism rental ban. It has opened an investigation into a holiday apartment renting platform for failing to delete thousands of rental offers. . . This is part of a general crackdown on tourism rentals via sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com which many say is creating excess tourism, cramping the housing stock and making renting unaffordable for locals.

Brussels has said it’ll take Spain to court if it doesn’t start imposing higher toll fees on cars using carbon fuels. The Spanish government is said to fear the reaction to this and will probably ignore the threat, knowing it could be 10 years before any judgment is enforced. A lot can happen before then.

An amazing Spanish fact . . . When, in 719, the Moors defeated the Visigoths outside Toledo and took over rule of Iberia from the inheritors of Roman power, they sent 30,000 Visigoth slaves to Damascus, the capital of the Caliphate. Their genes must surely show up in DNA analysis of today’s inhabitants.

Here’s Lenox Napier’s (uncomplaining) Spanish Shilling post of today.

Cousas de Galicia

I was more accurate than I thought about the (Galician) new president of the Spanish Football Federation; not only is he accused by his neighbours of being corrupt but he is appealing a Pv court verdict of prevaricación, which is translated as malfeasance, corruption and/or abuse of public funds. I think. Some suggest this makes him rather unsuitable for the job. Cf. my opinion of yesterday . . .

There are far too many reports for my liking of accidents about which this appears in the press: The accident happened when a car invaded the lane of another car coming in the opposite direction, causing a head-on collision. Possibly a reflection of the level of drug-taking I mentioned yesterday. Especially if the accident occurs in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. Another reason for our high insurance premiums, I guess. Or maybe the same one, really.

The UK

The number one Xmas song might well discomfort the PM. It’s a version of a song by Mud, centring on the likely effect of withdrawal of a senior citizen benefit. Click here for it.

Russia

You might not have seen a foto of the dead general in your usual media choice(s) but, as ever, the Spanish press has no qualms about showing blood and gore . . .

Quotes of the Day

• There is only one acceptable use of a family photograph on a Christmas card: to remind people you haven’t seen for a while of how many children you have and how fat and/or bald you are now, so they don’t blank you in the event of an unplanned encounter in a store.
• Medio siglo después, el presidente recupera el comodín de Franco, al que más de la mitad de los españoles ya no recuerdan y la otra mitad no le importa.

Spanish

• Cacicada: Acción arbitraria propia de un cacique o de quien se comporta de igual modo. Synonyms: injusticia, abuso, cabildada, alcaldada.
• Cerrar: To close. But also used to mean something like To reach (agreement on).
• Comodín: Wild card joker
• Cantamañana: Fantasizer/Fantasiser
• Leguleyos: Dodgy lawyer.

Did you know?

It’s now said that Nelson’s last words – before dying at the Battle of Trafalgar – were not ‘Kiss me, Hardy’. Rather, he is now thought to have said: ‘Thanks be to God, I have but lived this day and now I die content’. Quite a difference.

Finally . . .

I mentioned the other day a post by the Autodidact Professor on the Battle of Tours. By pure coincidence, here’s an interesting podcast on it.

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.