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 problem with squatters:-

• Complaints soar.
• How the new fast track evictions process works.

The new rent control index that has come into force, nationwide.

Cousas de Galicia

In Galician ‘A fala’ means ‘The speaking/speech (El habla in Spanish).’Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas tells us that it’s the name of a Western Romance language belonging to the Galician-Portuguese, group, spoken way down in Extremadura for the last 500 years, albeit by only c. 10,550 folk. It was taken there, I guess, by Galician ‘emigrés’ and is also called Xalimego. Its speakers live in Valverde del Fresno, Eljas and San Martín de Trevejo, in the Jálama valley of the Sierra de Gata. I might get to hear Fala on a road-trip to Extremadura next month.

Germany

My old friend in Hamburg has told me of a TV presenter in Germany who was discovered – back in 2011 – to have had relationships with at least women in 12 different cities, all at the same time. Cleverly, he gave each of them the nickname Mousey. For someone like me, who has found one woman more than enough to manage, I find this incomprehensible. But, as he was Swiss, it all ran like clockwork. Until it didn’t. I think he’s still in hiding

The USA

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president on January 20. So, 21 January will be a day to go down in history. For, presumably, it’ll be the day Trump stops the Ukraine-Russia war in 24 hours simply by banging heads together and issuing a Stop order. And pigs will take to the sky in unison around the world, singing his praises.

The Way of the World/Social Media

I’ve cited the BBC podcast Things Fell Apart. I recommend listening to all the episodes on the origins of the culture wars and their impact but this one – entitled A Hierarchy of Trauma – will surely convince you that – like Liberal and Fascist – the word Trauma has effectively lost all meaning. With dreadful consequences.

Did you know?/The Climate/Net Zero

A fascinating bit if information . . .Since our species came into existence[300,000 years ago], there have been only 2 sustained periods of warm climate of the kind that might support an agricultural economy for long enough to leave some trace in the archaeological record. The first was the Eemian interglacial, which took place around 130,000 years ago. Global temperatures stabilized at slightly above their present-day levels, sustaining the spread of boreal forests as far north as Alaska and Finland. Hippos basked on the banks of the Thames and the Rhine. But the impact on human populations was limited by our then restricted geographical range. The second is the one we are living in now. When it began, around 12,000 years ago, people were already present on all the world’s continents, and in many different kinds of environment. Geologists call this period the Holocene, from Greek holos (entire), kainos (new). Many earth scientists now consider the Holocene over and done. For at least the last 2 centuries we have been entering a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which for the first time in history human activities are the main drivers of global climate change. Where exactly the Anthropocene begins is a scientific bone of contention. Most experts point to the Industrial Revolution, but some put its origins earlier, in the late 1500s and early 1600s. At that time, a global drop in surface air temperatures occurred – part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ – which natural forces can’t explain. Quite likely, European expansion in the Americas played a role. With perhaps 90% of the indigenous population eliminated by the effects of conquest and infectious disease, forests reclaimed regions in which terraced agriculture and irrigation had been practised for centuries. In Mesoamerica, Amazonia and the Andes, some 50 million hectares of cultivated land may have reverted to wilderness. Carbon uptake from vegetation increased on a scale sufficient to change the Earth System and bring about a human-driven phase of global cooling. Source: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity: David Graeber & David Wengrow,.

Maybe we should just eliminate half the world’s population – or possibly just Russia – and grow trees where they used to live . . . Maybe that’s going to happen anyway, before too long.

Quote of the Day

The Guardian has, accurately, accused Trump of ‘espousing and amplifying Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric’ and opined that ‘a hysterical, inaccurate and xenophobic reaction is not the best way to keep Americans safe’. Rather, there should he ‘a determined, reasoned response based on reliable information’. But what – it’s been asked – is a “determined, reasoned response” to a murderous cult that can reach out anywhere, at any time, to slaughter innocent people? Sadly, The Guardian offers no advice on this.

English

Corresponding with the Daily Mail in 1933, Compton Mackenzie presented 2 lists of the 10 most beautiful words in English.

• The first was phrased in blank verse:

Carnation, azure, peril, moon, forlorn,
Heart, silence, shadow, April, apricot.

• The second was an Alexandrine couplet:

Damask and damson, doom and harlequin and fire,
Autumnal, vanity, flame, nectarine, desire.

In his 1963 autobiography he said that these lists had a “strange magic for me … a sort of elixir of youth.” Each to his own . . .

Spanish

• Zafarrancho de combate: A reader has kindly advised this means: All hands to action/battle stations. (Apparently also called ‘general quarters’.)
• Manchote: Badass, Stud, Tough guy, Hunk, Macho man, Beefcake, Big guy. As in: Muchos siguen creyendo que ser un hombre implica ser un machote.

Finally . . .

I’ve been invited to a drinks do tonight, for which the dress code is ’smart casual’. But I was surprised to discover that, in Spain, this means a tie. But I think I have a black one, from my mother’s funeral a few years ago. . . . I guess jeans are out. Even with a shirt and tie.

Finally, Finally . . .

• My 2nd Resolution of the year is to write January, not December in this month’s dates . . .
• My 3rd is not to answer emails that start: Hi. Ready to go live, Doncolin? Especially when sent from someone allegedly called Euell Hawthorn Thwaite.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

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.