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

Like the UK, Spain undoubtedly has a serious housing-shortage problem. To address this, the government has announced a raft of measures, one of which to impose a property transfer tax of 100% on non-EU residents, eg from the UK or the USA. The package has been criticised from the Left as insufficient and from the Right as interventionist and possibly counter-productive. No details have been given on how the tax would work, nor of when it will be submitted to parliament for approval. I wouldn’t be very surprised to see it fall by the wayside. Of course, if you really want to live here you can avoid this tax by becoming resident after a 6 months stay and then buying a property. But not if you want – even as a non-speculator – to buy a holiday home, in which – anyway – you’ll only be allowed to live for 90 days in every 180. It surely wouldn’t be surprising if Brits en masse start to look for other European options, feeling not wanted in Spain. See here(British perspective) on this and here (US perspective).

The idea of a tunnel between Spain and Morocco has been re-raised. I wonder if it will ever see the light of day. In a manner of speaking.

Cousas de Galicia

I can’t say I was surprised to read that Pv province is maintaining its long-standing reputation as a leading province when it comes to motoring fines. 500 a day, it’s said. Can it be because we have a Guardia Civil barracks in the city and they have to find other things to do apart from raiding the gypsy encampments for drugs? Actually, I was stopped by a patrol car last night but managed to convince them I hadn’t done anything wrong, and so avoided yet another fine.

The Galician Xunta has investigated 20,000 folk off work with sick-notes and decided that 67% of these were unjustified. Given the massive rise in the number of such folk in the UK since Covid, perhaps the British government should send someone here for a chat about this.

The Way of the World

Be very aware of spearfishing –the tactic of using a phishing email cleverly tailored just for you, eg by using data you’ve put into Linkedin or that you’ve published on line. Phishing is the art of sending an email with the aim of getting users to open a malicious file or click on a link to then steal credentials. But most phishers aren’t very good, and the success rate is relatively low, at c. 18%. But now cybercriminals have AI to write their emails, which is significantly increasing their success rate. See here and here.

Quote of the Day

It’s the working class who will cheer the death of DEI the most.

Spanish

• Somier: Bedstead
• Darse de tortas unos con otros: To clash with each other
• Archimanido: Well-known

Did you know?

I think I mentioned 18 months ago the theory that all mental health conditions have a single origin – viz. weak mitochondria in the brain, reflecting a poor gut biome. Given my own experience of depression and my daughter’s recent diagnosis of bipolar 1, I have a greater-than-average interest in the work of the leading clinician* in this field.* He is an advocate of the ketogenic diet (KD) which is said to show promising evidence for efficacy in treating various psychiatric disorders. And, though it’s important to note that most studies have been small-scale or case studies, it’s good to know that: Larger clinical trials are currently underway to further investigate the KD’s effects on mental illness, particularly for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression

* Dr Christopher Palmer: Author of Brain Energy

You Have to Laugh

• A real curmudgeon . . . Lord Leicester, watching a cricket match, dropped his umbrella. The Duke of Portland picked it up and handed it to him, saying, ‘I’m Portland.’ There was no response, so he repeated, ‘I’m Portland.’ Lord Leicester grunted, ‘I never said you weren’t’ and returned his attention to the match.
• In 1952 Nancy Mitford asked the author Evelyn Waugh what he did with fan letters. In reply, he gave his 13 rules, the last of which was about ‘very impudent letters from married women’. I write to the husband, warning him that his wife is attempting to enter into correspondence with strange men. Such a gentleman . . .

Finally . . .

I’ve mentioned that Microsoft’s Edge browser had endless lists on it default page. The first of these this morning was: If you are doing any of these 15 things, you are being too possessive. Which was followed by 120(sic!) other lists, intermingled with news of one sort and another.

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.