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

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the reports that:-

• The government is trying to get rid of a law that is unique to Spain in the EU and which allows private citizens to initiate criminal cases for which the only evidence for the judge to consider are media reports of alleged skulduggery and where the initiator hasn’t suffered any harm from the accused. An invitation to politically-motivated lawfare, of course.
• The government says that around 55% of Spaniards are ‘too fat’, with men being above this average. I recall, to my great surprise, years ago that Spanish kids were the second most obese in the EU, after Maltese rug-rats. I guess they grew up.
• Torrevieja, the fifth most populated city in the Valencian Region, has more foreign than Spanish residents, coming from Ukraine, Russia, Colombia and UK, in that order. Perhaps the place is the epicentre of a ‘sunny place for shady people’. [Somerset Maugham but about Monaco, not the Costa del Sol].

An interesting insight into views on modern art, per political party members. Far Right on the left and Far Left on the right. As you’d expect.

Cousas de Galicia

The temperature fell to minus 2 in Pv city last night, minus 3 up where I am. It does actually snow in Pv city every now and again – specifically in 1898, 1954, 1963 [a terrible winter in the UK], 1970 and 1987. And we’ve actually had a light – and brief – carpet of the stuff in my garden once in 24 years. Anyway, here’s the main square in 1987:-

Galicians are said to be better at speaking English that the citizens of any other region. I can’t help wondering if the survey was only done among South Americans working in the tourist industry.

Judging from the number of cars parked near the ground, half of Pv city went to see if Pontevedra FC could continue their giant-killing act last night. But they conceded a goal in the first minute and never managed to get past a defence that shut up shop and played sufficiently robustly to have 2 players sent off. But, as the headlines said, PFC dominated the match and exited the Cup with heads held high.

Pv city’s lovely bridges, including O Burgo, of course.

Reader David up in La Coruña has even worse luck than me – last year 4 punctures, all caused by potholes.

Portugal

Someone is rather negative here but I have no idea how accurately/fairly.

The UK

Something that seems to be often overlooked in the ’conversation’ about Bangladeshi grooming gangs – most sex offences are one-to-one and occur within families. A senior police officer has been quoted as saying: The word paedophile has just 3 letters D A D.

Germany

All about Otto, the first Holy Roman Emperor [962] who unified Germany, defeated the Hungarian Magyars, and forged an empire that shaped mediaeval Europe. He said to have spoken Old Saxon/Old Low German– a West Germanic dialect spoken in northern Germany during the Early Middle Ages. Closely related to Anglo-Frisian.

Quote of the Day

A valid overview? . . . Right versus Left is passé: the great dividing line of 2025 pits civic nationalists against global technocrats. The former – including the USA, Israel, India and Argentina – believe that the principal moral and fiduciary duty of elected officials is to their country, its citizens and constituents. The latter – led by Starmer’s Britain and Trudeau’s Canada – are convinced that their responsibility is to “the planet”, “human rights”, “international law” and the “liberal international order.”

Spanish

• Rueiro: In a Spanish headline but a Galician word . . Un rueiro es un término gallego con varios significados relacionados con espacios y agrupaciones tradicionales: 1. Agrupación de casas: Es un grupo de casas separadas de otras en una aldea o lugar. Representa una unidad espacial tradicional en la estructura rural gallega. 2. Espacio común de reunión: Designa una plaza o terreno en el centro de una aldea que se utiliza como lugar de encuentro. 3. Espacio alrededor de una casa rural: También puede referirse al terreno que rodea una casa de labranza, similar a un quinteir. En contextos urbanos, rueiro también puede significar un callejero o sistema de calles.
• Parvadas: While this might mean ‘flocks’ in Spanish – which always seemed a strange name for a bar – I’ve now determined that, in Gallego, it means ‘small talk/chats’. And Bo Parveo – on the window of the Bar Parvadas – means ‘Happy Chatting’, I guess. [HT for my preferred AI engine; I couldn’t get this from dictionary sources].

Did you know?

A chap called John Carey wrote about Dickens’ imagination. These are some of the words listed in his index:-

babies, bottled
begging-letters
beheading
caged birds
cannibalism
cleanliness, excessive
climbing boys
coffins, walking
combustible persons
dolls’ houses
dust heaps
fire, seeing pictures in
furniture, live
grindstones,
home-smashing
junk, enchantment of
land-ships
legs, humour of
mirrored episodes
old clothes
pokers, red-hot
‘ruffian class,’ the
scissored women
seedsman’s shops
silent laughter
snuff, composed of dead bodies
talking birds
umbrellas
virtuous violence
waxworks
wooden legs
zoo, feeding time at

You Have to Laugh

When his photographer brought Hitler the fotos of the signing of the Germany-Russia non-aggression pact of 1939, the Fuehrer was aghast to see that in every one of them Stalin was holding a cigarette. Apart from being a committed non-smoker himself, Hitler believed this would not go down well with the German people, whom he constantly encouraged to eat well and refrain from smoking. In other words, as it was noted this week on the The Rest is History podcast, Hitler was the very first ‘Health & Safety Nazi’. . .

The fotos were doctored to exclude the cigarettes.

Finally . . .

Reader Perry has suggested that, like some Canadians, I should carry a brick in my hand when trying to avoid being killed on zebra crossings. Another suggestion, from 2 other regular readers is a flashing light, which would probably be more effective. To one of these readers, I replied that I was going to put on my head one of the flashing yellow lights we’re now obliged to carry in our cars. This was intended as a joke but I’ve since decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hold one in my hand. Better daft than dead.

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.