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

On the theme of the last day or so ago, I guess this means even more South Americans in Madrid’s wealthier barrios . . . Venezuela grapples with economic collapse.

Cousas de Galicia

About to return home from Madrid, I was not pleased to read in the VdG that Un nuevo frente de lluvias entra en Galicia. And Esta semana estará dominada por la inestabilidad, con cielos nublados, precipitaciones y vientos del suroeste que subirán ligeramente las temperaturas. But at least I’ll be able to discern later today if the rain has somehow wettened a basement floor it’s taken me 2 years to dry out after a leak from a neighbour’s arqueta.

Notices and advice for those training from Madrid to Galicia . .

• Chamartín station is still a huge mess. If arriving by metro, leave at least 15 minutes to get to the security machines and then the gates. This is longer than before.
• Remember that you have to take your coat/jacket off at Security but, strangely, you don’t have to empty your pockets.
• We were allowed onto the train earlier than usual today, possibly because there was a 400m walk along a (slippery) platform to the train. The latter probably explains the former. Add more time to the above 15 minutes for this. Just in case.
• For some reason. We were asked to show ID as well as the QR on our ticket this morning. This is new and I have no idea why. I heard someone say ‘descuentos’, so my guess is that this week’s marketing campaign accounts for this.
• If you’re leaving from Platform 19, be aware that 18 and 20 have an illuminated screen but 19 doesn’t.
• We were leaving from Platform 19B. There wasn’t a platform A, unless it’s sometimes the 400m we had to walk to get to the train.
• The seat indicators are electronic and are on the edge of the luggage shelf. They flash on and off – possibly not meant to – and give the carriage number and the seat numbers. They confuse everyone.
• The good news is that they’ve finally increased the number of seats for the hordes waiting to board their trains.
• And we left only 2 minutes late.

I’ve mentioned that companies Spanish sometimes only play at customer service. On Saturday, Renfe sent me an SMS saying my train to Madrid would leave in 10 minutes. Yesterday it sent me an SMS reminding me I was travelling (expensively) today. This morning, at 11.34, they sent me an SMS advising that my train was leaving in 2 minutes. It didn’t . . . But it was only only 2 minutes late, which is not ‘late’ in Spain, of course. Personally, I’d much rather Renfe invested time and money in creating a decent web page. But I’m only a customer, spending hundreds each year getting myself and my daughter and grandson to and from Madrid.

Portugal

A culinary adventure down near Lisbon.

The UK

Santander bank is reported to be considering leaving Britain over excessive red tape. Santander took up retail banking in Britain after buying a British bank and a couple of mortgage providers. Odd to see a Spanish bank blaming bureaucracy for a major strategic decision. You’d have thought they were pretty used to it back home. But perhaps Spanish banks ares (still) more free-wheeling.

The USA

It’s a rum country . . . There is a “real and very, very present” threat to the US from a shadowy collection of right-wing leaders, a new book on the movement behind Donald Trump warns, with the aim being “an end to pluralistic democracy”. The author explores the “antidemocratic movement” – an unholy mix of Christian nationalists, billionaire oligarchs and conservative ideologues who have seized control of the Republican party, and aim to fundamentally change the US.

Nothing rummer . . . In the smallish town of Branson, population 13,000, there are 4 Trump stores, catering to a Trump fanatic’s every need. When we visited the biggest of these the $1,400 Trump-embossed flame throwers had sold out. Customers had to make do with bullet-shaped tumblers at $35 that declare “Not today! You can’t kill freedom” with a photo of the president in the aftermath of his attempted assassination. Otherwise there’s a Trump elf at $15 or myriad T-shirts, caps and pretty much anything else you can think of including “Woke Brew” coffee and a “Make the House Smell Great Again” candle with a fruit loops scent at $20. A “Make Kids Great Again” spanking paddle, made from a piece of solid wood that really will hurt, is available for $35.

The Way of the World

• A depressing headline . . . Generation Z is turning to astrology ‘to answer life’s big questions’. Maybe if they were all aspiring to be US Evangelicals. Or even pious Catholics. . .
• The Wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by $2 trillion in 2024 and the rate of wealth growth last year was 3 times faster than 2023. All GDP per capita averages in the West – including Spain’s – are very misleading, as wealth is increasingly concentrated.
• An Iranian court has sentenced a pop star called Tataloo to death for blasphemy. He was originally given a 5-year jail term but was sentenced to death on the basis of a prosecutor’s objection.

Spanish

• Fresador: Milling, chamfering
• Fresadora: Milling machine, router[?], mill, cutter, planer, groover, rotary tiller[tiler?]
• Mozo: The RAE gives 15 meanings but I guess the usual ones are 1. Joven, 2.  Soltero, célibe.

Gallego

Rapaz, rapaza: 1. Persoa que está entre a infancia e a xuventude, 2, Neno, fillo, 3. Mozo ou moza con quen se teñen relacións amorosas.

BUT . . . The RAE gives Rapaz [in castellano] as: 1. Inclinado o dado al robo, hurto o rapiña; ladrón, 2. Muchacho de corta edad.

You Have to Laugh

On the back of the train seat in front of me this morning. Something wrong surely . . . . I’m pretty certain it’s only about 650km to Vigo. Even less to Ourense.

40 minutes later and we still haven’t gone more than 1 km . . . .

But at least our trip length has markedly reduced . . But it now says we’re stopping at Zamora, whereas we were told on departure that the first stop would be Ourense.

• We did stop in Zamora . . . but by now 10 minutes late.
• And then Ourense, 15 minutes late. (Still only done 1km. And the journey is back up to 4,779km)
• Pontevedra – Made up a bit of time, only 12 minutes late. About par for the course. No great surprise for a service which fails to arrive on time 90% of the time, I read recently.

Finally . . .

An exchange with my grandson, 6 last week:-

Me: Does every child in your class get the same treatment as you on their birthdays?

Dani: Yes

Me: I guess it would be very bad if that weren’t the case.

Dani: Yes. It’s probably illegal. And the parents would be unhappy and would call the police.

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.