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

The future of the booming tourism industry? . . . Fewer but high-value travelers​. ‘A profile that fits many Chinese tourists’, says this Chinese news agency. Will the road signs in Pv city soon be in Mandarin as well as Gallego?

After 400 years, Spain is falling back in love with the baroque, it’s claimed here. I’m not sure the faithful ever fell out of it.

The Convent de la Missió in Palma de Mallorca gets a mention in this article on ‘heavenly’ monasteries in which you can stay. I would’ve included Santo Estevo near Ourense.

Cousas de Galicia

It didn’t rain yesterday or today . . .

If you drive in Spain, you should know this . . . 1. Desde el 1.7.21, la DGT permite el uso de las luces de emergencia V16 como complemento a los triángulos de emergencia. De hecho, la DGT recomienda su uso por varias razones. 2. La DGT ha establecido que este será obligatorio a partir del 1.1.26 en vez de triángulos. I mention this because none of my 6 Spanish friends at dinner 3 nights ago was aware of this.

Portugal

Is Lisbon’s drug decriminalisation plan a model for the rest of the world​?

The USA

A nice article on FDR’s first-100-days blitz and how it compares with Trump’s frenetic first 15. Basically, the opposite. Apart from the tariff element that Trump adores.

Trump gave abundant evidence of what sort of president he’d be. And then there was Project 25, which made things abundantly clear. And, yet, a little over 50% of Americans voted for him, something that (most) Europeans simply can’t understand. But, then, it’s a commonplace comment in Europe that, understandably, most Americans are pretty ignorant of the rest of the world. And, even more relevantly, very few these days have parents or grandparents with experience of totalitarianism, be it fascism or communism. So, they’ll have to find out for themselves – through the ‘lived experience’ that awaits them – what the downsides of this are. And then, hopefully, change their minds. Assuming they’re given the chance to.

Sacking all federal employees seems to come from the playbook of this chap, the terrifying mentor of JD Vance. It’s a planned step on the way to making the president a CEO/dictator. See this YouTube video on this. At min 4.40 if you want to get to the key point.

An article on one element of Project 25, headed: Trump’s revenge agenda has shocked officials who ‘didn’t think it was going to be this bad’, insiders say. None as blind . . .

The Guardian’s Queen of Snark has a go at the self-serving tech bros here.

Taking things right down to the personal level . . . There are numerous Davies family crests on the net, though I think this might be the ‘official’ one:-

One Davies crest was left hanging on a wall in Mar-a-Largo when Trump moved in. It’s no surprise that Trump plagiarised this crest and replaced the word Integritas with something meaning the exact opposite – ‘Trump’. After using his phony crest on numerous properties, he’s now compelled the production of a White House medal with the purloined, bastardised crest on the back of it. [Not ‘backside’, as our US cousins call it]. As far as I and my Welsh ancestors are concerned, whatever crimes Trump commits in the future, none will be as egregious as this one . . . . More on it from the BBC here.

The Way of the World/AI/China

An optimist writes . . . Free countries will win the war over the technologies of tomorrow. China’s DeepSeek AI may look impressive, but tyranny will soon prove a hindrance as much as it was an early advantage.

Quotes of the Day

• The last sentence in that article . . . It is the capacity to question and criticise received opinion that is the most indispensable function of human intelligence and that is something no AI programme can do – and no tyrant can ever understand.
• Talking of tyrants . . . . In only 9 days, Trump has tried 3 times to show that he is above the law.
• A director of a UK Muslim charity: Controlling husbands are just caring. Well, yes, in a way . . . About themselves and their Allah-given power.

English

• Red-pilled: Having become aware of a harsh or uncomfortable truth about reality, often associated with rejecting mainstream beliefs. The term originates from the movie “The Matrix,” where taking the red pill symbolizes awakening to the real world.
• Fidiot: Nice version, for your partner in front of the kids, of ‘fucking idiot’

Spanish

Pordiosero: Beggar, bum, pauper, panhandler, toe rag, beggarly.

Did you know?

Another Wordsworth could write worthy words . .

If all the good people were clever,
And all clever people were good,
The world would be nicer than ever
We thought that it possibly could.

But somehow ’tis seldom or never
The two hit it off as they should,
The good are so harsh to the clever,
The clever, so rude to the good!

So friends, let it be our endeavour
To make each by each understood;
For few can be good, like the clever,
Or clever, so well as the good.

— Elizabeth Wordsworth[great niece of William]

Finally . . .

I saw this article yesterday and promptly bought the book – actually Obras 1916-1923 – and read Camba’s amusing account of London policemen, called guardias by him. And about different English and Spanish eating and washing habits. He seems pretty fair to both English folk and Spaniards. As of the early 20th century anyway. Recommended, if you read Spanish.

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.