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.

This is the draft of a post which would have gone last evening/night, but for events which got in the way. It’s lacking the Travel News section, which cites said events. This will be along shortly.

Cosas de España

As I’ve stressed more than once, Spain’s booming economy brings cold comfort for some.

Mark Stücklin looks at a national campaign against landlords.

The meaning of those codes on the back of your Spanish driving licence.

María writes from her small Galician town on our Dystopian Times

France

Why do Americans pronounce the president’s name Macrone? I guess we’ll never know for sure but ignorance is a candidate, I guess.

Trump

The world’s greatest showman and the world’s weakest strongman. His capitulation to Putin over Ukraine reveals a pattern. He’s the patsy: giving everything away, getting little in return.

As regards Trump’s most recent comments re Zelensky . . .You do have to wonder why a man who’s long been seen by many as despicable is driven to prove the validity of the adjective.

Russia v. Ukraine

Reported to be gearing up to increase the size of the land-gift offered by Trump. Who could blame them?

Spanish

• Ramal: Branch, fork, spur, offshoot.
• Racimo: Cluster, bunch.

Did you know?

If the history of the universe were recounted backward in a 138-page book, with 100 lines on each page and 100 letters in each line, written human history would occupy half a letter. Everything involving humans would lie on the first line; the dinosaurs would die out on the first page; and by page 10 the most complex lifeforms would be green algae. For comparison, if the universe had begun in 4004 BC, at this scale its history would occupy six-tenths of a letter.

You Have to Laugh

Skiing has been described as knocking trees down with your face. Oh, I know lots of folk will tell me that it it’s exhilarating, wondrous and that I’m missing out, but please — no need. I’m quite sure I could create exactly the same effect by flushing £5,000 down the nearest toilet then standing in my chest freezer wearing big clown’s shoes while smashing my knees and ankles repeatedly with a mallet. Pretty much my sole experience.