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.
Drove home from Bragança. Nothing to report other than it was sunny and the 4 hour drive was through some lovely countryside, in both Portugal and Spain.
Now for the Entroido procession down in Pv city . .
Oh, yes. . . . Some Introido costumes in our hotel in Bragança . . .
Cosas de España
Something that shames Spain . .
I’ve mentioned the beggars in Cáceres. Here’s Lenox Napier on the subject.
The estimable Mac 75 tells you all about Lugo and its famous walls here.
Portugal
It says here that a high-speed rail link between Spain and Portugal will be completed by 2032, linking our city of Vigo and Oporto. Well, maybe. If so, this might well be before the high-speed line around Ourense is completed.
The USA
Before that meeting . . .
As you surely know, yesterday two buffoonish bullies publicly – and staggeringly – shamed the USA around the world. But I guess they either don’t realise this or don’t care about it.
Richard North comments that: There have been so many off-the-cuff analyses that one could adopt virtually any explanation that took your fancy.
So, as any ex-cuffo description from me might well be superfluous, I offer only questions:-
- Can Trump’s behaviour and posts on Truth Social get any more outrageous?
- Is Trump’s capacity to shock inexhaustible?
- Was this, as some say, the very worst Trump can be, or did he still have the capacity to send our jaws to our chests?
- Will any of Trump’s cultish supporters now change their mind about him?
- Will any of the spineless Republicans in Congress now desert him and criticise him?
- Could J D Vance be any further up Trump’s fundament?
- How will the developed world’s leaders react to this latest abomination?
- Will the British government withdraw the invitation to a second visit to Buckingham Palace
- Can anyone strike a mutually beneficial deal with a man with a god complex?
Time will, of course, tell. Meanwhile the times suddenly got even more cursefully interesting.
A couple of comments from third party commentators:-
- At a stroke, Trump confirmed all the unspoken doubts of the USA’s European partners.
- Trump does not have to make a scene, a public humiliation, to make a point. He already has the world’s attention, and what the world saw yesterday was a leader who was willing to crush his critics. Some say it will cow America’s enemies — the Mad Man theory that an unpredictable leader can land the best deals. Others will see a pattern that began a month ago with a threat to take over Greenland and turn Canada into part of the United States. The rule book is being ripped up by the day.
- Never in the history of modern diplomacy, war, peace, whatever, have I ever, ever, ever seen anything like it. This was an entirely personal. go to with so many mistruths and misfacts [Once known as ‘lies’]. We just have to hope that for the safety of the free world and for the American people, for the European people, for the Ukrainian people, that these two presidents try to iron out their differences. Amen to that.
Russia
Must be thinking every day is Xmas.
Ukraine
Facing a bleak future?
Quotes of the Day
- We cannot continue to pay for the military protection of Europe while the Nato states are not paying their fair share and living off the fat of the land. We have been very generous to Europe and it is now time for us to look out for ourselves. President Kennedy, 1963
- The post-1945 world order has ended and the world has decisively reverted to its natural state of power politics between competing nations.
- Woe is us
Spanish
Vomitivo: Sickening
Finally . . .
The day gets closer when we’ll all go together. Or perhaps the opposite.
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.
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.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
El carnaval, en esa ciudad de Portugal, muy buenas las fotografías. Y claro en Galicia también, hasta mi hija ha venido de La Coruña para una cena a la que ha sido invitada. También en Canarias, en Cádiz y hasta mi nieta en Alicante, salió con sus compañer@s de colegio salieron de comparsa.
A mi, es que no me ha gustado nunca el carnaval pero a otr@s, si.
Por supuesto, con respecto a Trump y Vance, han hecho una humillación contra Zelenski, en La Casa Blanca para mi, como ya he dicho vomitiva. Tampoco se puede esperar mucho de un delincuente y un millonario y menos que les importen las personas.
No recordaba esas palabras de Kennedy en 1963, el año que fue asesinado, eso sí lo recuerdo, tenía yo 3 años y residía en París.
En todas esas preguntas que alguien plantea aquí, pues habrá diferentes respuestas.
Me alegro que Zelenski haya sido apoyado por la mayoría de los mandatarios de los diferentes países, incluidos Canadá y Australia, UK, Francia, Alemania, España…italia de perfil ya que es Meloni y Orban apoyando a Trump. Increible que la ultraderecha apoye a un país comunista como Rusia con oligarcas. Lo que me alegra es ver que UK se pone de frente como ha hecho siempre desde 1900…en fin ya veremos.
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lo que ocurrió ayer en La Casa Blanca fue una emboscada con agresividad, bronca, soez, falta de respeto, perder la vergüenza, las formas. Un showman que hace reality donde siempre ganan los más desagradables. Además hay que tener en cuenta que Trump es un hombre de negocios por lo que influye en negociar con Rusia para hacerse con la riqueza de Ucrania. Rusia ya se hecho con el control de zonas de Ucrania y, por otra parte, La Constitución de Ucrania dice que no se pueden hacer elecciones en una situación de emergencia, como rs el caso estando en guerra, es un país soberano donde hay seis millones de personas fuera del país y otras en zonas ocupadas por Rusia.
Es tan humillante que hay gente que nunca podrá volver a su casa.
Nos podemos imaginar que Roosevelt le dijera a Churchill qué vas a hacer ? Nos llevas a una II Guerra Mundial ?
La humillación ya empezó cuando Zelenski llegó a La Casa Blanca, en el saludo y con prepotencia por parte de Trump se dirigió a la prensa para decirle que Zelenski iba elegante…bien Zelenski siempre va igual más o menos porque está en guerra y es su forma de representar a su país.
por esto y mucho más Europa debería estar más unida y más fuerte, no teniendo que contar con USA para todo porque en La II Guerra Mundial, USA llegó en el año 1945, el año en que se acabó la guerra, mientras USA miraba para otro lado hasta que fue atacada una Base americana por Japón.
No sé lo que va a pasar y si Zelenski se va a ir, ya que el opositor le ha mostrado su apoyo.
A mi ,como persona esto me parece un ridículo durante tiempo ante la prensa porque ya no hubo reunión a puerta cerrada porque Zelenski que sólo pedía seguridad, no iba a firmar y le invitaron a irse.
Vale más morir de pie que vivir de rodillas. La desfachatez incluso por parte de un periodista es impresentable. Aquello es un grupo de activistas. El delincuente es el Presidente de Los EE.UU de América.
América first… perdón América es un Continente, no un país. Claro que una parte es el patio trasero de la otra parte. Si esa es la Democracia más importante del mundo…me da la risa, el país del Tío Sam.
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Rutte Secretario General de La OTAN, es un holandés errático. No señor, el agredido es Ucrania y tú no lo has dicho. Cuando era Primer Ministro en Países Bajos, lo veían algunos holandeses como un mentiroso, ya sé que todos lo son pero allí, no dejó buena estela.
Repito ,esto se veía venir cuando iban llegando ciertos personajes al poder en diferentes países por consiguiente, Europa tenía que haberse reforzado mucho más, entonces podría enfrentarse a Rusia. Se ha dormido en los laureles y Trump le ha despertado.. Rusia está muy debilitada, tenemos que agradecer a Ucrania como resiste y Europa dió más dinero que USA para ayudar a Ucrania.
Que fácil es humillar al que no puede defenderse. Solamente un narcisista, cruel, etc…puede hacer eso. Yo pienso que Trump va a conseguir tumbar a EE.UU, lo que no consiguió en el nazismo, ni el fascismo.
Putin lleva años intentando desestabilizar el mundo y lo ha conseguido, sin hacer nada.
Ucrania está en Europa y debería ser defendida desde el principio con más medios, pero nos cogió sin esa fuerza que deberíamos haber tenido.
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Tha answer to all the proposed questions ref Trump. The first is yes. The third from the end is nothing. All the rest are no. Simples.
I needed ink for my Epson printer, which would have set me back 80 euros buying Epsons own. Then there are dozens of made up brands for around 20 Euros. But, despite resetting my printer to a factory default, they still wont work.
I bought a new one. Dilemma. I try not to buy Chinese made products of non Chinese brands. I will buy Chinese made, Chinese branded. I have also decided to reduce my American brand footprint. So, just about every printer brand went out the window. And then I found an excellent offer on a Chinese branded, Chinese made laser printer at 70 Euros. And bought it. It arrives Monday. From Murcia. That was the only down side. Not one local shop, or branch of a national chain sold that model. Some had the brand, but only the models starting at 300 Euros. Yet I had choices on my chosen model in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia & Murcia.
Anyway, I have now decided to blame Zelensky for my ills. That is, if we follow the BBC’s theories, had Zelensky worn a suit everything would have been fine.
Time to rename Auntie, as the British Bullshit Corporation
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I use Prink cartridges for my HP laser printer. I think it’s old enough not to have the capacity to refuse to work with these. Or maybe I found a way around this. Can’t recall.
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