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

A fascinating question – Is Spain’s civil service a 19th-century relic or a cultural powerhouse? I’d have said both but here’s the answer of the columnist who posed the question. BTW . . . I believe this is the comedy sketch cited.

Another scandal​ involving the PM.

Spain spends the lowest percentage of its GDP on defence in the EU. But the PM has confirmed that defence spending will be increased as part of the ‘rearming of Europe’

Looking to move to Spain? All you need to know about Non-Lucrative, Digital Nomad and Conditional residence permits.

Train travel . . . I thought Spain would have ranked higher but it comes in at No. 9 in the world for this. The winner is a bit of a surprise.

Portugal

Not in that Top 10 for train travel.

The UK

Ditto. Hardly a surprise!

Europe

In contrast with the USA, stock markets are well up. Arms production expectations, of course. And its side benefits for other industries.

The USA: Observations and Quotes

Trump

He says a lot of things from his pulpit in the Oval Office. Some of them are baffling. Some spark genuine concern about his mental health, or his capacity to run a bath let alone the world’s most powerful country. But once you parse the actual meaning from them, the words he said about Ukraine and Russia last night must rank among the darkest ever said by a world leader.

Possibly one of the worst things he has ever said . . . After Putin launched a massive strike on Ukraine, Trump asserted that this was ‘what anybody would do’. The stupidity lies not in thinking this but saying it out loud as the putative leader of the free world and expecting people to agree with you..

The Trump administration’s decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine is not based on strategy or principle. It is an act of desperation. Trump and his circle are desperate for a ceasefire at any cost. Trump wants his Nobel peace prize. This is not just cynical. It is a betrayal of everything the USA claims to stand for. It is despicable, un-American, and a stain on our country’s reputation. It’s politics over lives, and history will not be kind: Ex Republican Representative Adam Kizinger

Trump says he finds Putin easy to deal with. I suspect Putin reciprocates this feeling. In spades

Trump’s official approval rating is now negative. Some say it’s impossible for it to improve, other than via a ‘popular war . . . .

Trump is fond of the word ‘fake’. But if anything can be said of him it’s that he’s The Fakers’ Faker. ‘Projection’. So, a good abbreviation would be TFF. Of course, this can stand for other things. For example with the first word being ‘The’ and the last ‘Fool’.

The biggest challenge to Trumpism is coming from horrified markets: More here – a must-read.

There’s said to have been a fierce row in a Cabinet meeting this week, with the Transport secretary accusing Musk of lying and of firing key personnel that should never have been laid off. Trump, of course, denied this and said the meeting had been great.

Vance

• I had no idea Vance memes had ‘taken over the internet’, which might or might not be true. Anyway, the acerbic Guardian columnist Marina Hyde talks here about him and his Backpfeifengesicht. There are, she says, 1,000 grotesque memes of Vance on the net, all more likeable than the real thing. [Slappable face. Back – Back. Pfeifen – Whistle. Gesicht – Face/cheek] My old friend in Hamburg has given me this alternative for him: Honigkuchengesicht – Honeycakeface. Big cheeks, I guess. And I suppose ‘Hamster face’ can also be put into German. Hamstergesicht??
• Zelensky is said to have offended JD Vance’s Hillbilly sense of honour/honor.
• His last week.

Russia v Ukraine

I guess this was inevitable, with Moscow being desperate not to be seen to lose the war.

Spanish

• A medida que: In accordance as, in proportion as, while, as [A medida que pasa/pasaba el tiempo]
• Con mucha calle: Said of someone who has mucha experiencia en la vida, especialmente en situaciones difíciles o complicadas:-
• Experiencia de vida:
• Astucia:
• Conocimiento práctico:
• Habilidad social:
• Supervivencia:
• Sabiduría callejera: [Streetwise]

Did you know?

You can be be more stupid that a halfwit – a quarterwit. But the word for Trump hasn’t been invented yet.

You Have to Laugh

Some good lines here.

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. But see here on this. 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.
• Getting a mortgage in Spain: Some advice on this challenge.