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

This is The Corner on the ever-rising property market.

This chap is a columnist on a British newspaper, where he’s written about the aggressive (and illegal?) tactics of the Tax Office. Guess what. After 20 years in Madrid without problems, he’s suddenly facing a tax investigation. I don’t envy him.

There’s a a Spanish wine – Vega Sicilia – which costs around 500 euros a bottle. I drank a glass of it last night, courtesy of a friend who gets a bottle a year, as a corporate gift. One of our dining group knows about wine and praised it to the skies for its various elements of coffee, chocolate, blackberries. leather, etc.. But I confess these were lost on my (useless?) palate. So much so that I prefer what the Toro region gets out of the same tempranillo grape. At 12 euros a bottle . . .

The British government has kindly told me about AlertCops – a free mobile phone app developed to enhance citizen security. It serves as a direct communication channel between citizens and the law enforcement agencies, including the National Police and the Guardia Civil. Key features:

1. Crime reporting: Users can report various crimes or incidents
2. Multi-language support: eg English.
3. GPS location: Helps locate people in distress, eg in rural areas without street names
4. SOS button: For immediate assistance in emergencies
5. Photo and audio upload: Evidence can be submitted directly via the app
6. Chat function: Direct communication with support agents [Possibly not in English]
7. Guardian feature: Allows users to share their location with chosen contacts.

Cousas de Galicia

With his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne put Vigo on the map, as the Bay of Vigo was the destination of the treasure-hunting crew of his submarine, The Nautilus. In 2028, there’ll be a congress in the city to commemorate this fictional event, on the 2000th anniversary of Verne’s birth. To be run, naturally, by the Jules Verne Society of Vigo. Which I’ve just learned about.

The UK

The PM’s attempt to establish a European coalition of the willing to replace the USA as the key defender of Ukraine seems, says Richard North, to be failing, leaving him with a ‘motley of the unwilling’. I think Italy was the first country to demur. RN – who’s not a natural optimist – sees this as a disaster in the making.

The USA

Trump says his executive order ‘eliminates’ the Department of Education. His Press Secretary says it will be slimmed down but still provide essential services to the States. So, who’s right?

Here’s a good link to yesterday’s Prospect magazine article, in case the link didn’t work. Trump promised to make America great. Instead, he may bring about its destruction.

I’m beginning to suspect that the most accurate of a very long list of negative adjectives for Trump is ‘power-mad’. But this merely means, according to his sycophantic fans, that I’m suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Something that doesn’t yet feature in the US gospel of mental health condition. But surely will, if he gets a 3rd term.

An interesting view . . .Trump’s belief that China is to be feared as the rising power goes hand-in-hand with an incomprehension of how China controls its proxies. The most lumbering of these is Russia. It is in China’s interest to keep conflict going between Russia and Ukraine and Xi will keep Putin supplied with just enough military hardware and other support to keep his attention on the West. China and Russia see divisions between European countries as beneficial and Trump fleeing from NATO commitments there leaves China as the most powerful influencer in Europe through massive invest- ment and cheap imports. Watch out for the growth of Chinese language schools over the coming decades! Trump, with his tariffs, is losing South America, Africa and now Europe to Xi. If Trump is right about China threatening to become the most dominant power in the second half of the 21st century, he is doing everything he can to ensure that it does, starting with his flight from Ukraine.

María’s perspective from her small Galician town . . . Hope and Despair.

Musk:

• More grief for the poor uber-rich man . . . Nearly all  the Tesla Cybertrucks on the road are being recalled over safety concerns, marking the eighth recall for the [ugly[ futuristic vehicle since its launch just over a year ago. This affects more than 46,000 trucks from the 2024 and 2025 model years.
• Musk isn’t disrupting the government. He’s breaking it. Elon Musk’s Doge team seems to be using Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘move fast and break things’ motto. That’s not what voters asked for.

The Way of the World/Social Media

Our children are now speaking a different language and that’s terrifying. This might be the first generation to succeed in making themselves fully incomprehensible. . . Smartphones are transforming human communication. 

Spanish

• Rubor: Flushing, redness, rouge etc.
• Hacer la suya/las suyas: To do one’s own thing, To have it one’s way.
• Bocina: Car horn, honk.
• Desperdicio: Waste, wasting
• Ufanarse: To boast

Finally . . Did you Know?

Belgian inventor and musician Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone and, less successfully, the saxotromba, the saxhorn and saxtuba.

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 . . .
• I can also be read on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/colin.davies.752861 or on Substack at https://doncolin.substack.com/
• 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.