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

I guess this sort of manipulation goes on in other countries as well.

I mentioned that the rains and floods had brought down a bridge in Talavera de la Reina, In his latest issue of the estimable Business Over Tapas, Lenox Napier tells us that, in fact, it’s not Roman at all. It was built in 1227 on Roman pilings and has been repaired (and rebuilt) a number of times since, the last time in 2002. And it will be rebuilt again. Which is good news,

Lenox also writes that Huff Post reports: The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has identified more than 15,200 illegal tourist apartments in Madrid and has asked the Mayor to remove their listings. The City Council has been provided with the exact addresses and information that allows them to identify the owners’ As in Barcelona, one wonders why action is not prompt ad decisive.

Cousas de Galicia

The VdG this morning: Starting April 3rd, Trump will apply 25% tariffs on cars and auto parts arriving in the USA from Europe. The surcharge will not be particularly burdensome for Spanish factories, as no vehicles left the country for American ports in 2024. However, it will really hurt the components and spare parts industry, for which the US is the eighth largest export destination. For Galician suppliers of these types of goods, this will mean sales losses worth 200 million euros.

This measure of Trump’s was a rather brought home to me by my entrepreneurial neighbours telling me that this week they’ve had contracts for their industrial process cancelled by 2 US companies, with major financial consequences. Which rather contrasts with my own position of not being able to think of any US products to boycott.

The USA

Here’s the answer to the question on everyone’s lips – Could Trump and his henchmen really get any worse?: Revealed: Trump’s plan to force Ukraine to restore Putin’s gas empire. The USA holds a gun to Zelensky’s head with unprecedented reparation demands which are unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations.

By the way, an (American) expert on the subject says there are no minerals in Ukraine to base a deal on and that there will never be any mining there by US companies. So, it’s easy for Zelensky to agree to Trump’s outrageous demands on that.

It’s very clear that one of the many, many things the imbecilic Trump doesn’t understand is why Americans buy European and Japanese cars but Americans don’t reciprocate. Hence the tariffs. It’s said he’s planning to waste energy in trying to change our minds. As if.

Who’d be the wife of the JD Vance, both of whom were made humiliatingly unwelcome in Greenland yesterday. At least one of them will need to get used to this.

Russia v Ukraine

There’s a growing view that Putin doesn’t want to end the war. Indeed, can’t afford to so. But there’s little doubt he’ll play Trump and wring concessions out of him, provided only that the are in the economic interest of the USA. A tawdry spectacle.

Spanish

In his book on modern Spain, Michael Reid says it’s telling – about Spanish politics – that there’s no equivalent word in Castellano for ‘To compromise’. But, if you use an online dictionary, you’ll probably be told that it’s Comprometerse. This contrasts with my offline Collins dictionary – bought in 2000 -which gives the 4-word phrase Llegar a un acuerdo. In reality, Comprometerse mean ‘To commit’. In other words, a ‘false friend’.

English

RI: Reverse Intelligence: Making an upgrade to a popular product that no one wants, needs or likes. And which isn’t an upgrade but is just making it different, and often worse.

Did You Know?

You can always tell that the voice-over is AI generated if it wrongly pronounces a heteronym/ homograph – a word that has different pronunciations for different meanings. [For example: Second, Lead, Wind, Tear, Close, Bow, Live, Minute, Read, and Wound]. But I guess they’ll eventually solve this.

You Have to Laugh

Finally

This morning, I took the risk of pruning a tree branch while standing on an unstable ladder. And paid the price, falling over a hedge into my neighbour’s garden 2 metres below mine. Fortunately, I have a wonderful neighbour and she insisted on taking me to hospital, where I had a few stitches put into 2 cuts in my head. It was pretty stupid of me to take the risk and I’m lucky not to have broken my neck or paralysed myself. I wasn’t going to relate this but decided I should warn all readers against doing anything they know in their heart is stupid. You can lecture folk like this when you’re my age. Though I think Perry is even older . . .

The positive news – apart from not being dead – is that I managed to prune the branch before I fell.

BTW . . . It was said lovely neighbour’s tree, overhanging my garden.

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.