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/Galicia

It looks like the PM is going to have even more trouble with his further-Left coalition partners . .

As I’ve said several times, Spain’s good GDP growth is certainly making the rich richer but, down below these, life gets ever tougher as regards housing. One reason is that Spain has the lowest percentage of social housing in the EU. Another is that, in recent years, not enough of any sort of housing has been built for a significantly increased population. A relevant article.

Another anti-tourism development. Maybe I can set up something directed at ‘pilgrims’ on the outskirts of Pv city, sending them all down one of the 2 bypasses we now have.

I was talking 2 nights ago to a foreign couple considering moving to Galicia – in particular to Ourense. I suggested they look at Monforte de Lemos, if they really wanted to be up in the hills. Or at Tui on the border with Portugal. By pure coincidence, this (positive) article came into my feed this morning.

María has added this very local detail of the French in Spain at the start of the 19 t h century:-

• Napoleon’s troops went south from Coruña to Vigo along the coast. They raided, burnt, killed, and raped along the way. Spanish troops tried to stop the French from reaching Vilagarcía just before Catoira, but were unable to, and the troops swooped down upon the hapless villagers. The villagers tried to run for the woods, but those who were older couldn’t run fast, and were mown down. This article is in galego and includes the names of those murdered.
• This is an article about 200 French soldiers who disappeared in one murderous night from the villages near Betanzos, where they were quartered. Nothing about them has been found, yet.

LA LA Land

Trump’s niece says he is interested in poll numbers more than in the stock market. And that he will only act if he sees these falling fast.

A few reviews of Trump’s first 100 days:-

• Rachel Maddow.
• After 100 days, Trump’s presidency feels like a vengeful monarchy
• Me. . . . Trump is a great example of a reverse Midas touch – what I long ago called ‘the Sadim touch’. Some say we’re lucky he is so stupid and incompetent, as this means his time in power is limited. Well, maybe.

From Eric Hoffer’s ‘The True Believer’ of 1951: The superior individual, whether in politics, literature, science, commerce or industry, plays a large role in shaping a nation, but so do individuals at the other extreme—the failures, misfits, outcasts, criminals, and all those who have lost their footing, or never had one, in the ranks of respectable humanity. The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle. The reason that the inferior elements of a nation can exert a marked influence on its course is that they are wholly without reverence toward the present. They see their lives and the present as spoiled beyond remedy and they are ready to waste and wreck both: hence their recklessness and their will to chaos and anarchy. They also crave to dissolve their spoiled, meaningless selves in some soul-stirring spectacular communal undertaking—hence their proclivity for united action. He very probably included Hitler in this category and I guess, if still alive, he’d also include Trump.

This is another fine podcast by the 2 shrinks on Trump. A key aspect, they say, is that malignant narcissism is an ’accelerating condition’ and that those suffering from it all eventually fail, since growing confidence in their own intelligence and abilities always causes them to overreach. Which I believe we’re seeing right now.

Ukraine v. Russia

Trump’s comment that Putin “maybe doesn’t want to stop the war” but instead is “just tapping me along” and so “has to be dealt with differently” is one of those No shit, Sherlock! moments that really make you wonder whether the US president has any grasp of the issues at all.

The Way of the World

This is a nice article on current proceedings in Rome. I’ve told my (very) Catholic sister that I couldn’t actually care less who the next Pope is. So, I don’t regard myself as a (lapsed Catholic) blowhard. At least not in this context. I imagine my Jewish sister feels the same way as me.

Spanish

• Bandazo: Swerve, lurch
• Torrar: To roast something in the fire until it becomes golden or brown. Hence,
• Torreznos: Crispy pork belly strips.
• Rater: Ratter(dog)

English

Caminist or Caminoist have been offered by Alexandras as alternatives for pilgrim. I prefer the former, being shorter.

Finally . . .

Cardinal Giovanni Battista’s homily at the Pope’s funeral . . .

This included a pointed reference to Trump’s immigration and border policies and has been widely interpreted as a direct, public rebuke of Trump’s policies before a global audience.

While not naming Trump directly, the cardinal recalled Pope Francis’s well-known criticism of building walls rather than bridges – a clear allusion to Trump’s efforts to construct a wall between the USA and Mexico and his broader immigration stance.

He emphasized Francis’s advocacy for peace, compassion for migrants and dialogue, reminding the audience of the late Pope’s opposition to hardline immigration policies.

The cardinal’s remarks echoed Pope Francis’s 2016 comment that “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel”.

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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.