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.

I’m off to hike in North Portugal, where the forecast is a high of 8 and rainstorms! The arrival of this post doesn’t mean I am still alive. Ive scheduled it for 7pm. Seem like a good ideas when we booked the hotel weeks ago. . .

Cosas de España/Galicia

If you’re resident in Spain under the Beckham Law, this will be (painfully) relevant. The rest of us will just be shocked. Or possibly not, if you’ve ever dealt with the Hacienda.

Not good . . . A third of workers in Galicia earn less that the official minimum salary.

Half of the residents of Pv city have spent all their lives here. Known as Pontevedresas de toda la vida. Sometimes a nice way of saying ‘snobbish and parochial’. Or pesado/a.

The UK

This week Lord Glasman spoke of the “lanyard class” who – since the 1990s – hadve created “a hostile environment for working-class people” by branding them far right “for saying completely normal things”, thus driving them from Labour to Reform. Shades of Mrs Clinton and the Democrats in the USA?

The Latest Mad Pronouncements of the Jester

• For China, a tariff of 80% seems right. [Why, for god’s sake? And China will see this as a prelude to a further massive reduction. Is it any wonder this genius had so many corporate and personal bankruptcies​?]
• If the boats are arriving empty and no Chinese products are coming into the US, it means we are not being ripped off and are saving money.

TrumpWorld/LA LA Land

Trump makes an insane post after Laurence O]Donnell calls out his failures

Quotes of the Day

• Mattel’s CEO: There is no way we are going to make toys in the USA. If not China, somewhere else in Asia.
• The White House press secretary: Karoline Leavitt: It’s frankly ridiculous to claim that President Trump is profiting off the presidency. [Trump is going to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. His Trump Organization is developing luxury properties in all 3 countries.]
• Trump confidant Roger Stone, on a Senator who had submitted  a cryptocurrency regulation bill that would prevent the president, the VP and their families from issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring crypto assets: He should be charged with treason and, if convicted, executed consistent with federal law.

Spanish

• Ácaro: Mite, bed bug.
• Tierno: Tender. Hence . . .
• Ternura: Tenderness, cuteness

Did You Know?

I would certainly not be surprised to learn that English wasn’t the main 2nd language in France but I confess I wouldn’t have guessed it was Arabic – said to be spoken by 49% of the population.

You Have to Laugh

A new product from China . . .

Finally

A fascinating book written by a (rather snobbish) Japanese female courtier at the start of the 11th century – The Pillow Book – contains several long lists, on various themes. Here’s some of the first one – on Depressing Things:-

• A dog howling in the daytime.
• A lying-in room when the baby has died.
• A cold, empty brazier.
• An ox-driver who hates his oxen.
• A scholar whose wife has one girl child after another.
• When one has gone to a friend’s house but nothing is done to entertain one.
• When a letter arrives from the provinces but no gift accompanies it.
• When one has written a letter, taking pains to make it as attractive as possible, and now one impatiently awaits the reply. “Surely the messenger should be back by now,” one thinks. Just then he returns; but in his hand he carries, not a reply, but one’s own letter, still twisted or knotted as it was sent, but now so dirty and crumpled that even the ink-mark on the outside has disappeared. “Not at home,” announces the messenger, or “They said they were observing a day of abstinence and would not accept it.”

More tomorrow.

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.
• This post of mine contains several relevant articles from ThinkSpain.
• 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.