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

The blackout – A finger is pointed at a substation in Granada . . .

For the most part, I’m a happy traveller on Spain’s trains. So it was a bit of a surprise to read here and here that there’ve been dramatic failures and that the rail system is struggling despite the billions provided for it from Brussels. Is it possible that the money is being misspent Or simple not spent at all?

So, not only in Pv city . . . A homelessness crisis is unfolding in Madrid, albeit at the airport, not in the city centre.

A feared consequence of temperatures rising up here in the North.

Cousas de Galicia

Today, I knew, was the Day of Galician Literature, when the papers are replete with articles in Gallego. Eg:-

What I didn’t know/recall was that it’s a public holiday here and the shops and supermarkets were all closed. Cue food shortage ahead of a dinner with guests tonight. . . . Pizzas, then.

Which reminds me . . . Yesterday I went to one of our 3 (competing) tourist offices to get a copy of a guide to walks in Galicia. Years ago, this was in Spanish. Not now. If you want a subsidy here, your publication has to be entirely in Galician. I would say Pity the poor tourists from other regions but, in truth, it’s not terribly hard to understand the written form. Then again, I have absorbed some knowledge of the vocabulary common to Gallego and Portuguese.

A lovely AI look at Pv city sculptures . . .

Ireland

Do I detect some British schadenfreude here? . . . Trump has just crushed Ireland’s European dream. For decades, the country played off Europe and America for its own benefit. No longer.

Europe

Simpler times. When songs were songs and Eurovision wasn’t a political battle. Witness this jaunty and old-fashioned – not to say bizarre – UK entry from 1960. When lyrics were lyrics. Unfortunately in this case.

The Latest Insane Pronouncements of the Jester

Endlessly entertaining. We’d never stop laughing, if we weren’t crying . .

• Has anyone noticed that since I said ‘ I hate Taylor Swift’ she is no longer ‘hot’?
• The new Syrian leader is so young and handsome.
• The plane is a gift to the Department of Defense, not to me.
• If I hadn’t done a deal with China, the country would have broken apart. [The ‘deal’, of course, is merely to reduce the stupid tariffs he imposed]
• No one uses leverage better than me. But I don’t want to do that with Russia right now. I will, if we don’t make a deal and it will crush Russia.
• I have an extraordinary relationship with all 3 Middle East leaders. You can see it in our body language. They love me.
• There’s never been a trip like mine ever before. [One of the few examples of Trump telling the truth. Albeit unwittingly]
• Electric cars are for radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists. [OK, that was before Musk financed his campaign to the tune of almost three hundred million dollars].

Trumpworld/LA LA Land

The Guardian . .

• Reviews the insanity of the last 40 days.

and

• Highlights Trump’s unprecedented corruption. Which is said to have increased his family’s wealth by at least 2 billion dollars. One way or another.

But . . . Even Republicans are outraged by Trump’s corruption tour.

A bit of good news . . .The Supreme Court dealt Trump a big blow by blocking the administration’s mass deportations of accused gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. . . But the underlying legal fight continues to play out across the country.

I alluded to this the other day, when asking why anyone would want to visit the USA: US border patrol can legally search your phone: An ‘expert’ explains your rights here.

Quotes of the Day

• A famous response: Voltaire, when asked on his deathbed to renounce Satan, is said to have replied: This is no time to be making enemies.
• Americans are going to have to start pretending to be Canadians again.

Russia v. Ukraine

Wow. Putin’s peace talks negotiator claims Russians have an extra chromosome due to their superiority and that Stalin was wise. Oh and that Ukraine is an ‘ultranationalist state’. Unlike Russia, then.

Spanish

• Cara y cruz: Lit. Face and cross. Head and tails.
• Raptar: To kidnap, abduct, snatch
• Flis Flis: The insecticide spray branded Fly-Tox or Flit in the Anglo world

English

Reverse ferret: A British media term for a sudden change in a position on an issue, often without acknowledgement.

Did You Know?

Where is the Spanish town that gets the most rain? Probably not where you think it is.

You Have to Laugh

A person who hasn’t studied German can form no idea of what a perplexing language it is. Surely there’s no other language that’s so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. You’re washed about in it, here and there, in the most helpless way; and when at last you think you’ve captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the 10 parts of speech, you turn over the page and read, “Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions.” You run his eye down and find there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it. That’s an extract on an article entitled The Awful German Language, penned by Mark Twain many years ago. I had occasion to send it to a (Polish) friend who’d remarked on both English and German. I doubt that things have got easier in the interim. Indeed, I recall a German friend telling me that the kids there aren’t proficient in the language until they’re 12.And that’s the clever ones . . You can read the article here. Possibly not a good idea, if you’re German . . .

Finally . . .

A couple more delightful lists from the lady who was an attendant to the Japanese Empress in the early 11th century:-

Annoying Things

• One has sent someone a poem (or a reply to a poem) and, after the messenger has left, thinks of a couple of words that ought to be changed.
• One has sewn something in a hurry. The task seems finished, but on pulling out the needle one discovers that one forgot to knot the end of the thread.
• It is also very annoying to find that one has sewn something back to front.
• It is annoying when a messenger delivers a letter to a person not meant to see it.
• One has planted some nice clover or susuki grass and goes to have a look at it. What a painful and annoying experience to find someone with a long box and a spade who has carefully dug up the plants and is now carrying them away!
• A retainer of some grand family comes to the house of a provincial official and speaks to him rudely with an expression implying, “You may find my manner annoying, but what can you do about it?”
• A man snatches a letter that one does not want him to see and takes it into the garden, where he stands reading it. One runs after him in a rage. But one cannot go beyond the curtains; and there one stops, wishing that one could leap out at the man.
• A woman is angry with her lover about some trifle and refuses to continue lying next to him. After fidgeting about in bed, she decides to get up. The man gently tries to draw her back, but she is still cross. “Very well then,” he says, feeling that she has gone too far. “As you please.” Full of resentment, he buries himself under his bedclothes and settles down for the night. It is a cold night and, since the woman is wearing only an unlined robe, she soon begins to feel uncomfortable. Everyone else in the house is asleep, and besides it would be most unseemly for her to get up alone and walk about. As the night wears on, she lies there on her side of the bed feeling very annoyed that the quarrel did not take place earlier in the evening when it would have been easy to leave. Then she begins to hear strange sounds in the back of the house and outside. Frightened, she gently moves over in bed towards her lover, tugging at the bedclothes, whereupon he annoys her further by pretending to be asleep. “Why not be standoffish a little longer?” he asks her finally.”

Embarrassing Things

• While entertaining a visitor, one hears some servants chatting without any restraint in one of the outer rooms.
• A man whom one loves gets drunk and keeps repeating him self.
• To have spoken about someone not knowing that he could overhear. This is embarrassing even if it be a servant or some other completely insignificant person.
• To hear one’s servants making merry. This is equally annoying if one is on a journey and staying in cramped quarters or at home and hears the servants in a neighbouring room.
• Parents, convinced that their ugly child is adorable, pet him and repeat the things he has said, imitating his voice.
• An ignoramus who in the presence of some learned person puts on a knowing air and converses about men of old.
• A man recites his own poems (not especially good ones) and tells one about the praise they have received— most embarrassing.
• Lying awake at night, one says something to one’s companion, who simply goes on sleeping.
• In the presence of a skilled musician, someone plays a zither just for his own pleasure and without tuning it.
• A son-in-law who has long since stopped visiting his wife runs into his father-in-law in a public place.

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.