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

Hmm. . . Striking judges. Things must be serious.

How the crackdown on tourist lets will impact your holiday.

A Spanish semi-con . . . Scroll down.

Cosas de Galicia

A(nother) moan . . . Sitting on the terrace of my favourite tapas restaurant at 7 last night, it dawned on me that Pv city has morphed into Santiago de Compostela. At least in our wonderful old quarter. For, every other table – of 14 – was occupied by Caminers. Similarly inside. For these, the place now opens at 6.30, allowing them to eat at 8, which is when some Spaniards are finishing lunch . . . So, from April to November, our old quarter is, effectively, no longer Spanish. True, the Caminers are not the Brits of the Costa del Sol demanding sausage and chips but, for me, this is still a retrograde step. And, as I’ve said, for a while at least it’s only going to get worse. Now, when I write ‘Pv city’, I’m conscious that the P really stands for ‘Pilgrim’. I’m saddened about this but philosophical. Que será, será. As I’ve said, there are still nearby places where the pilgrim effect is minimal. Even nil. One has to move with the times, for better or worse. . . .

The Galician – or at least Spanish – Brits. All of us, apparently. HT to Bilingual David* for this . . .A team from Oxford University has discovered that the Celts, Britain’s indigenous people, are descended from a tribe of Iberian fishermen who crossed the Bay of Biscay 6,000 years ago. DNA analysis reveals they have an almost identical genetic “fingerprint” to the inhabitants of coastal regions of Spain, whose own ancestors migrated north between 4,000 and 5,000BC. The discovery will herald a change in scientific understanding of Britishness. People of Celtic ancestry were thought to have descended from tribes of central Europe. But: “About 6,000 years ago Iberians developed ocean-going boats that enabled them to push up the Channel. Before they arrived, there were some human inhabitants of Britain but only a few thousand in number[Basques??]. These people were later subsumed into a larger Celtic tribe. . . The majority of people in the British Isles are actually descended from one of 6 Spanish clans who arrived in the UK in several waves of immigration prior to the Norman conquest.

*Not that La Coruña David isn’t bilingual . . .

That train . . .

• Ironically, the low-slung nature of the bogey of the S-106 is designed to avoid the delay just before Ourense to change the wheels so that the train can run on the obsolete track around the city. But, in solving this problem, Renfe have introduced us to far worse ones. . . Of the 30 S106 trains ordered by Renfe, 15 are equipped with Talgo’s advanced variable gauge system. This allows the train to automatically adjust its wheelsets to run on both standard gauge (used on Spain’s high-speed lines) and the wider Iberian gauge (used on conventional lines), without needing to stop for a manual bogie change. This made me laugh: The low-slung design is part of Talgo’s approach for stability. A complete failure, then.
• Not a surprise to read this morning that the passengers of the first run of this train had exactly the same complaints as me, especially vibration. Nor that Renfe and Talgo are in legal dispute as to whose fault it is that this abomination was foisted on the public. Nor that it was originally envisaged as a low-cost ‘Ryanair-on-wheels’, I guess. Nor that the initial low prices have been significantly increased. All in all, a real disgrace.

Germany

A(nother?) republic which is kaput, says this (British) columnist.

The Latest Insane Pronouncements of the Jester

• Look at me now. I have everything. God did that. I sincerely believe that.
• Happy Memorial Day to scum like judges and Joe Biden.
• During his Latest Rant, Trump mixes up Nippon with Nissan. It started when a reporter brought up his post announcing a new partnership between U.S. Steel and Japanese steelmaker Nippon — “And it’s a good company. Nissan’s, a very good company. We’ll see. But it would, . . .it’s an investment and it’s a partial ownership, . . .but it’ll be controlled by the USA . . . e cars, . . . once had a Bentley . . . I did that stop short thing,”

Trumpworld/LA LA Land

• Trump’s 10 most corrupt deals.
• Disgustingly differential treatment of injured or killed police officers.
• Trump politicises Memorial Day. Naturally.

The USA (almost) Normal

The Democrats see sense.

Quotes of the Day

• People trust his leadership. They also know that a military led by Donald Trump is what unites us as Americans. JD Vance [Suddenly, Spanish and British politicians don’t seem so bad. Even, less hypocritical. Does Vance sleep well at night, knowing full well that this is pure cant? Indeed, the very opposite of the truth.]
• Trump is bonkers. There, I saved you some time.

Russia v. Ukraine

Moscow declares the Trump peace deal is dead. No surprise there, then. But the residual question is Was it still-born? To which, of course, the answer is Yes. Despite Trump’s genius for deal-making. I guess there’s no chance Putin will arrange for him to fall from a window any time soon. An idiot who’s just too useful. Even if he isn’t actually in Putin’s pocket.

Spanish

• Burundanga: Scopolamine.
• Rodadura Desplazable: Variable gauge.
• Manquepiedra: Good-for-nothing. Useless.

Did You Know?

Liverpool is a happy city. Well, the red bit of it, anyway. . .

You Have to Laugh

On the passenger screens of the S-106, Plan del tren is translated as ‘Floor plan of the trainset’. Yep, despite paying millions for the new trains, Renfe skimped on paying a native speaker to check translations.

The day the ass-lickers got their ties wrong.

Dumb adulation. . .

Finally . . .

I regularly advise Caminers on a better option for leaving Pv city for SdC – a flatter, shadier alternative to the main one. Better even than the current deviation along a flatter but shade-less tarmac road. When a lone German lady this morning said that, as she didn’t like walking through trees, she wouldn’t take it, I was tempted to tell she was in for some very unpleasant experiences over the next 3 to 4 days.

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.
• And here’s a personal guide to moving to Spain – to work, not to retire.