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

Spain has banned some Airbnbs. This is why they’re right to do so. I was interested to see the reference to foot-dragging on the part of local administrations across Spain, as I’d wondered about the reports of a high percentage of tourist flats known to be illegal, wih apparent immunity.

Can anyone really be surprised? For the 3rd time, Spain has failed to obtain the necessary unanimity to elevate Catalan, Galician and Basque into official EU languages, as several states raised concerns over the administrative and legal implications of such an unprecedented move. It was always as sop to the PSOE’s (further Left) small coalition partners. And a complete waste of everyone’s time.

Changing Spain . . . The Tax office(Hacienda) has detected [using drones?] 500 unlicensed swimming pools and 10,000 undisclosed houses in Pontevedra city and 3 other municipalities. So, IBI revenue should rise appreciably quite soon.

Cosas de Galicia

The next table to mine yesterday midday was occupied by a Camino group which included a young priest and a monk in an all-white habit. By the size of the gut on both of these, I guessed they’d lived a good life. In fact, they were true to how the wonderful Galician artist Castelao always portrayed clerics – in line with an old Spanish saying:-

• If you want to be happy for a week, get married.
• If you want to be happy for a month, get a pig and eat it.
• If you want to be happy for ever, become a priest

Talking of the Camino . . . How it is these days: A friend down in Oz tells me that that there are at least 4 companies offering this ‘very popular’ sort of package on the Camino Portugués, I guess from Oporto to SdC:-

• 4-star plus accommodation (using taxis if off-route)
• Pre-booked gourmet lunches and dinners
• An accompanying guide/shepherd
• All backpacks carried by car each day to the next hotel or casa rural

At a price of c. $A8000/£4000/€5000!

This explains, I guess, why the Parador is fully booked – at €165 a night – until November.

Another deteriorating service? After a couple of weeks of being empty, my post box was jammed full when I got back from Madrid 2 days ago – 2 magazines and 5 letters., one of which I write about below. The telltale signs – 1. the magazines were late, and 2. there were 2 letters from my pension company, one dated 1 May and the other 12 May. So, one posted almost 4 weeks previously and the other posted 2 weeks previously. I’m used to the mail service being disrupted in July and August but this was the first convincing evidence supporting my suspicion that Correos is letting the snail-mail pile up before delivering it. Perhaps they think nothing important arrives this way these days.

Which reminds me . . . Another critical article on Renfe in the local press stresses that Galicia is now the only region where – because of outdated track from Ourense onwards – Renfe maintains a monopoly. Which rather explains why we get screwed on prices and subsidise the rest of the country. A situation which is unlikely to change for several years. So, thank god we have comfortable trains in compensation!

Trumpworld/LA LA Land

Incredibly, things could get a lot worse . . . A hidden measure in the Republican budget bill would crown Trump king. . . The gross unfairness of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill is bad enough. It would worsen the nation’s already near-record inequalities of income and wealth. But the provision inside the bill that neuters the federal courts is even worse. It would remove the last remaining constraint on Trump, and thereby effectively end American democracy.

Quotes of the Day

• Trump, the stupidest and most cowardly president in American history, has backed down again. [Vis-a-vis the EU].
• TACO: Trump always chickens out.[An invention of the rather staid FT]

Russia v. Ukraine

Trump’s flattery and bullying of Putin have been equally ineffective – and it’s obvious why. . . . Trump’s mistake has been to assume that his self-proclaimed deal-making genius, supposed rapport with Putin and massive leverage over Volodymyr Zelenskyy would together yield a diplomatic success, perhaps one that would even land him a Nobel peace prize. More here.

Spanish

• Forense: Forensic, would you believe? But also coroner.
• Malla: Mesh, screen, net.
• Antimaña: Ruse, trick, stunt, wangle, etc.
• Treta: Ruse, trick, ploy

Did You Know?

There’s a ‘sophisticated’ phishing campaign aimed at Gmail users.

You Have to Laugh

The British DJ Annie Nightingale once thought she was being chatted up by Shane MacGowan of the Pogues. His first words to her were in French: “L’age jeune torque”. She assumed this was a dazzling quote from a poet, but she hadn’t quite contended with the Irishman’s accent. Only later did it become apparent that MacGowan had asked her for a large gin and tonic.

Finally . . . You Have to Cry

Life in Spain. . . Can sometimes be very angrifying. On a Saturday morning in Amansa back in last November, I misread the text on a parking machine and underpaid the charge. For which I received a fine of 80 euros, reduceable to 40, if I paid promptly. Back home, I put in a lot of effort to try to find out how to pay the fine, including (fruitless) phone calls and emails to the town hall and to other municipal offices. Eventually, I got a message from one of the parking companies I’d contacted to the effect that the council would send me a letter giving me instructions on how to pay and get the discount. But it didn’t. Until yesterday, when I received a demand for 95 euros because I hadn’t paid the 80. Now, I could draft and send a certified letter to the address on the notice but I suspect this would be a glorious waste of my time (and money), as it’d surely be ignored by whatever bureaucrat received it and the fine would then be increased after the deadline date of 5 June. Part of my brain is telling me it would be less stressful/more ‘sensible’ to just pay the bloody 95 euros and put it down to life in a country where sometimes things aren’t done quite as efficiently and as fairly as they are elsewhere. As I say, angrifying.

Perhaps I should so what other bloggers do and invite readers to Buy me a coffee. Or maybe a 3 course lunch at Pv city’s Parador.

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.