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

More denials from the government on what is alleged to have been happening in the weeks/months before the big blackout. Probably widely disbelieved.

A hard-hitting article on the impact of the new governor of the Bank of Spain, who certainly seems to be a political appointee.

A warning . . . Criminal gangs are now operating in the tourist rental sector, sometimes offering flats that don’t exist. Interesting to see there’s a useful on-line tool for checking legality in Barcelona. And rather shocking to read that 38% of Spain’s 400,000 tourist flats are illegal. Or 80% on Ibiza. Again raising questions about ‘foot-dragging’ implementation of the law.

Life in Spain: Gnat-bites

• Knowing that she’d have piles of debris after lots of works in her garden, my neighbour went to Poio town hall to ask for the necessary licence to have a skip outside her house in 3 weeks’ time. No problem they said. “Fill in these forms and we’ll send you the licence in 3 months. ” . . . It’s at times like this, you need a friend in the town hall. Or maybe an effective gestor. Who won’t come free, of course. Time to re-show this . . .
• Today I paid Almansa’s unfair 95 euros fine of 6 months ago but asked for a rebate of 55, as I’d never received the official demand for 80, discounted to 40. I have nil confidence it’ll arrive in my bank account.
• Yesterday, as on every day, I followed a learner driver along the main road. He/she was doing 25kph in an 80 zone and turned left at a roundabout – without signalling and always in the outside lane. It’s amazing that learners are still being taught do this*, in the face of regular advice from El Trafico that they shouldn’t. It’s even more amazing that they won’t be failed when they do it during their test. One of these days I’ll video it. And probably get fined for doing so . .

* Called El modelo español down in Portugal, where you get fined €300 for doing it.

Cosas de Galicia

One or more fewer narcosubs for our coast . . .

The VdG today . . . The tourist tax is spreading . . .After Santiago and A Coruña took the step of implementing a tourist tax, it seems other municipalities want to follow the same path. In the Rías Baixas, there is an undercurrent, and some municipalities are no longer as radical as they were months ago. This is the case in Bueu and Caldas de Reis. In the former, the population doubles every season, and its administration struggles to maintain services with the same budget. In the case of Caldas, the local government considers it necessary, but sees a problem: they lack the capacity to manage the tax, so they are asking for help from the Xunta or the Provincial Council. In Sanxenxo, the main tourist town, doubts remain: “It’s an option, but we’re not considering it right now.”

Pilgrim Perspectives

• As I’ve said, it’s not hard to find places in Pv city’ s old quarter not taken over by Caminers. The big plus is that these are authentically Spanish. The negative is that Spaniards still smoke far more than health-conscious hikers. Especially young women.
• Just after I wrote that para, I read that Madrid is bringing in a ban on smoking on terraces and during open-air fiestas – 14 years after the ban on smoking inside public places.
• And then I saw a headline saying that Spanish young folk vape 3 times more than their elders.

Germany

Germany is finally ready to face Putin. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is determined to pivot on defence and security.

Trumpworld/LA LA Land

The Trump presidency’s world-historical heist. He is taking self-enrichment to a scale never seen before in America.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell details how Trump has promised to issue refunds if his tariffs are found to be illegal in a final court ruling, making “Refund Day” the ultimate humiliation at the end of Trump’s disastrous trade war. The issue is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court.

As you’d expect, Trump acolytes have vowed that, if the Supreme Court stops them, they will find some other – allegedly legal – way to impose the tariffs.

The increased interest now payable on US bonds is known in the trade as ‘The moron premium’.

Quotes of the Day

• There are formatting errors which are being addressed: [The specious response of the White House Press Secretary to a claim that a key Health Department document was riddled with false citations].
• Trump loves to say things are coming in 2 weeks. It’s a sort of tic. [The latest will be action in response to Putin’s ‘tapping me along’, assuming this doesn’t stop shortly].

Russia v. Ukraine

Russia’s strong wage growth and tight labour market have been critical to maintaining public support for the war in Ukraine. Now, FT analysis reveals that the sharp, post-invasion rise in citizens’ living standards is coming to an end.

Spanish

• Desaguisado: Mess, botch-up
• Presumido: Smug, cocky

The Way of the World

A few days ago, the inventor of the smartphone forecast it will be obsolete within a decade, though he declined to predict what AI-based thingy would replace it. For a long time, he said, there’ve been no real innovations, just minor ’improvements’ to justify price increases. I thought of these comments when my phone this week, on start-up, started to show 3 emojis I hadn’t asked for and can’t get rid of. One of them is linked to Accessories – specifically to Sounds – and causes the Mute All Sounds button to be activated somehow. Really annoying.

Did You Know?

Trump’s intended statute is actually called The Big Beautiful Bill Act. As I’ve said, I can’t imagine this happening anywhere other than in a Trump-dominated USA. Where the terrified Congress has been craven in its support of the Bill. Hopes for opposition now lie with the Senate.

You Have to Laugh

A joke circulating in Germany: What borders on stupidity? Mexico and Canada.

Finally . . .

A short list of mine . . . Things that no longer remotely surprise or shock us:-

• That the words and actions of Trump are the most ignorant, stupid, crooked and self-serving you will ever be aware of, however long you live.
• That Trump is the president of the USA
• That spiritual gurus are accused of rape.

Finally, Finally . . . . . .

More from The Pillow Book

1. Lovers: A paragraph that was missed from yesterday’s collection of references . . . .

For meeting one’s lover, summer is indeed the right season. True, the nights are very short, and dawn creeps up before one has had a wink of sleep. Since all the lattices have been left open, one can lie and look out at the garden in the cool morning air. There are still a few endearments to exchange before the man takes his leave, and the lovers are murmuring to each other when suddenly there is a loud noise. For a moment, they are certain that they have been discovered, but it is only the caw of a crow flying past in the garden. In the winter, when it is very cold and one lies buried under the bedclothes listening to one’s lover’s endearments, it is delightful to hear the booming of a temple gong, which seems to come from the bottom of a deep well. The first cry of the birds, whose beaks are still tucked under their wings, is also strange and muffled. Then one bird after another takes up the call. How pleasant it is to lie there.

2. Things That Can’t be Compared

• Summer and winter.
• Night and day.
• Rain and sunshine.
• Youth and age.
• A person’s laughter and his anger.
• Black and white.
• Love and hatred.
• The little indigo plant and the great philodendron.
• Rain and mist.
• When one has stopped loving somebody, one feels that he has become someone else, even though he is still the same person.
• In a garden full of evergreens the crows are all asleep. Then, towards the middle of the night, the crows in one of the trees suddenly wake up in a great flurry and start flapping about. Their unrest spreads to the other trees, and soon all the birds have been startled from their sleep and are cawing in alarm. How different from the same crows in daytime!”

3. Rare Things

• A son-in-law who is praised by his adoptive father
• A young bride who is loved by her mother-in-law.
• A silver tweezer that is good at plucking out the hair.
• A servant who does not speak badly about his master.
• A person who is in no way eccentric or imperfect, who is superior in both mind and body, and who remains flawless all his life.
• People who live together and still manage to behave with reserve towards each other. However much these people may try to hide their weaknesses, they usually fail.
• To avoid getting ink stains on the notebook into which one is copying stories, poems, or the like. If it is a very fine notebook, one takes the greatest care not to make a blot; yet somehow one never seems to succeed.
• When people, whether they be men or women or priests, have promised each other eternal friendship, it is rare for them to stay on good terms until the end.
• A servant who is pleasant to his master.
• One has given some silk to the fuller and, when he sends it back, it is so beautiful that one cries out in admiration.

Finally, Finally, Finally . . .

I’ve said that I have problems with typing apostrophes on my laptop. They sometimes appear in the wrong place or just don’t appear at all. Or, as yesterday, appear twice, the second one being in place of a letter. I don’t always see these when checking my final draft. Apologies for this.

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.