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

Things seemed to be getting worse for the PM.

Spain’s ‘Big Brother’ rules for tourists have been ruled unlawful by a Spanish agency. But nothing will change: holidaymakers have no choice but to comply.

Good news for ageing Brits . . . It’s still easy to retire here post Brexit.

Olive News property-related items:-

• Want to live alone in Spain? This is how much you should be earning in to pull it off.
• An expert warns investors looking to profit from Spain’s property boom against buying up ‘cheap homes’.

Overtourism . . . Cognitive dissonance down in Malaga? Despite the Council’s plans to regulate tourist accommodation, in reality it’s continuing to hand out new permits for apartment complexes.

Cousas de Galicia

Galicians talk a lot about food, reflecting the fact that they’re proud of their productos primarios/productos. Hence, Seven cities, Seven flavours.

With the Worth Triathlon Multisport taking place in Pv city over the next week, the city today was full of runners, bikers and walkers togged up in their gear. Some of them are staying in the city’s only 5-star hotel, which is a bit of a surprise. Though it’s possible sponsors are financing that.

At 11 last night, our Peregrina(Pilgrim) church was very prettily festooned in variegated light, cast by a Tardis-like booth being managed by a couple of Frenchmen:-

BTW . . . Some will have noticed that, yesterday, I should have written Pontem Veterem, or, maybe, Pontis Veteris. not Ponte Veteris. But who really cares?

The EU

Defence spending . . .Trouble at t’mill . . . Here or here.

Iran

Regime change . . . I’m with this columnist on this.

AEP. in an article cited below: There might be excellent reasons to knock out Iran’s nuclear capability, though doing in this way, flippantly, like a power-drunk despot, conflating non-proliferation with regime change, drives the final nail in the coffin of Western moral credibility.

The USA

Trump: The difference between my first and second terms is that, then, I was the hunted but, now, I am the hunter. Dear dog!

Here we go again . . Trump will decide ‘within 2 weeks’ what he will do about Iran. Says Richard North: With the cynicism born of long experience, the Washington Post says this deadline follows a long-standing pattern. On multiple topics over years, Trump has said he would make a decision in 2 weeks. But the period often comes and goes without any final action. In other words, “2 weeks” from Trump is rather like an African bushman counting: “One, two, many…”. This is the US president kicking the issue into the long grass. while the chips fall as they may.

The ridiculous lizard woman who is the White House Secretary yesterday has told the world that president Trump has ‘incredible instincts’ and so should be trusted to do deals and, effectively, avoid/postpone World War 3. Some reactions:-

• Hard to imagine an interaction in any previous White House’s briefing room where the question would have been so nonchalantly torqued in favor of the president and the answer would have been as simple as just accept that whatever the president is doing is correct.
• Are they going to start putting that on the coinage and currency of the United States, replacing “In God We Trust’?”
• “In Trump We Trust’ is not a sound basis for a system of government.

US democracy . . . AEP expresses here a pessimistic view that’s probably shared by quite a lot of folk.

Quotes of the Day

• Trump seems to think he is starring in his own first-person shooter video game.
• Trump might well be ignorant and stupid but, given the immense power he can abuse and has abused, he is all more terrifying because of that.
• Tomorrow used to be the longest day of the year. Now, with Trump, every day is the longest day of the year . . .

Spanish

• Acuñar: To mint
• Puzle: This can mean both puzzle and jigsaw, but from the responses I got in 2 bookshops today when I asked for a book or magazine of puzzles, I’d say the more normal meaning is jigsaw.
• Soportales: Arches. Cue this old song, dedicated to the increasing number of sintechos who are using Pv city’s soportales as permanent residences. I guess the word has got around about how convenient these are. I confess to being surprised that the police haven’t moved them on, in view of the thousands of current visitors from around the world.

English

The young lady who gave the English-language tour of Pv city yesterday had a high level of English but, even so, she hadn’t mastered No v. Not. I recently gave a friend with an even higher level the alleged rules but had to admit I didn’t understand them myself. In truth, I fear only ‘osmosis’ born of much conversation will work,. As with my very young grandchildren, who all of whom, of course, learn ‘by ear’. And couldn’t give you the rules in a million years.

Did You Know?/You Have to Laugh

Trump’s administration has returned some forts to their original names, which honoured Confederate military leaders. Two of these are Fort Bragg and Fort Lee. Trump must think his voters are as stupid as he is as we are told these now honour/honor World War II paratrooper Roland L. Bragg and Private Fitz Lee, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Spanish-American War of 1898. I wonder how long it took them to dig these names out of the archives.

Finally . . .

The wet-spring-growth has forced me to do more gardening than usual. This has included tearing down the (self-planted) Virginia creeper which has soared up past my basement window and encroached on my salón window. This exercise exposed more than 20 snails stuck to the former. These now have another home, in the communal garden, 3 metres below mine. It’s said that snails return to the place you pluck them from but I rather doubt it in this instance. If they do, it will surely have taken them quite a while.

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.
• A comparison of UK and Spanish living costs.
• And here’s a personal guide to moving to Spain – to work, not to retire.
• What to do if your visa application is rejected
• Finally, from a tax lawyer: Everything you need to know about taxes and healthcare when retiring to Spain.