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

Welcoming places for you to consider for your Spanish holiday. . . . Whole swathes of the country are not only tolerant of tourism but happy to receive a good deal more of it.

From Mark Stücklin of Spanish Property Insight

Good News . . . Solar panel tax breaks.

Bad News . . . The Bank of Spain has issued a stark warning: the already-critical imbalance between housing supply and demand in the country is likely to grow worse – especially in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, and Málaga – unless urgent measures are taken.

Cousas de Galiza

Nice title to an article in the VdG today, about the PM’s plight: Entre bulos y prostibulos.

• Bulo: Fake news item
• Prostíbulo: Pimp

The VdG today on Tourism in Galicia: More Foreigners, More Nights, and New Established Destinations: “It will be the best time ever,” announced the director of the Galician Tourism Agency. His optimism is based on data: the number of foreign travellers is growing, stays are longer than in previous years, and alongside classic destinations like the Rías Baixas and Santiago, others are consolidating, such as A Mariña, which registered 25% more tourists than last year, and A Ribeira Sacra. According to a researcher at the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Galicia, the future of this important source of income for Galicia lies in achieving the type of tourism we need: “The number matters, but how matters much more,” she points out.

Thanks very largely to it being the HQ of Zara’s parent company, La/A Coruña is growing faster than even Vigo, which must be hard to bear for the ambitious mayor of the latter.

The UK

A rare positive article . . . Three decades on from ‘ Cool Britannia’, cultural commentators say we are in the throes of a “Brit-culture renaissance” . . . The UK’s resurgent pop culture moment has coincided with a 1990s renaissance that has swept across music, film and fashion.

And another . . . An American says she moved to the UK because life is ‘just better here’. But she is, of course, only comparing it with the USA. As I’ve always stressed to my daughters, everything is relative.

And a third – but only for potential investors: Forget Champagne – invest in these English wines for big returns.

THE MAGA REALITY TV SHOW

Trumpisms

• One year ago our country was dead. Now it’s the envy of the world.
• My ratings are the now the highest they’ve ever been. Five or six polls all have them in the 90s.[Raising again the question of what his ‘gatekeepers’ show him.]
• Make Indians Great Again. Restore the old names of football and baseball teams.
• No one has ever seen anything like it.
• I’ve had the most successful first 6 months of any president in history.

The ¨News¨

Elected Republicans privately fear repercussions at the ballot box. “They feel it is something existential,” says a senior Republican. “They are trying to work out how to cover themselves, as they do not trust Trump. They don’t trust that he’s not in the files and they don’t trust that he won’t change his mind.” 

This is the latest episode of Shrinking Trump. From minute 21.30s, they talk about how malignant narcissists all view their opponents as ‘evil’, providing examples both from last century and this one.

Private Eye tries irony again . .

• Trump’s Address to the American People

My fellow MAGAmaniacs! After considerable thought lasting some minutes, I weighed up the pros and cons of bombing Canada, Greenland or California, before Benjamin Netanyahu told me it would have to be Iranland. They’re not nice they’re NASTY! It was a bigly decision, proving that I was right all along in promising that I could start a war in one day. We are dealing with bad people – bad, bad people – and I don’t just mean the moron I put in charge of the CIA, who stupidly told Congress that Iran did not have a nuclear bomb. Fake fact! Was wrong – and Tulsi Gabbard has now revised her opinion based on new information – namely that I was going to sack her if she didn’t. Anyway this ISN’T World War 3! NO WAY! In my book a 3 is a DOG – I’d only ever be seen with the World War that was at least a 9, maybe a 10. That’s a STUNNING war. Beautiful! That’s the kind of war you can grab by the pussy! Locker war-room talk – get used to it. Miss Sourface!! So, I acted quickly and decisively as soon as I was told what to do by Bibi. As the Israeli leader put it so well, we can’t allow a fanatical madman surrounded by a bunch of religious extremists to have his finger on the nuclear button. TRUE FACT! Now your favourite president can achieve what sleepy Joe could never manage – winning not only the Nobel PEACE Prize but also the Nobel WAR Prize! Thank you for your attention in this matter. God bless myself!

And again here . . .

• An Apology to MAGA

In recent weeks and months, you might have been given the impression that you elected an isolationist president committed on his first day in office to ending wars, one who had seen the folly of being dragged into foreign wars on the previous Republican presidents and who rejects the obsolete neo-con doctrine that America is the world’s policeman. We now realise, in the light of Trump bombing Iran, that nothing could be further from the truth and that Trump is fully signed up to the wise neo-con doctrine that America is the world’s policeman. We apologise for any confusion caused but hope that you are all as stupid as the president imagines you are and that you are confused by multiplication and traffic lights, let alone U-turns in international politics

Quote of the Day

Trump might say he hates the Left but the people he really despises are his own [‘stupid dupes’] MAGA base.

The Way of the World/Social Media

An ‘influencer’ who garnered 165,000 followers while ‘enjoying Wimbledon’ was, in fact, an AI creation

Spanish

• Mildiu: Mildew
• Oídio: Powdered mildew
• Desmán; The Iberian water vole (Also called in Galicia toupeira da auga, aguaneira, and rato de almiscre). [Galician seems to have at least 2 names for everything, but especially for fish.]

Calician/Gallego/Galego

HT to Lenox Napier for this article on the Galician words which are hard to put into other languages.

Did you know?

You Have to Laugh

The future if UK voting . . .

Finally . . .

Gardening note . . . I’ve finally given up on trying – at some cost in both money and time – to grow grass from ‘English’ seeds in the patches on my front lawn. I’ve conceded victory to the ugly but rain-and-draught-resistant gramón grass. Called Buffalo grass in the USA. And, in Spain, hierba de San Agustín, grama catalana, grama americana.

Incidentally . . . The name buffalo grass comes from its historical association with the American bison. It was the principal forage for the vast herds of buffalo that roamed the Great Plains of North America, making it a dominant and important plant in the prairies for millions of years. 

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 or on Substack.

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.

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 or on Substack.

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.

If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you.