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

Not good news re Spain’s beaches.

The far left is nothing if not fissiparous and petulant. This is a comment about the UK but could just as well have been made about Spain. And elsewhere.

This would have been unimaginable a few years ago . . . The number of Caminers passing through Pv city has increased this year by 11% and this weekend has seen 150,000 of them, walking in more than 30 degrees of heat. On a human conveyor belt.

With greater numbers – and increased profits – has come greater professionalism. And more comfortable lodgings for the richer ‘pilgrims’. Until quite recently, there were only public pilgrim hostels where you couldn’t book ahead, so you had to race to be there when they opened early afternoon. But, now, there are numerous private albergues and reserving a bed is possible. Indeed, there’s even a web page you can do this on – bookalbergue-com – which certainly looks impressive. And probably deals with your enquiries far better than Renfe’s does. Which wouldn’t be difficult, of course.

Cousas de Galiza

The latest international course for students of Galician at the university of Santiago de Compostela has been well attended. But, while interest for students outside Galicia is higher than last year – from Germany, Finland, France, Hungry, Argentina, Uzbekistan, China, India and Mexico – local interest has sadly diminished.

Like the cathedral in SdC, the basilica of Santa María A Maior in Pv city has had its facade face-lifted . . .

Sadly, the railings in front of it haven’t been removed, despite the disappearance of the reason for them. This was that the kids gathering for the botellón (binge drinking sessions) abused the place in various ways. This now takes place across the river, quite some way away.

The UK

An interesting article on then – the 1970s – and now.

THE MAGA REALITY TV SHOW

Trumpisms

• I’m not focused on the conspiracy theories that you are. [True. He’s busy creating others].
• Beyonce, Oprah, and Kamala should be prosecuted, for election fraud. [But not him, of course.]

Washington is awash in conspiracy theories these days, a cascade of suspicion and intrigue promoted or denied in the Oval Office, ricocheting around Capitol Hill and cable news and propelled at warp speed across social media. . .

Three critical stories are getting buried by the Trump-Epstein debacle. These have overshadowed critical policy issues facing America’s leaders at the moment

Even Fox News – owned by someone Trump is suing for 10 billion dollars, of course – is beginning to criticise the Trump administration.

Quotes of the Day

• Trump is arguably the most consequential president since Franklin D Roosevelt, but he is a leader who is adding to the uncertainty with a style of presidency that has been compared to an episodic thriller, with a cliffhanger at the end of each storyline.
• The astonishing thing about the Republicans is that they do their corruption in plain sight.
• Trump accused Obama of “treason,” suggesting he should be locked up and going so far as to put out a fake video showing his predecessor being handcuffed in the Oval Office and put behind bars. The idea of a president posting such an image of another president would once have been seen as a shocking breach of etiquette and corruption of the justice system, but in the Trump era it has become simply business as usual.
• No one on planet Earth spews propaganda like Katherine Leavitt.
• Trump’s distraction methods fall flat against the Epstein uproar.
• Effectively, Trump is losing his title of the world’s best distractor to a corpse.

The Way of the World

A columnist strikes a semi-positive note – on the wisdom of crowds.

Spanish

Rubor: Reddening, blushing, rouge.

English

To deliquesce: To dissolve or melt away,

Did you know?

Population decline . . . . After reading of this in several countries, including Spain. I recalled David Goldman´s book How Civilizations Die. This was first published in 2011 and is described as Essential for understanding what lies ahead for the USA and the world.

The Way of the World/You Have to Laugh

Finally . . .

I think that, if Shakespeare was[were] magically reincarnated in the first quarter of the 21st century, there is only one genre he’d be working in: the open-world-role-playing adventure. Here, he’d have the time and space to weave complex narratives involving dozens of characters and diverse environments. King Lear’s moors would become a desolate explorable wasteland, much like the post-apocalyptic hellscapes of Fallout or Death Stranding; Macbeth’s castle would resemble the haunted dungeons of Elden Ring or The Witcher 3; the Verona of Romeo and Juliet would be a beautiful, troubled take on GTA’s Los Santos. A Guardian columnist on Shakespeare’s interest in mass, popular entertainment.

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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.