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

The ever-informative Mark Stücklin brings us here the latest data on the property market, suggesting that that foreign appetite for Spanish homes shows no sign of abating, and 2025 could set a new annual record if current trends continue. The main sources of demand: 1. The UK, 2. Germany, 3. The Netherlands. Largest growth rates: 1. Netherlands 40%, 2. Belgium 20%. Interesting to see that the US rate is twice that of the UK, 6% v 3%. And that Russia’s was minus 1%.

The greedy Franco family suffers another loss, though not as complete as is should have been.

Those mutinous nuns . . .

A cider-pouring champion fears for future of a Spanish tradition – facing extinction owing to machines and a shortage of recruits.

I’m reminded when an old friend and I, in the cider capital of Villaviciosa, committed the solecism of pouring our own cider from the bottle after we’d drunk the bit put in our glasses – from on high – by the barman. When we ordered a second bottle, a fellow drinker told us – in not in so many words – that we were putting the barman out of business and should wait for him to do it.

Cousas de Galiza

Serious injuries aren’t normal in a ‘cultural’ event but there was one last night in Pv city . . .

I’m not sure this has happened before in our bullring.

It was only 27 degrees today, after the Atlantic Blanket covered the city during the night, albeit without precipitating anything.

France

Should have come to Spain? . . .Why moving to France doesn’t guarantee the good life. It’s not all cheap wine and croissants.

THE MAGA REALITY TV SHOW

Trumpisms

• Eggs are down by 400%. [This arrant nonsense from a graduate of Wharton School of Business who insists he’s a ‘stable genius’. No wonder his business numbers were never accurate and he had so many bankruptcies. Maybe this should have been his defence: ‘I can’t count. Numbers mean nothing to me.’]

The word of the moment – confabulation. Here it’s used by a Republican in relation to you know whom.

Republicans – it seems – don’t confine their nastiness to the Democrats . . . Two Republicans are locked in a bitter fight to become Texas’ next Republican senator, in what commentators have called the “nastiest, most aggressive, most personal” primary in living memory. And I thought Spanish politics were bad . . .

Quote of the Day

All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be … The receptivity of the great masses is very limited. Their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. And it must appeal to the emotions rather than to reason, because the people, in their overwhelming majority, are so feminine by nature and attitude that sober reasoning determines their thoughts and actions far less than emotion and feeling. Finally, propaganda must be continuous and unvarying in its message. It should never admit a glimmer of doubt in its own claims, or concede the tiniest element of right in the claims of the other side: Adolf Hitler, in Mein Kampf. [But for the fact that Trump doesn’t read, one would be forgiven for thinking he’d not just read but studied Hitler’s awful book.]

China

Thames Town. Would you believe – a replica of a UK town? . .

Spanish

Baipás: By-pass

Did you know?

Tipping abroad can be a minefield – here’s how to navigate it, with useful maps. Mind you, I can’t believe 10% for restaurants in Italy is accurate, unless this has to be added to the 15% already in your bill. As I discovered it was in Venice, after the waiter had turned nasty when only a lower amount had been added to the bill.

By the by . . . [North] Americans, who are strongly culturally attuned to the highest tipping practice in the world, naturally have difficulty adjusting to the lower norms in other countries. I imagine this must be hardest in Australasia. It certainly was for me when I travelled to both countries. Used to the UK norm of 10%, I was taken aback –-not to say embarrassed – when my tips were refused, on the grounds they amounted to an insult. Local residents who tip far less are invariably unhappy with the US approach, as I learned when only 19 and teaching in the Seychelles, where there was a US satellite tracking station. I say ‘the local residents’ but, of course, this doesn’t include the beneficiaries of American largesse. Not everyone in the world is Australasian and happy to reject a tip of any size. Least of all one of 20-25%.

Finally . . .

Scenes from my UK childhood . . . It was the annual debs Coming Out ball in Pv city – actually in Poio – on Saturday night. These are the lovely lasses:-

And this is the band which played on. Until after 6.30 in the bloody morning . . . .

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.

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.