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 right-of-centre The Corner asserts here that what the (besieged and impotent) PM is best at is chest thumping. And that, despite the good macro numbers, things haven’t improved for the majority of Spaniards for 8 years.

Talking of bureaucracy . . . The bureaucratic requirements to get the Minimum Living Income are enormous.

Another cloud on the horizon? An attack on a Madrid migrant centre escalates Spain’s racial tensions. A young Moroccan occupant of the facility had been arrested two days earlier on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old Spanish girl. BTW . . . In contrast to the page 1 treatment of this is a major UK newspaper, the editor of the Voz d Galicia felt it merited only a small column at the bottom of page 16 of today’s paper. One wonders why.

A tale of one of the 40+ Caminos I probably won’t get round to doing –  El Camino de Caravaca, which is the final bit of the 120km Camino del Levante.

Cousas de Galiza

Tourists to Pontevedra this year included foreigners, accounting for 20%. Factors included the Camino, of course, and cruise ships to nearby Vigo. Brits were the most, followed by Germans.

Talking of Caminoers . . I saw this family trio on O Burgo bridge this morning. The daughter was differently attired (and differently laden) from her parents. Certainly not in traditional pilgrim dress . .

Renfe have admitted that there are major problems with the Talgo S106 used on the Madrid-Galicia route. So, what now?

Walking past the Granite Carvers’ School behind my house with my grandson today, I noted a series of gargoyle-like statues alongside the car park. This impressive one particularly interested me . . .

The UK

Brits – well, the English component – need to give more credit and honour to their ‘forgotten’ Anglo-Saxon king – Aethelstan, says an historian. I agree and might well have given a son his name . . . You can listen to a The Rest is History podcast on him here. [Brunanburh , by the way, is thought by most to be Bromborough on the Wirral peninsula in Cheshire.]

THE USA and THEMAGA REALITY TV SHOW

Trump is still dreaming of a real estate killing in Gaza. Even in the Israeli media the proposal invited incredulity, with a column in the left-leaning Haaretz describing it as “a Trumpian get-rich-quick scheme reliant on war crimes, AI and tourism”. . . . The prospectus appears to be aimed at appealing to the vanity of Trump, Musk, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Everything that Trump does fits into a common playbook of autocracy, says this Time columnist.  The pattern is clear: expand power, normalize abuses, and desensitize people to the erosion of our rights. The question now is how to stop this rise in autocracy, beyond just waiting for the 2026 mid-term elections. And hoping Trump doesn’t rig or cancel them.

We should take Trump’s sabre-rattling against Venezuela seriously. Maduro’s refusal to end drug trafficking is not something the American president can ignore. But will he strike?

The Way of the World

When each country will reach it population peak. If it hasn’t already has.

Spanish

• Zahorra: Gravel.
• Apercibimiento: Warning, caution.
• Mano: Usually hand but can mean influence, control, or intervention, eg of/by investors

Did you know?

• The history of the qwerty keyboard.
• Is this really true . . . The range of an electric car almost halves in heatwaves? If so, this will surely add to range-anxiety with at least some models.

Finally . . .

My 6 year old grandson – having been to Mass with his cousins – returned to the subject of gods. . .

Can everyone choose a god?

Yes, they can.

Can anyone invent a god?

Well, yes they can.

So, I could be The Chosen One?

[Laughing] Well, yes . . .

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.