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 unemployment rate for the euro area dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point in July, to 6.2%, while the rate for the European Union also fell by one-tenth, settling at 5.9%. These figuresshow Spain with the highest level of unemployment among the 27 member states, with a rate of 10.4% for the second consecutive month. As ever, the number for youth unemployment is worse, at 23.5% but this not as bad as that of Estonia, Sweden, and Finland. I wonder about the accuracy of these numbers, particularly for countries – like Spain – which have a large submerged economy.

Lenox Napier writes again on the fires here, stressing that they – like any and everything else in Spain, are political. I recall reading that one of the reasons for the land catching fire more easily these days is that new ecological laws have prevented folk from rearing animals and doing useful things to their plots. Which is a tad ironic.

Cousas de Galiza

Looking at a weather forecast in Gallego, I was confused that, for today, the English version gave the 3 time periods as Tomorrow, Afternoon and Night. It took a few seconds to realise that the Gallego for Tomorrow and Morning – Maña – is the same for both. As in Spanish, Mañana. But what I can’t figure out is why Sunrise/Dawn is given as Garden . . . The RAG dictionary provides no clue, defining O amencer as The first light of day and A change of state from negative to positive. María?

[Which reminds me . . . As we walked into town yesterday, my 6 year old grandson said he could speak Vigo. He meant Gallego but then added ¨It’s easy to speak Gallego. It’s just Spanish with a different pronunciation¨. For which he would be hung, drawn and quartered here, if this view became public knowledge . . .]

I’m told the Pv city restaurant I wrote a scathing review about 3 weeks ago has closed down. What power! But perhaps it was already on its way out. Because of cost-cutting, you can smell this in restaurants, and I did predict this development.

The UK

Hard to disagree with this sentiment from a left-of-centre female columnist: The arrest of gender-critical Graham Linehan is insane. The writer’s detention by armed police is the latest authoritarian move supporting the trans lobby’s crackdown on language.

Europe

One of Germany’s most eminent legal figures has warned that: The “existence of western democracies” is in peril without fundamental reforms to the European asylum system. The ECHR – he says – allows a ‘de facto right to migration through the back door’ the current rules had opened the floodgates to “uncontrolled and unconditional immigration” and needed to be radically revised before the public lost faith in conventional politics.

THE USA and THE MAGA REALITY TV SHOW

The president of peace – desperate to have a ‘Noble’ Peace Prize – seems to want a war with Venezuela. A handy distraction and a favourite strategy of autocrats.

A parallel? . . . With the Enabling Act now in force, the Reichstag could be effectively dispensed with. From this point on, Hitler ruled by decree. This Act – a temporary piece of ‘emergency legislation’ with some limited precedents in the Weimar period – now became the legal, or pseudo-legal basis for the permanent removal of civil rights and democratic liberties. The brownshirt terror on the streets was already comprehensive enough to make it quite clear what was now about to happen. Germany became a one-party state. And the accounts of violence that followed make for grim reading.

Quotes of the Day

• Robert Kennedy: Trusting the experts is not a feature of science or democracy – it’s a feature of religion or totalitarianism. So, go with quacks and liars. On the face of it, this means that you should trust yourself and other ignorant fools.
• Putin: Moscow has never attacked and will never attack anyone.

Spanish

• Ajetreado: Busy, hectic, bustling.
• Terraceo: Eating/drinking on a terraza.

English

There are actually people in the world who want to learn not RP but northern dialects . . .

You Have to Laugh

Not everyone will get all of these.

Finally . . .

Possibly the last religious chat with my grandson as he returns to Madrid tomorrow, wth my daughter . . .

Me: Don’t put the umbrella up when it’s not raining,

Dani: Why not?

Well some people think it will make it rain?

Why do they think that?

Well, it’s called a superstition.

What’s a superstition?

It’s a belief that’s not logical.

Well, god’s not logical. So, is he not a superstition?

You have point. . .

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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.

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