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/Galiza

The besieged PM is accused here of ‘using Gaza to save his skin’. I suspect there’s at least a grain of truth in that allegation, regardless of the fact it comes from a right-of-centre newspaper.

The Camino: A crisis in Santiago de Compostela. . . The dramatic surge in visitors has reached a critical tipping point, leading to a palpable sense of alienation among the locals. The statistics behind the crisis are staggering. The city’s transformation is truly horrific and, as I’ve said, I don’t intend to ever return it. Is the city now the Venice of Spain? Or are there places in the South just as bad, or even worse?

Train news:

• It’s nice that there’s talk of competition on the line between Madrid and Galicia but the reality is that competitors don’t have the rolling stock suitable for the odd mix of tracks around Ourense.
• It’s also nice that there’s been a resurrection of the 2005 plan for a spur line to Pv city from the Ourense-Santiago de C stretch, reducing travel time from 4 to 3 hours. But the first sod won’t be turned until ¨2030¨. So, maybe we’ll have the line by 2040. With a favourable wind. Meanwhile, an hour can be saved by driving up to Ourense, from which it’s only 2 hours to Madrid.

In Pv city’s ‘Golden Mile’, these two 2006 properties are still there but have been converted into completely different things:-

The city centre’s only petrol/gas station became a supermarket.

And a warehouse/car park became a Mango retail outlet,

Portugal

Oporto and Lisbon are suffering much the same plight as Santiago de Compostela, at least in the centre of each.

THE USA

Trumpisms.

• The Memphis mayor supports my plan to send troops to the city. [A blatant lie].
• My address to the UN got excellent reviews. [If so, then at least one person in the world is even crazier than him.]

Talking of craziness . . . Trump turns the Ryder Cup into a Republican convention, as golf loses its grip on reality. Quite an account.

Trump, the medical expert.

Spanish

• Último: Both the latest and the last.
• Hélice: Propeller
• Caminante: Walker. I might use this instead of Caminoer . . .
• Tapiado: Walled/bricked/boarded up.

Did you know?

Yunxian Man changes our view of human evolution in Asia by revealing a previously underappreciated diversity and complexity of hominin lineages in the region during the Middle Pleistocene. The fossils, dating back about 1 million years and featuring larger brain volumes than previously known Asian hominins like Peking Man, suggest that Asia was home to multiple, distinct branches of early humans, including a close relative to the Denisovans.

This discovery challenges the traditional narrative that Homo erectus was the sole or dominant species in ancient Asia. Instead, Yunxian Man shows evidence of advanced traits and brain development that point to a lineage more sophisticated and evolutionarily significant than previously thought, possibly sharing a sister relationship with modern humans and Denisovans. Therefore, Asia emerges as a key locale for understanding the origins and diversification of the human species, pushing back the timeline of important evolutionary events and hinting at complex interactions among hominin groups across the continent.

In summary, Yunxian Man reshapes the human evolutionary tree by highlighting the presence of diverse, advanced, and regionally adapted hominin populations in Asia, emphasizing Asia’s central role in human evolution beyond the classic African origins perspective.

Finally . . .

I’m still thinking of things that have increased in Pv city. Here’s the latest – and, hopefully, the last – bunch before I turn to things that have reduced;-

• WiFi masts
• Sportswear shops
• Trainers shops
• Barbers
• Delis
• Phone shops
• Car repair/service shops
• Phone repair shops
• Marijuana stuff shops
• Chinese supermarkets – The first one opened just today.
• Bridges
• Boats in the marina
• Speed humps on the roads
• Spices in the supermarkets and grocery stores, eg root ginger

Finally, Finally . . . .

A topical new Blues number.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

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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.