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

It’s not impressive that Spain’s leading lawyer – the Attorney General – stands accused of a crime. But I guess it is impressive that senior politicians are caught and brought to court. Quite frequently, in fact.

Another flashback – of 11 February 2002: The Spanish have a cavalier disregard for laws which they regard as personally inconvenient. This gives them huge scope, of course. It includes such serious things as blatantly ignoring the building regulations – I was in a village earlier this week where I was told that all the houses were illegal – and such regulars as paying no attention to parking regulations. Well, I was playing around with a computer programme I have which advises you of the best routes between places in Spain. This is supplied by a major petrol company, by the way. I discovered that there is a facility for setting your average speed for the various types of roads. More interesting was the finding that the pre-set [or default] speed set by the company for the motorways was 150 kph, which is 30 kph above the legal limit! I imagine that, if a company did this in the UK, they would face at least a good deal of adverse press comment and quite probably a legal suit for negligence. None of my Spanish friends seemed to think there was anything untoward about it. I rather got the impression they thought it was sensibly pragmatic. Accurate, even.

Talking of the past . . . I was across the river from Pv city today, to see the city’s football team play in their stadium in Lérez, This barrio is actually in the municipality of Poio and is rather less developed than Pv city. So it was that I was able to snap these 4 traditional houses on the old main road up to Santiago – reminders of how every road was once lined in Spain. Or in Galicia, at least:-

They will all be flat blocks within 20 years.

ALICE IN MAGAWORLD

At least one journalist in the USA is brave enough to tell the truth about Trump, The Disastet in Chief.

• Trump was ‘on the verge of outright insanity in his deranged speech to the military.
• How many flashes of insanity from a president should we tolerate?
• We are clearly seeing madness pouring from the darkness of Donald Trump’s mind.

A good question arising: How is O’Donnell able to keep exposing Trump?

Quote of the Day

We make no bones about the fact that the media belongs to us and to no one else. And we will place the media in the service of our ideology, and no other ideology will find expression here: Joseph Goebbels, ahead of his time in impersonating Stephen Miller.

Spanish

• Permanencia: One meaning is the minimum hire period for, say, a car.
• La carne del burro no es transparente: A donkey’s meat is not transparent. Equivalent, I’m told, to the English: ‘You make a better door than a window’, said frequently by my mother to anyone standing between her and the TV.
• Spanish pronunciation of the letter V – as a B – can make understanding difficult. Yesterday, a friend told me about his favourite place, called Barbilla, or chin/beard. I eventually found it, masquerading under the name Bar Villa. This also happened to me years ago in Vigo – ‘Bigo’ by the way – when looking for a restaurant called Bangkok, only to discover – after some fruitless wandering – was actually Van Goch. Or vice versa.

Did you know?

Disney cartoons were immensely popular in Nazi Germany but the company’s contract with the state ended in 1937 and by 1939 no cartoons were being shown in Germany. Only one person in the entire country was lucky enough to be able to enjoy any – Adolf Hitler, who’d been given 18 Mickey Mouse films by Joseph Goebbels as a Christmas present in 1937.

Finally . . . Readers’ Corner . . .

• Noémi writes here on Barcelona’s bizarre Sagrada Família.
• And María writes here on her ´liberated life’.

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

The Usual Links . . .

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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.