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 depressing – but not entirely surprising – to read that far-right activists of various hues are increasingly visible in Spain.

A cheesy success in Spain.

One down, quite a lot to go. . . A major cocaine supplier to Galician narcos, has been extradited to Spain. His chain of sushi restaurants, through which he laundered cocaine proceeds, has been seized. More, in Spanish, here.

A nice place in Andalucía in which to potter around.

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that, in nearby Moaña, the wife of the leader of the Opposition – who used to be the Galician president – has illegally walled off her garden on a beach there. The courts have ruled against her but she’s taking the case to the Supreme Court, it seems – with a request to let her keep the public land private for a while. BTW: I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the house is illegally close to the sea. Happens a lot around here.

Talking about constructions in Galicia . . . I read this in the Diario de Pv this morning: In Galicia, there are everyday terms that can completely disconcert those unfamiliar with the local language. Words which – spoken in conversation or pointed out on a municipal sign – elicit puzzled looks from those arriving from outside. And one of them has become a classic of Pontevedra’s urban vocabulary. It’s heard on the street, mentioned at neighbourhood meetings, and even appears in the council’s plenary sessions, but few outside of Galicia would know exactly what it refers to. The word in question is “lombos,” and although it sounds rustic or even culinary to a non-Galician, its meaning has more to do with road safety than gastronomy. To explain:-

• Galician: Lombo = Loin
• Spanish: Lomo = Loin
• English: Sleeping policemen, speed hump/bump. Which is badén in both Spanish and Galician. I think.

Actually the road sign words which most confuse other Spaniards are Rúa Pechada. Neither is shared by Spanish and they mean Road Closed. You’d have thought the local authority would have wanted visitors to know this but our mayor is a Galician Nationalist. And then there’s the revenue from fines, perhaps.

Here’s something on a Poio attraction that I only found out about this year – a sequoia wood commemorating the achievement of our most illustrious son.

ALICE IN MAGAWORLD

I guess Trump wouldn’t be Trump if he didn’t really believe he was in line for the Nobel/Noble Peace Prize. Despite the nominations having closed last January.

As previously noted here a couple of times . . . Stephen Miller is the most dangerous man in the Trump administration . . . As Trump grows increasingly incoherent and and emotionally labile, Miller grows more and more influential. He is the president’s brain, his discipline. Whereas Trump has no guiding principles, Miller is a resolute ideologue of white, western supremacy and a tactician of final solutions. Trump is easily lampooned, but Miller is the grimmest of reapers. . . In Stephen Miller, we see that Maga will not simply end with Trump.

Quotes of the Day

• Trump’s too good for the Nobel Peace Prize: Vladimir Putin, voicing what we’ve all concluded . . .
• Beware Netanyahu: he is a master of self-interest – and that’s why he signed the Hamas ceasefire deal.

Russia

Putin’s private life – a (prurient?) new book.

Spanish

• Motocultor: Rototiller, cultivator
• Despliegue: Deployment, roll-out

English

English, the global pre-eminent language and that most beautiful of tongues, faces a tough battle. Ever since the mobile phone was invented, English has had to fend off the march of emojis and abbreviated slang seeking to obliterate it. As attention spans lessen in the wake of technology and phones draw our eyes rather than books, we must fight harder than ever to defend our language. French and Italian may have romance, but there is more poetry and rhythm in English

Finally . . .

I’m back in the Portuguese city of Braga this weekend, for frango tonight and leitāo tomorrow. Oh, and the cathedral, of course. Yet again. Somehow the group has grown to 11, which hasn’t made booking a restaurant easy – especially on a national holiday.

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.