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

How expensive are Spanish properties, relatively speaking?

Perhaps because – unlike, say, one of my daughters – I’m not willing to pay 200 euros for a menú de degustación (tasting menu) – I wasn’t really aware that Spain now ranks as a ‘culinary superpower’. So, this article on the country’s achievement of becoming ‘the “foodiest” country in Europe’ came as a bit of a surprise to me. The article claims that: In Spain, the local culture goes hand-in-hand with food. True enough and possibly nowhere more so than here in Galicia, where most conversations I overhear seem to be about food. Albeit the basic stuff, not a bubble that looks and tastes like an olive.

I’m thinking of replacing my 12 year old Honda Civic, so this article – Why is the Second-Hand Car Market in Spain So Expensive? – was of particular interest. It reminded me that things are so different in Germany that, a few years ago, a friend in Hamburg suggested he buy a second-hand Mercedes or Audi there and drive it to Pv city for me. Maybe I should talk to him again about this. BTW 1: The article says that new cars are expensive in Spain. True, but even more so in (poorer) Portugal, where everything related to car travel seems to cost more than here. Except, perhaps, the per kilometre toll charge between Pv city and Vigo.

BTW 2: Factor 2 effectively means there’s no ‘common market’ for cars in the EU – one of the biggest expenditures you’re likely to make. You’re screwed by a state which likes to tax (and bureaucratise) every transaction you’re legally obliged to tell it about.

This was a couple of 2-storey houses in the main road out of Pv city back in 2006. . .

And this is what has happened to them.

Nice to see the (improved) façade of one of them has been incorporated in the 8 floor flat block. Compulsorily I suspect.

I was going to write about these sheep grazing on an empty plot between me and the city but, luckily, I have a pair of bins and they turned out to be large rocks . . .

Perhaps I’d been influenced by all the recent media fotos of the transhumancia – e.g. in Madrid a week or two ago. . . .

The UK

Sometimes you read something that knocks your faith in democracy. TV viewers in the UK have voted Mrs Brown’s Boys the best British sitcom ever, beating The Office to the top spot. If you’ve never watched an episode, count yourself lucky for possibly having a decent sense of humour.

The irrefutable proof that the country has gone to the dogs . . . Fish and chips was Britain’s national dish. Now it’s an unaffordable luxury.

ALICE IN MAGAWORLD

Trumpisms.

• You know the old story: If they don’t give you credit, just take it yourself. [Regardless of its veracity in his case]
• Communism doesn’t work. Thousands of years of experience have proven that.

Trump has commuted the sentence of the disgraced congressman George Santos. Well, why not? He is/was a Republican and that’s all that counts, it seems. Ghislaine next.

I saw fotos of chalked messages on the pavement outside Stephen Miller’s home and thought one of them called him Stephen Mitler. In fact, it didn’t but possibly should have done.

Something for Trump to emulate?

Meanwhile, here’s the inspiration for his triumphal arch plan . . .

I’ve seen this foto labelled as Hitler showing some young Republicans Speer’s proposed arch for Berlin.

Quote of the Day

Donald Trump claims to be the president of peace, but what undermines his Nobel-ready look is not only the absurd braggadocio, or even the confusion of the style and optics of peace-making for the substance and hard graft it requires. It is the fact that he is fomenting war at home between his own citizens.

Russia

Wouldn’t we all like this to be true . . .The myth of Putin’s strength is crumbling. The end may be closer than he thinks

The Way of the World

A prophetic 1933 novel has found a surprising second life – it holds lessons for us all. Sally Carson’s ‘Crooked Cross’ was written and set during the rise of Nazism. It shows both how extremism takes hold, and the moral certainty needed to resist it.

Spanish

• Hebilla: Buckle
• Bucle: Loop, loopback
• Gyosa: Confusing South American pronunciation for Gyoza.
• El bullying:

Did you know?

Talking of Spanish cuisine . . . How to make a traditional Spanish dish I particularly like – Beef cheeks in red wine. No flame-thrower needed.

You Have to Laugh

The worst dinner party in history?

Finally . . .

A classic from the 60s, when pop songs didn’t sound like they do now. They don’t make videos like this one any more – rather static and devoid of gyrating, barely-dressed, young women. Progress?

Finally . . . Finally . . .

My bougainvillea – as usual – is growing and dying at the same time. But I can’t recall it ever looking as healthy as this in mid October . . .

But the good weather ends tonight and rain is forecast for the next week. Which will bedraggle the poor Caminoers still pouring through Pv city.

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.