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

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for this salutary article on why 73% of US immigrants to Spain go back home within 2 years. For one thing, it says, there’s a fundamentally different approach to time and process here in Spain.

Looking back, I guess I was (very) lucky to have the help of friends of my ex-wife here in Pv city. Plus I’d already lived in 3 countries with very different cultures from my own. And the only asociación in the phone directory was The English Speaking Society of Pontevedra, which gave me immediate access to more than 30 English-speaking Spaniards. It was undoubtedly a lifeline and I still dine with several members every week. On point, they admitted last week that Spaniards (very) rarely invite folk into their homes, especially foreigners. Particularly males. But there, too, I was lucky. Two families among the friends of my ex-wife were very good to me in this regard. And both families were English-speakers. And had good contacts with banks, gestores, asesores and insurance companies. I like to think that, absent these factors, I would have survived but who knows? Maybe the fact that I’d, perforce, learned the importance of ‘lowering one’s expectations’ would have seen me through. Then again, I’ve a low level of tolerance for frustration. So, perhaps I’m fooling myself. Becoming fluent in Spanish when not in daily contact with Spaniards via work certainly took a lot longer than I’d expected. Considering all these factors, I’ve concluded that 73% is possibly a lower number than one would expect for North Americans. In fact, I see it’s 88% for retirees over 60.

On this theme, the best practical advice I’d give to potential immigrés is: As part of your preparation, make a list of everything positive where you live now and decide how many of these you take for granted and will really miss when you move to Spain. Then check thoroughly whether they exist here or not. And decide on the net benefit/disbenefit of a move. Oh, and start learning Spanish well before you come.

I love Spain and the Spaniards but regular readers of my blog will know that, as in every country, there are irritations. I’d got/gotten very used to many of these in the 3 other countries I’d lived in but not all of them. I have never come to terms with people walking across right in front of me as if I didn’t exist. Or leaving the newspapers in a crumpled heap in the café. Or stealing my umbrella when they came out without theirs. [The rain it raineth on the just,/and on the unjust fella/But mainly on the just because/the unjust steals the just’s umbrella.] In truth, the latter never happens now, since I’m no longer naive enough to leave my umbrella in the bin by the door.

Notice that I didn’t mention el modelo español of negotiating roundabouts . . . That just makes me smile . or tut – now. Honest . . .

The Pv city council is very good at arranging sports events. These are all held in and near to the old quarter and involve a lot of road and street closures. But our car-hating mayor doesn’t really care about that. Anyway, there was a half-marathon yesterday and that brings me to this roundabout . . .

This used to be a normal feature but various one-way road changes turned it into something you could enter in 4 ways but exit in only one, down to the riverside ‘by-pass’. To enforce this, the council blocked off the other previous exits with stainless steel posts, which some excessively optimistic motorists then tried to drive between.

It was particularly relevant yesterday as – because of the race – the normal single exit was blocked off and you could only exit on a road parallel to the one you’d arrived on – taking you back to where you’d come from. Which must have confused and irritated drivers even more than usual.

There was a surprising number of army folk in Pv city on Saturday night – both male and female – and all impeccably turned out in their uniforms. When I saw some of the ladies collecting clothes from a laundrette on Sunday afternoon, I guessed they’d come from the base in the hills to run in the half-marathon. Correctly, as today’s papers proved.

A travel writer claims that Renfe is the most popular train operator in Spain. I regard this as unlikely, especially where – as in Galicia – it retains its monopoly. Plus I’m not the only person by far to be infuriated by their web page. The writer praised them for not demanding a booking fee on the final page of a longish process. OK but far worse is the regular advice at that final stage that they can’t process a ticket right now, so try again later. Or that all the trains are full.

A shop in Pv city can’t be accused of disguising its threat to your kids; it’s a sweets/candies place called Sugar Rush.

ALICE IN MAGAWORLD

The man outdoes himself, posting a video of ‘KING TRUMP’ piloting a jet dropping faeces on protesters . . . A true class act. Completely off his head.

The Way of the World

Listening to podcasts about Reality TV – here and here – I realised I’d never seen any episode of The American Family or The Real World. Nor any of their anodyne predecessors – Father Knows Best, The Brady Bunch, The Waltons or The Little House on the Prairie. Nor of any British reality TV show in the decades since these. Does this make me even more unique than I thought I was? Or more elitist?? Whatever, some quotes arising:-

• Reality TV creates a world where reality isn’t reality and celebrity isn’t celebrity.
• The Apprentice turned Trump into the ‘successful businessman’ he most certainly wasn’t.
• And – over 14 years – it gave him his instincts for the populist, media-dominated politics that brought him to power.
• Ironically, MAGA folk like Trump for something he really isn’t at all – ‘authentic’.
• AI promises/threatens new forms of personalised reality TV shows.

Is it too much to fear that one day an AI generated ‘person’ will be elected president of the USA?

Russia v. Ukraine

Spanish

• Recibo: Sometimes receipt, sometimes bill. These days, as in English, it might also mean ´proof’. María?
• Radial: Among other things, angle-grinder. Used by the Paris thieves.
• Cortejar: To court, woo.
• Arengar: To harangue
• Arroaza: Bottle-nosed dolphin

Did you know?

How swear words differ around the world.

Finally . . .

Noémi gives us here a recipe for ‘easy’ pear pie.

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 . . .

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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.