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

Lenox Napier tells us here that Sánchez came away untouched by his ordeal in the corruption committee I wrote about yesterday.

Property expert Mark Stücklin reports that: Spain’s housing costs are not outrageously high by global standards — but salaries are too low to make them feel affordable. The result is a growing “cost-of-living squeeze” that disproportionately affects young professionals and renters.

The estimable Giles Tremlett has written the latest book on Franco, entitled El Generalmisimo – Franco, Power, Violence and the Quest for Greatness. The reviewer in The London Times takes from it that Franco was a mediocrity in everything but cruelty. Albeit a progressively rich one. Rather like Trump, I guess.

A cute All Souls celebration’ . . .

In Rúa Real, the main Camino route out of town, across O Burgo bridge and on to Santiago de Compostela. But later splitting into 4.

Which reminds me . . . . I like to ask folk how many (‘authentic’ but coincidentally money-making) Caminos they think there are. The answers vary from 2 to 5 but, in reality, there are more than 40. And today I learned of a new one: This starts is called El Camino Blanco or El Camino Antártica. It was officially established in 2015 and, unsurprisingly, is the longest of all the Caminos. Spanning more than 14,000 km, it begins at the Spanish base of Gabriel de Castilla in Antarctica. Those who complete it are called “penguin pilgrims.” I imagine they find it hard to get accommodation in albergues. Also unsurprising to read that: This route is a unique and exciting challenge.

The mad, bad world of MAGA

Everything that Trump touches dies. [A reference to the massive fall in ticket sales to Kennedy Center performances]

Democrats should be taking the fight to Trump – the problem is, he’s got them battling each other.

Q: What would you do if democracy was being dismantled before your eyes?

A: Whatever you’re doing right now.

Spanish

• Lumbrera: Light, skylight.
• No dar palo al agua: To do nothing, not to lift a finger [Lit. not to put a stick/oar/paddle in the water]
• Manguito: Cuff, sleeve, [short]hose.
• Blandito: Soft, fluffy, squishy.

You Have to Laugh

Visiting Lord Byron in 1821, Percy Shelley wrote to his friend Thomas Love Peacock: “Lord Byron’s establishment consists, besides servants, of ten horses, eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, and a falcon; and all these, except the horses, walk about the house, which every now and then resounds with their unarbitrated quarrels as if they were the masters of it.” He added in a postscript: “I have just met on the grand staircase five peacocks, two guinea-hens, and an Egyptian crane. I wonder who all these animals were, before they were changed into these shapes.”

Finally . . .

As it’s the start of the month . . .  Some readers, I hope, will know that the verse I cite at the top of my posts is the opening quatrain of Fitzgerald’s wonderful – but very ‘free’ – translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which you can read about here. Some verses are well known, of course, eg:-

The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

My favourite:-

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
doctor and saint, and heard great argument
about it and about: but evermore
came out by the same door as in I went.

If you enjoyed any or all of that, here’s an article on the Persian poetic tradition.

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.