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

The PM is facing demands that he resigns because of corruption in his government. Then again, which Spanish PM wasn’t.

So, not only in the UK . . . Non-European residents in Spain are gravitating towards some of the country’s poorest districts, leading to concerns that the trend could lead to modern-day ghettos in major cities. Immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia overwhelmingly settle in peripheral neighbourhoods, where housing is more affordable, while European migrants are distributed more evenly across both high- and low-income areas. While overall segregation levels in Spain remain moderate by European standards, analysts warn that the pattern is strengthening and becoming more geographically defined.

All British residents here should, by now, have a TIE card. The Olive News tells us here that we shouldn’t use the new EES gates but, instead, go to a manned desk and show both passport and TIE. Doing the former could involve you in a great deal of hassle.

Folk who aren’t resident in Spain but have property here have at least one tax deadline coming up. If you own a home here – whether it’s used privately or occasionally rented – two filings might be relevant:-

• 1. The 2024 Imputed Income Tax – Deadline: 31 December 2025. If your property was used privately or left empty in 2024, you must submit the annual imputed income tax return based on the cadastral value. This is mandatory, even if no income was earned.
• 2. If your property was rented at any point in 2025, you must declare the income in early January.

Some good news from Galicia . . . The Franco family has finally returned the 2 statues from the Portico of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela that they say were ‘voluntarily gifted’ to their predecessor. As if.

The property portal Idealist says that Murcia is currently the fastest-rising housing market in the entire country. Possibly making up for lost time.

A new Caminoers’ albergue has opened in Pv city, bringing the total to 12 or 13. Against just the one 20 years ago. Hardly surprising, given today’s numbers and the profit opportunities provided by richer ‘pilgrims’.

The mad, bad world of MAGA

The personnel decisions of the Trump national security regime provide a key to better understanding the actions and decision-making of the administration. . . . The stupid doesn’t just happen; it’s made to happen.

Spanish

• Pluma: Feather. Badminton
• Tela: Fabric, cloth, material, etc.
• El examen era tela: The exam was really tricky.
• Tener (mucha) tela: To be (very) tricky.
• Hay tela (para rato): There’s no shortage of things to do (trabajo).
• ¡Tela marinera!: That’s too much!

Did you know?

How butter sparked the Protestant Reformation . . .

You Have to Laugh

Happens to me all the time . . . But on this occasion it was a Spanish guy being mistaken for Richard Geere . .

Finally . . .

Not a great day travelling south from Valencia. Google Maps again proved useless in 2 towns and the tyre I had repaired first thing this morning doesn’t seems to have been. Or has a second puncture. Hey, ho. Tomorrow is another day. And another Spanish city. Perhaps the first one I ever came to – Alicante. Actually, that trip was so disastrous, I’m surprised I ever came back. And not just to visit!

But this was a compensation . . . Some fotos of a beautiful little Palacio in the small Valencian town of Anna. . .

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 and on X.

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.