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

More – or perhaps the same – warnings about how the Tax Office is going to further hassle the self-employed from next year

As for the emergency lights we’ll all need to have as of January 1, the chap in charge of El Tráfico says that, for a while, the police will be be flexible and reasonable and ‘will inform instead of sanction’. Well, maybe. But I wouldn’t count on it. This has never remotely been my experience with even minor offence born of ignorance of the wide-ranging law on motoring offences.

Reader Perry sent me down a rabbit hole this morning via this video on the white elephant of the useless (ex)airport ´in’ Ciudad Real. How well I recall the crazy times of the early 2000s here in Spain. The city of Santiago de Compostela also has one of these failed vanity projects – the Cidade da Cultura. You can see it festering as you drive into the city or to the airport from the south. The BBC mentioned it here a while back.

I like the description of Spain’s semi-autonomous regions – Las Comunidades Autónomas – as the country’s sacred cows. They certainly seem to breed corruption. Not milk, but ‘coffee for all’.

Talking of which . . . Such is the endless procession of cases, one begins to wonder whether there exists a senior Spanish politician or company dealing with a national, regional or municipal administration which isn’t corrupt.

Being positive . . . Good to see Madrid’s Atocha station included in this list, and Valencia’s North station included in this one. Though I’m told the only thing visible right now in the latter is scaffolding.

The UK

Conventional wisdom has it that Brexit has caused a significant reduction in GDP growth. This columnist challenges that belief. I have no idea if he’s right or not but it’s an interesting take. If he’s right, the pound should rise, giving me a bigger pension in euros. So, I hope he is . . .

Ireland

A serial freeloader? Seems so.

The USA

How Trump’s MAGA allies are cultivating a European ‘resistance’.

It’s claimed by some political observers that Trump’s outrageous insults of female reporters is a deliberate strategy, designed to send the message to Republican politicians that he will dish out the same treatment to any of them who chose to show what he knows is their disdain for him. As he did to Marjorie Taylor-Greene, of course. In other words, a power play. I guess this could be true.

Russia v Ukraine

This writer see the measure being taken in respect of frozen Russian assets as madness.

The Way of the World

The endless importance of good manners in the office. Rude colleagues hurt themselves as much as those condemned to work with them.

The World Cup ticket prices . . .

1. FIFA has been accused of a ­“monumental betrayal” after it emerged that the cheapest tickets for tthe World Cup final will cost more than £3,000. Of course, that will be a total waste of money if you can’t get into the country because you’ve said something nasty about Trump on social media. Unless you’ve paid for professional ‘scrubbing’ of all your accounts. [If that industry doesn’t yet exist, it soon will.].
2. FIfa’s scandalous disregard for the common man is its greatest sin yet. By pitching ticket prices to astonishing heights, the autocracy is making the World Cup — and particularly the final — an event only for high earners.

Spanish

• Chocolate del loro: Literally, ‘The parrot’s chocolate’. Equivalent to ‘peanuts’, i.e. a trivial amount. Origin unknown but: It likely draws from colloquial imagery of something trivial or bird-related in Spanish-speaking cultures. Who’d have guessed?
• Cerco: Circle but can mean blockade.
• Quitar hierro de; To weaken

Did you know?

I’ve been reading of the extensive Jewish presence in Pv city before 1492. One of the surprising things learnt is that there was a pillory (picota) in the Jewish quarter – just behind today’s Parador – to which offenders against Jewish laws were shackled and then left to starve to death. Which seems a tad harsh. I wonder if it’s true.

Finally . . .

I had 5 things to do in town yesterday. Possibly for the first time in 25 years, I managed to achieve them all – a minor miracle.. They included dropping off a letter to the mayor, suggesting installation of a pole with a flashing blue light at the zebra crossing at the city end of O Burgo bridge. Of course, the hour being 11.30, there was no one at the Reception desk at the entrance to the relevant building, nor at the one of the mayoralty office floor. But I did eventually get someone to take the letter.

Finally . . . Finally . . .

For the first time in 25 years, I’m using a dehumidifier during the day and evening. The quantity of water collected is impressive. And I’m pretty convinced the outlay is improving the sensation of heat from my underfloor system. But, so far, I’ve yet to see the percentage humidity drop from its early-morning level of 80%+ to the recommended max of 50’%. The lowest to date is 52%, But it has been a very wet early winter. Perhaps things will change when the north wind blows and days are sunny but cold.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

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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.