wake, 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 12 absolutely non-negotiable questions you MUST ask your Spanish agent when buying a property in Spain.

A week or 2 ago, Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas warned that this might not be the best time to go travelling in Spain – It’s cold for one thing, and, for another, Christmas here lasts for at least 2 months. The commercial spirit in Spain’s town halls, toys and souvenir shops, its bars and restaurants, its churches and its streets, means lights, plastic Santas and those ubiquitous  villancicos songs. 

Mark Stücklin writes here that Spain’s chronic housing shortage has no lack of usual suspects—planning delays, labour shortages, slow urban development. But the latest bottleneck comes from an unexpected place: the electricity grid. Mark’s bottom line . . . Spain needs more homes, but developers can’t build what they can’t connect. Without rapid upgrades and regulatory adjustments, the country risks adding “grid bottleneck” to its already long list of housing-market woes.

A few things I’ve learned about the Jewish quarter – the judería – in Pv city before 1492:-

• It was large, reflecting the importance of Jewish residents in what was a well-known commercial city in Europe.
• It stretched from where the Parador now is up to the highest part of the old city, where the basilica of Santa María now stands.
• The cemetery was not within the city walls, as used to be thought. Jewish laws forbade burials within these and it’s now suggested it was where the ruins of the San Domingo church now stand, just outside the old quarter and near one of the several gates into the city.
• The pillory for Jews was also outside the judería, on the steps which run up from the side of the Parador to where the basilica now us, past the synagogue and the school (madrassa).
• There used to be a sign near where the basilica now is saying Colón (Columbus) was born here. Very probably not the Colón . . .

The UK

Why Britain is said here to be a (unique?) modern model of what the Spanish call convivencia.

The USA

The empire of lies is once again spreading chaos in its own back yard.

This is an article critical of the national security strategy document . . . Trump’s empire of hubris and thuggery.

And this is one defending it . . . Why America’s new view of the world has its own logic. The Trump administration’s security strategy has been misrepresented, especially in Europe. It is only outrageous if you think the liberal international order was working.

The Way of the World/Social Media

Will other countries follow Australia’s social media ban for under-16s? As the actions of Australia and other governments show, states around the world are no longer willing to wait. In Spain, the prime minister has called on parliament to pass a bill raising the minimum age for using social media to 16. In the USA, social media restrictions are being brought in at state level.

Spanish

• Excarcelado: Let out of prison Or cut out of a crashed car.
• Barra: Bar. (Forward)slash
• Gaznate: Gullet, throat.

Galician words that Spanish speakers around here don’t realise are Gallego. And very possibly Portuguese.

English

South Korea’s ‘insane’ university entrance English test.

Did you know?

What drives the FIFA president . . . From the estimable Marina Hyde. Who knows how to write . .

You Have to Laugh

The actor Osgood Perkins was in a long-running play, in which he had to kill a character with a letter opener.. One day the props man forgot to put this on the table and there was no other instrument around. So, instead of throttling the murderee, as anybody in his right senses would have done, Perkins kicked him up the arse. The fellow fell down and feigned death, and Perkins raked the house with his eyes and said: ‘Fortunately the toe of my boot was poisoned.’

Finally . . .

A fascinating illusion.

Finally . . . Finally . . .

No sooner do I write that humidity in my salón has never reached the set minimum of 50 than it falls to 48 and switches off. Possibly one of those domestic appliances that hears everything you say. Or write.

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.