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

A busted drug operation . . . “The largest heroin shipment in all of Spain in 2025 was heading for Pontevedra”, in a car coming Belgium from via France. I was surprised/shocked (a bit) to read that “Pontevedra is probably the largest storage facility for heroin in the country”.

A neighbout last night confessed she knew nothing about the need to have the new emergency light in her car by January 1. As she’s a senior executive in a local company this left me wondering how many other Spaniards are at risk of being fined after the promised first few days of leniency.

The Spanish celebrate Christmas and New Year differently to most other countries. The month-long ‘fiesta’ lasts from 8th December, The Immaculate Conception, through to 6th January, the Epiphany .What happens in between is different also.

The USA

A tour de force from Robert De Niro on Trump’s address to the people of Tuesday night. Assuming it’s not AI generated.

After he’d ben asked why – on one occasion – he’d changed 85% into 97%, Trump replied that it sounded better, adding that “Repetition is the mother of belief”. Hard not to be reminded that . . . In “Mein Kampf”, Hitler described the “big lie” as a lie so “colossal” that people would not believe someone could “have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously,” and therefore they would be inclined to accept it.​ He claimed that ordinary people tell only small lies and would be ashamed to invent a truly enormous one, which makes them more vulnerable to believing a huge, confidently asserted falsehood.​

‘Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women. The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency.

The truth behind Trump’s aggressive Venezuela strategy.

The Way of the World/Social Media

The dangerous new influencers who don’t even exist . . . As digitally created models flood social media feeds, experts call for platforms to label content to prevent a self-esteem and body image crisis for young users. Aitana Lopez posts like a lot of cool girls on Instagram: photos of her morning matcha, mirror selfies in the gym, her skincare routine, an Oasis concert, even her Black Friday Amazon haul. Yet, despite fans messaging to tell her they have seen her on the metro, the Spanish influencer doesn’t exist. She was created with AI and her accounts are run by a team in a Barcelona office. Lopez is one of the more successful examples of the increasing number of AI personas populating social media feeds. They range from the licensed “digital twins” of existing human models to completely fictional characters, sometimes created to sell adult-only content. Lopez’s brand assets bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenue.

Spanish

• Tirar de las orejas (a alguien): Lit. To pull someone’s ears . Figuratively: To give someone a telling‑off, a warning, or a serious talk because they’ve done something wrong or careless. To scold.
• Culeta: Cove.
• Relación: Relationship. A false friend here in Spain as, while in English ‘relationship’ covers a wide range, in Spain it’s usually taken to be sexual. As it happens, ‘Relationship’ figured on a form I completed yesterday in respect of the witness to my signature confirming to my pension company. This was my lovely neighbour and I advised her to just enter Friend. She very nicely asked: “Can I put ‘Very good friend'”? To which I replied that this would only cause speculation, for which – sadly – there was no foundation.

You Have to Laugh

What should we do: Sink it or steal it?

Finally . . .

There was an interesting little chat among friends this morning, after I’d reported that my umbrella had been stolen during our dinner the other night. The first comment was that this is normal in Galicia, and I was reminded that, after I’d complained about the first theft of my umbrella years ago, the response had been that I should just shrug and take one of the others in the bin. Another friend added: Umbrellas are considered public property here in Galicia; no one may own one for their exclusive use. And a third advised that Galicians who’d emigrated to Switzerland had been astonished that bikes were not secure and had proceeded to steal them, as they would with umbrellas back home. My last comment was to post this bit of doggerel that I learned many years ago:-

The rain it rains upon the just
And on the unjust fella.
But mainly on the just
because the unjust
steals the just’s umbrella.

So, not only in Spain . . .

Finally . . . Finally . . .

A lovely pop song from the time – aeons ago – when when female singers didn’t gyrate in their underwear. But did wear impressive wigs.

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.