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 national purge of illegal tourist flats.

Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas tells us here how Spain ha become an influencer.

The visa you need if you’re going to retire here.

Galicia is a place of myths and fairy stories (cuentos de hadas) but I confess I’d never previously taken note of a chap call Urco, who stars in the opening event of our Carnaval week on Friday. He’s described here as a monster whose nocturnal appearance, always accompanied by howls, was interpreted as a harbinger of bad luck.

In an article on 30 cities around the world being overrun by tourists, I wasn’t surprised to see Barcelona and Madrid but felt Santiago de Compostela, though much smaller than all the others, merited inclusion more than Madrid.

This was the weather forecast for today. . .

There was, in fact, no sun here in Pv city. But there was at least some rain. And a lot of wind. Going across one of our bridges at midday, I foolishly put my umbrella on its side, to protect myself from the horizontal rain, only to be almost blown over the railings into the river when it acted as a sail.

Nils is the name of the current storm. We await the arrival of Oriana and all her alphabetically-ordered mates.

The UK

The BBC’s new hit Small Prophets is a 6-episode series that premiered last night. Set in Manchester, the comedy centres on a bloke whose existence has remained frozen since his girlfriend vanished seven years ago.

Europe

The EU is clearly worried re the consequences of Spain’s unilateral action in respect of undocumented immigrants.

The USA

See my earlier Trumplandia post.

A provocative article?: How the USA weaponised Russophobia and energy geopolitics to gain control of Europe.

The Way of the World

The T-shirt Bad Bunny gifted to Zara employees is causing a frenzy on Vinted and Wallapop. Several items like the ones the Puerto Rican artist sent to the workers in Galicia are for sale on secondhand platforms. For up to 30,000 euros!

Spanish

• Consentido (niño): Spoilt (child)
• Manteca: Pig fat. (What’s in Spanish croissants, usually)
• Tocino: Ditto

You Have to Laugh

In case you didn’t read this on Trumplandia . . . The wonderful Randy Rainbow lampoons Trump and his MAGA sycophants and sectarians here. Jump to 2m26 for the song.

Finally . . .

The pronunciation of my name . . . What I haven’t said is that I don’t even bother to use Colin when dealing with Spaniards – even a restaurant reservation. I use my first real name, David, which is of course also a Spanish name.  And Persian and Arabic, as Daud. (U being both U and V in these languages)

Finally . . . Finally . . .

Mouse no. 11 this morning . . .

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 there.

If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you.