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

Think Spain gives us here a useful tax guide for expats(also called emigrants or immigrants) in Spain.

According to a local paper, Trends in international cocaine trafficking have changed. Large shipments are no longer sent via shipping containers. Ports remain entry points but for smaller shipments. Major drug cartels have adopted a variety of methods and all of these have been detected in recent months in the Rías Baixas:-

• Loading into narcosubs.
• Downloading at sea from merchant ships to speedboats
• Attaching trunks of cocaine to the hull of ships, then collected by underwater jet skis.
• Mixing cocaine with various products. eg cat litter.
• Using heavy machinery to conceal cocaine, owing to its ease in evading scanners.

Ahead of the Carnival events of the next week or 2, this killjoy warning has been issued by the Civil Guard, Spain’s paramilitary police force:“ Impersonating a member of the authorities or any other public official can have criminal consequences. Anyone doing so will be punished by a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years.” This applies to officers of both the Civil Guard and the National Police, traffic or security agents, doctors, nurses, and firefighters. Officers of the Local Police can still be lampooned, it seems. But probably not. I see we can still dress up as priests and nuns. And even the Pope.

The headline reads: Low-cost supermarkets have grabbed a record market share as shoppers hunt for cheap groceries and bargain deals. The text then cites Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi and talks of supermarket chains that primarily stock their own brand goods. Mercadona is my preferred option and it deserves its 27% of the market. But it’s not remotely low-cost, except maybe for its own-brand products sold under the Hacendado label. [I wondered if this meant something like ‘Make-do’. But it seems that, as one word, it means ‘Estate owner’ (think hacienda). And, as 2 words, possibly ‘They give/have given’]

The UK

The UK’s wettest place this winter – Cardinham, in Cornwall – has experienced its dampest year on record. It’s poured down for 41 consecutive days and folk there say they’re getting ‘a little fed-up’ with the bad weather. Keep Dry and Carry On . . .

The USA

See my earlier Trumplandia post.

Russia

Russia had already banned Facebook, Instagram and X and now Putin is accused of ‘total censorship’ after blocking WhatsApp. Internet activists have urged Apple, Google and other big tech companies to fight back after Russians were pushed to use Max – a state-backed app – instead. Since last year, it’s been mandatory for Max to be pre-installed on new devices sold in the country. All this, of course, is seen as as a means of spying on the nation, with lessons on this having been learnt from China and Iran. The Kremlin’s next step might be to introduce criminal prosecution for using VPNs.

The Way of the World

Feminists look away. Domesticity has become a luxury. Stagnant wages and high housing and childcare costs mean that millennial couples have to work harder than their one-income parents — but they have less money – ie disposable income, I guess.

Spanish

• Jugar una mala pasada: To play tricks on you. To end badly?
• Chorro: Jet, stream, spray, blast, squirt, flow, dash, gush, flush. [of liquid of course]
• Corriente en chorro: Jet stream

Did you know?

If actual soap removes grime, Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith specialized in redistributing it — particularly into the civic bloodstream of boomtown America. His name suggests freshness. His career suggests the opposite.

You Have to Laugh

I suppose this could have been worse . . .

Finally . . .

My Honda car doesn’t have a spare wheel, or even a spare tyre. What you’re supposed to do is squirt foam into a punctured tyre and then wait for it to fill the hole and harden. After at least 3 experiences, I’m here to tell you this doesn’t work. And driving on a still-flat tyre to an even nearby tyre shop ruins it. Very annoying when it’s only month old. For what it’s worth, this is what Perplexity tells me . . . Foam can effectively seal small punctures as a temporary fix. But reports found that, while foams worked well on 2.4mm holes, they failed larger ones. They also struggle with sidewalls and can complicate professional repairs by gumming up tyres. For lasting fixes, experts recommend plug-patch combos. And pre-emptive liquid sealants (poured in advance) outperform foams. Which I’m now researching.

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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 . . .

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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 there.

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