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

Unexpected good news . . . Water and wind plunge electricity prices: The series of storms has left damage, flooding, and significant losses, but has also triggered a historic collapse in electricity prices. Intense winds and persistent rain have boosted both hydroelectric and wind power production to levels rarely seen in February. This situation brought forward the arrival of off-peak electricity rates, a phenomenon that was exceptional in the spring until two years ago. The energy stored in reservoirs exceeds 16,000 GWh, more than double the amount from a year ago. The price of electricity has plummeted this month to €11.88 per MWh, 90% lower than projected for 2025.

I was certain that other economists would take a different view of the Spanish economy from the (negative ) one I cited yesterday. Sure enough, Lenox Napier has kindly sent me this riposte to the author’s specific claim that Spain is poorer than Mississippi.

As for yesterday’s list of foreigners in Spain, I was surprised not to see Argentineans among the South Americans. A reader made this comment overnight: There are quite a few “real” Italians in Spain. But the vast majority are Argentinians, and other Latins who have Italian ancestry and acquired a passport before they crossed the pond. Perplexity confirmed this with: Italian citizens in Spain total around 260,000–325,000, but only about 143,000–160,000 were born in Italy. The rest largely emigrated from Latin America, doubling the community size over the past decade while Italy-born numbers grew more slowly.

Good news for you if you’re a non-EU citizen renting out property in Spain.

Births in Galicia have increased for the first time since 2008, although they remain at record lows. The Galician region ended 2015 with 13,567 babies, – 217 more than the previous year. All provinces showed an increase except Pontevedra.

As I’ve mentioned, Pv city is unique in not immolating a sardine at the start of Lent. Reading about the ceremony in next-door Marín, I was surprised to see that their sardine was very small, compared to our very large parrot. The other thing that occurred to me was that, given more than 45 days of rain, perhaps it would be more appropriate to drown these effigies this year, rather than setting them alight.

I lunched today in Vigo, on calçots –  a tender variety of onions from Catalonia, Spain, prized for their mild, sweet flavour. They’re grilled until charred outside and soft, then peeled to reveal the tender white core. Tradition has it that they’re serve on tiles with sauce. At a proper ‘calçotada’, you might well eat dozens of them.

The UK . .

Interestingly . . . There’s no publicly available photo of the full Board of Peace attendees that clearly shows Tony Blair present. Was he hiding at the back? In a closet?

Europe

Of European national leaders, only those of Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and Kosovo have joined Trump’s Board of Peace. Which probably tells you something.

Iran

All we need . . . Donald Trump says he’ll decide within 10 days if the USA will strike Iran. Needless to say, the oil markets have been ‘spooked’.

The USA

See my earlier Trumplandia post.

Big news . . . The Supreme Court has ruled most of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs illegal. He’s said to be furious and, naturally, has called it a disgrace. Never remotely been a good loser, of course.

Spanish

• Velo integral: Full -face veil. Burqa?
• Lujuria: Not luxury but lust, lechery or lewdness.
• Celofàn: Cellophane

English

Another of my mother’s saying, this one when she was surprised: Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs! I’ve no idea of its origin,

Did you know?

Simplifying things somewhat, In 200 BC, there were essentially 6 groups of people in Iberia (‘Hispania’):-

• The Romans, along the south and east costs – after their defeat of the Carthaginians*
• The Iberians north and west of the Romans
• The Celtiberians north of the Iberians
• The Celts in the north west of ‘Hispania’, and
• The Vascones in the north east. These were neither Iberians, Celtiberians nor Celts.​ They’re classified as a pre-Indo-European people, distinct from the Indo-European-speaking Celts and Celtiberians.

* Descendents of the Phoenicians, with their capital in North Africa. Think Hannibal and elephants.

You Have to Laugh

Finnish Nightmares . . .

Finally . . .

This is a video on a particular cricketer – a ‘spin bowler’ – which will leave Americans dumbfounded. And they probably won’t believe that cricket was a forerunner of baseball. Bear in mind that the 10 men around the batsmen are all in danger of being hit in the face by a smashed ball. They’re there to catch a spinning ball that’s hit the edge of a misplaced bat.

BTW . . LBW is ‘leg before wicket’ (the 3 stumps).

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.