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 PM has gained from being anti-Trump. And his PSOE party is still well ahead of the PP main opposition party. Though again might not get an absolute majority in the next general election. Because of the rise of VOX, the far-right party.

A reader has pointed out that another way Spain ‘trumps’ the USA is in the number of road deaths. When I came here in 2000, these were many times more than the UK’s but the total has been drastically reduced – – One way and another, including the police applying the laws. As the reader said, the USA number is far higher than that of the UK and Spain, with the latter now being not much higher than the former. In the case of Pv city, nil for the last 10 years. Despite several near misses on zebra crossings in my case . . . Putting it very bluntly: in 2000, the USA and Spain looked similarly bad per capita, with the UK better but still high; by 2020, both the UK and Spain are firmly in the low‑fatality group, whereas the USA remains in a significantly more dangerous tier in terms of road deaths per head and per kilometre driven. Another reason not to risk going there, I guess.

The endless wind and rain of the past 6 weeks have been particularly cruel to those who make a living from harvesting shellfish in our estuaries.

Today was as sunny and as warm as predicted. Perfect for the funeral march and immolation of Ravachol tonight. (When the safety precautions around a huge blaze in the main square will be far greater than the first time I attended this event in 2001. When they were close to nil, as I recall).

The UK

A treat for you . . . . . . The ‘ancient heart of Liverpool. Twice, in fact – here and here. One in an AI voice (I think) and one in a (‘posh’) Scouse accent.

BTW . . . Mr Andrew M-W is not the first British [ex]royal to be arrested, as some US reports have it.. One was tried and executed back in the 17th century. Just before the Civil War.

Europe

Continuing structural problems in the economy.

The USA

See my earlier Trumplandia post.

The Way of the World

‘Scraper bots’ are endangering the very existence of the net. Whoever thought this would come to pass?

Therians are individuals who identify as  non-human animals on a spiritual or  psycho-logical level, often feeling a deep connection to a specific animal species. They experience a profound identity connexion with a non-human animal. This identity can manifest it in various ways, including emotional, spiritual, or psychological connexions to the animals traits and behaviours. Thespians may experience a profound identity connexion with a non human animal. There was a meeting of these tonight in Pv city this evening. I wonder how many crawled into the main square for it.

Spanish

• Quedada: Meet up.
• Cordones: Shoelaces:
• Lindo, bonito, mono: Cute. (Mono also means monkey)

Did you know?

Why landlocked Bolivia has a navy.

You Have to Laugh

Sydney Smith, 1856: Lord Dudley was one of the most absent men I ever knew. One day he met me in the street, and invited me to meet myself. ‘Dine with me to-day and I will get Sydney Smith to meet you.’ I admitted the temptation he held out to me, but said I was engaged to meet him elsewhere.

Finally . . .

In the last 2 weeks I’ve had 4 women – possibly all the same man – trying to get romantically entangled with me on FB, so that they can defraud me. I enjoy stringing them along before they catch on and disappear. Strangely, they’re all aged 38 and don’t seem to know even the details of me that are on FB, whence they arrived.

Finally . . . Finally . . .

During a backgammon game with a friend today, he threw a 6-3 dice combination more than 10 times. Possibly 15. I’m now trying to find out what the chances of this are. And if my dice are ‘loaded’ or biased in some way.

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.