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

Lenox Napier addresses the property crisis here: Are there enough homes for us all?

Not everyone in Spain will be happy with the news that tensions in the Middle East could attract even more tourists to Spain

Oh, dear . . . Spain’s immigration system is heading for chaos after workers called an indefinite strike just days before a mass migrant regularisation scheme begins.

Jaen – one of the few cities I’ve yet to visit.

Galicia’s health service records an aggression against employees every 3 days. I’ve heard that Roma folk can get aggressive but I’ve never seen it. Nor do I know if this is happens in other regions. Andalucía in particular.

I get articles from the Diario de Pontevedra in my feed every day. Today, halfway through 87 of these, the headlines were suddenly automatically translated into English in the feed. One spoke of ‘cattle’ being stolen in the hills, despite the Spanish original referring to horses (caballos) and not, say, beasts (reses). Another gave us the adjective ‘tremendistic’. See below. Not confidence-inspiring.

Europe

The EES deadline has caused chaos across Europe for beleaguered travellers. How are Spain’s airports faring? My cousin arrived in Oporto Tuesday night, when the machine didn’t recognise the data he’d fed into the one in Dublin . . . ‘This happens’, said the official, as he waved him through.

Says my old friend in Hamburg: The Saxon dialect is the worst in Germany and an obstacle to a professional career. With it, you can’t have a career in high society or in media-related professions. You’d just be smiled at pityingly and nobody would take you seriously. The internationally renowned ex-footballer Michael Ballack, a Saxon, is a football commentator. He tries to avoid using the Saxon dialect but only manages it 85-90% of the time. It can be quite painful to listen to him.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump USA

Jesus just posted a foto of himself sleeping with Trump. My mistake. It was actually posted by a man who thinks he’s a member of the Trinity . . .

As you’d expect, Trump is turning America’s 250th into a tribute to himself. Megalomania on stilts.

Another madman who wants to be president.

And another nutjob . . . The no. 3 in FEMA claims he’s been transported more than once and that he talked to a Devil on a long walk. I’m guessing he didn’t mean Trump.

Not a huge surprise . . . US Americans stand out for their pessimism about their political system.

Relevant podcasts/YouTube videos

• The Daily Beast Podcast/Video
• Inside Trump’s Head Podcast/Video
• The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent Podcast
• The Rest is Politics US Podcast/Video
• The DSR Network Podcast
• The Politics Girl Video . Amusing
• The Daily Show Video. Very amusing

The Way of the World

A couple of well-known statements from the past that help to explain the Trump era:-

• All power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely: Lord Acton.
• Power is the great aphrodisiac: Henry Kissinger

Spanish

• Tremendista: Helpfully . . . A follower of tremendismo. A literary and artistic movement that developed in Spain in the 1940s, characterized by exaggerating the harshest aspects of life.
• Tremedendistico: Not in the RAE dictionary but seems to mean: Having a tendency to exaggerate the most terrible or alarming aspects of things. Possibly ‘sensationalist’. In bullfighting it is: A style based more on the spectacular nature of the risk than on adherence to classical rules

You Have to Laugh

Another uncomfortable Finn . . .

Finally . . ..

Yesterday’s readership was a WordPress record but, as ever, I can only guess at why.

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 until April 30 on Facebook. And on X at Thoughts from Galicia.

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.