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

Hmm. Spain has taken the unfortunate crown of the ‘sudden death’ capital of Europe. Spain saw an average annual rise in sudden deaths of 3.3% between 2010 and 2020 – the largest growth across Europe.

Other bad news . . . Driving a car in Spain is now rather more expensive than they used to be.

It’s reported that Galicia’s libraries – and probably those of everywhere else – will be packed to the rafters this month, as students prepare for the PAU, also known as the Selectividad. Up to 2am, I believe. This is the exam taken – after the Bachillerato – to qualify for admission to public universities. It’s not compulsory, but you need it if you want to study at a public university. See below for how the system works.

An exhibition worth visiting in Barcelona. I look forward to reading Noémi’s evaluation of it.

When I came here 26 years ago, the was a lot of talk about many young mileuristas there were – people earning only 1,000 euros a month. A lot of inflation later, there still is a lot of talk on the same theme. In the bar/restaurant sector, I understand that the going wage for a job with long hours in Pv city is around 1,200 a month on average. It might well be more in larger cities though. And the tips from guiris might be better there. A reader has suggested that, given the current apparent excess of demand over supply, wages will inevitably rise. But my friend David in La Coruña knows more about this sector than I do and has made these comments.-

• When payments are made in black and unreported and untaxed, this hits the unemployment pay and future pensions of the employees.
• Because it’s a horrible industry in which to work, you rarely see Spaniards working in it.
• Supply hasn’t been a problem for years, because of the flow of South Americans willing to work in it.
• So long as this continues, wage increases will be slow to arrive.
• Because of bad work conditions, there’s a lot of churn in bars and restaurants.
• In Spain, the hardest challenge is moving up the ladder. It’s difficult enough for young Spaniards to get mortgages, loans, go self-employed or start a business but it’s even harder for immigrants.

María has some ideas about where her taxes really should go.

The bloody Caminoers, in Spanish . . .

Europe

Desperate times . . . This writer claims that governments across Europe are entering the terminal phase of a sovereign debt crisis. The evidence for this is said to the the The European Commission publishing a 2-volume examining “net wealth taxes,” “capital taxes”” and “exit taxes”. This openly discusses how to tax wealth, how to monitor ownership, how to close compliance gaps, and how to prevent capital from escaping.

Spain is not the only country experiencing tourism excesses.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Peak chaos.

The United States of Trump America

The latest Last Word from Laurence O’Donnell

And a new anagram for Trump – NACHO. Not A Chance the Hormuz Opens.

The truth of Trump’s wild sleepless nights. Podcast Video

See below under The Usual Links for commentators I follow via podcasts or YouTube videos

Spanish

• Camarera de piso: Housekeeper (in hotels) [Though perhaps not in a piso de relax]
• En juicio: On trial. Under scrutiny
• Machacar sobre lo machacado: To add insult to injury. [Lit. To crush someone already crushed.]

Did you know about . . .

The role of bees in the battle of Tanga in 1914?

You Have to Laug

Another uncomfortable Finn . . .

Finally . . .

I stopped publishing on Substack several months ago, as there were no readrs there. But, in the last couple of weeks, there’ve been several Likes of posts of a year ago. No idea why. Perhaps I should re-consider.

The PAU (Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad)

The system is now more formally called Evaluación de Bachillerato para Acceso a la Universidad (EBAU or EvAU), but many people still refer to the old name PAU or selectividad. The exam framework is set by each autonomous community, so exact subjects and cut‑off scores can vary slightly by region.

It is the official exam that Spanish students take at the end of Bachillerato (the two‑year pre‑university stage) to qualify for admission to public universities. It is not compulsory, but you need it if you want to study at a Spanish public university.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

The Usual Links . . .

The US commentators I follow, all on Podbean and/or YouTube for free:-

• 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

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 And on X at Thoughts from Galicia. I no longer post 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.