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

Quite a shock . . . Ex PSOE PM Zapatero is being investigated for involvement in – and receipt of €4m in commissions from – the smuggling of gold from Venezuela to Dubai. Inter alia. Can it really be true?

The Supreme Court has voided the law obliging registration of tourist lets, saying that the government had no legal right to create it. The decision is a relief to owners, who faced being locked out of major platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com. 

The (predictable and predicted?) results of market-tinkering while failing to address the fundamental causes of the property crisis.

A tad embarrassing . . . Narco traffickers stole 3 navy boats left unguarded during a military exercise off Cádiz. 

The government tries to clamp down on unprincipled influencers. Who are, I guess, in the majority.

Understandably, Lenox Napier isn’t a fan of Spain’s 3 right-of-centre parties. I say 3 but there might be one or more of even extreme views. There’s a lot of small parties in Spain. Each thinking it’s purer than the rest. Like the 200 Protestant ‘confessions’. [I wrote that number from memory but an AI search suggests there are more than 47,300 Christian denominations/rites worldwide, most of them Protestant.]

Vigo is planning to become the 3rd Galician city to have a tourist tax, after Santiago de Compostela, and La Coruña. Caminoers sleeping in public pilgrim hostels (albergues)) are exempt but not if they stay in hotels, guest-houses and private hostels. The tax varies between €1.00 and €2.50 a night per person. Pv city doesn’t have one. Yet.

En passant . . . I’m not sure there were any private albergues back in 2000 or even in 2010 but there are now at least 12, against just 1 public one. As you’d expect, 4 of the private ones are in the first street you walk down as you enter the city – Rúa Gorgullón.

The temperatures in Pv city have been so high this week that our young – and not-so-young – women have come out in what might be called informal dress rather earlier than usual. I was almost distracted from observing the 3 large groups being given guided tours of the city at midday. One of these numbered 42. I actually counted them as they slowly passed my café table.

The notary didn’t call today.

The UK

While I still read stuff, I’ve essentially lost interest in matters British. Basically, it seems to me that the country’s key strategic problems – as elsewhere – aren’t being addressed/tackled. One political commentator claims this morning – plausibly – that the current Labour government lacks a plan in respect of these. And that: The absence of this will ensure that, in the unlikely event that Reform takes power at the next general election, it will suffer the same fate as Starmer, with its leader lasting just about as long. I have no problem agreeing with this. Very saddening.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Deadlock.

The United States of Trump America

• Trump’s true mental health. Podcast or Video.
• Has Trump lost his chance to reach an agreement with Iran? Already surrendering? Podcast or Video.

Quote: Over time, it’s impossible to implement an authoritarian playbook in a country which is not authoritarian and where there remains the freedom to criticise. Miller’s power is waning.

After successfully endorsing in the Texas Republican primaries candidate almost as evil as himself, Trump has made himself even more unpopular among politicians of that party – by reducing even further their chances of being re-elected in November. So, I continue to believe that, if the Grim Reaper doesn’t soon take him, measures will be adopted to, eg, induce a heart attack.

Cuba

The temptation – for a US president in serious trouble.

Spanish

• Milano del mar: Red kite [In fact not a seabird]
• Chapuza: Bodge, botched job
• Chapuzón: Swim, dip, dive

Do you know?

What writer’s block is? [Not something I’ve suffered from. But, then, I haven’t tried to write a novel. And I haven’t finished my autobiography after 25 years.]

You Have to Laugh

Another uncomfortable Finn . . .

Finally . . .

• One of those headlines: After stopping a priest for driving ‘erratically’, police in Madrid find Viagra, poppers and a young man in his car, . One inevitably wonders why.
• And another . . . A family claims compensation for an ‘image’ of a Catholic brotherhood falling on top of a sacristan and killing him. Divine punishment?

Finally . . . Finally . . .

The computer shop confirmed that it would cost at least €200 to replace my keyboard because of 2 malfunctioning keys. Funny thing is – today they didn’t. But Perplexity has kindly assured me this is illusory and I can’t avoid the cost. Unless: 1. It comes under the guarantee, or 2. I use an external keyboard. Strangely the guy in the repair shop didn’t mention this. . . .

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 no longer post on Facebook. But I can be readon X at Thoughts from Galicia. And on Substack here

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.