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

Officials in a remote corner of ‘empty Spain’ are offering grants of up to €30,000 to homeowners in a move they hope will breathe new life into the country’s depopulated villages.The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha have launched an initiative called ‘Moviliza tu vivienda rural’ (‘Mobilise your rural home’), which aims to bring empty village properties back into use.

Good to know that the 2 Big Sound concerts on Friday and Saturday nights that cost many residents of Pv city 2 night’s sleep had audiences totalling 35,500 kids and brought in €1.9m.

For what it’s worth, these are said to be the 1’0 ‘happiest’ towns in Spain. I’m frankly astonished to see our resort of Sanxenxo at number 8. And the tourist magnet of Santillana del Mar at number 6. Perhaps the residents are thrilled about the money they make from Madrileño tourists (los fodechinchos). As in several others on the list:-

• Ronda
• Nerja
• Chipiona, Cádiz
• Tarifa, Cádiz
• Peñiscola, Castellón
• Santillana del Mar, Cantabria
• San Vicente de la Barquera, Cantabria
• Sanxenxo, Pontevedra
• Ribadesella, Asturias
• Zahara de los Atunes, Cádiz

By the way . . . the Cádiz area is one of the poorest/’disadvantaged’ parts of Spain.

Usually, Pv city is cleaned up in the early morning after fiestas/celebrations. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to find the old quarter at 11 not just empty but rather dirty. And that many kids didn’t turn up today for the summer football camp my grandson is attending.

The World Cup

Well, the Argentineans did themselves no favours, during both the Final and the awards presentations after it. As for the match, it was possibly the most one-sided in the entire history of football. As well as, in the opinion of several neutrals, ‘dull’ or ‘drab’. For all supporters of Spain – i.e. everyone except Argentineans – it was nerve-wracking, until, after more than 20 failed attempts, Spain finally scored in minute 16 of the 30 minute extra time. In stark contrast, by that time, Argentina’s had – astonishingly – failed to make a single shot at Spain’s goal. They then moved away from the physical strategy that had disorientated England and began to play football. And could well have taken the game to penalties and to a totally undeserved victory. Which would have left a very sour taste in the mouths of everyone outside Argentina. So, much of Spain’s response to the well-deserved victory was relief at the fact this hadn’t happened. Not really the final that a very good World Cup deserved. Either France or England would surely have made it a better spectacle. But nobody Spanish will care about that, of course. Especially as their team really did well and emerged as deserved victors.

But one did feel sorry for Messi. Like Ronaldo, he will will have to deal with World Cup failure in the twilight of his amazing career. Playing in the USA. Perhaps he really should have retired from international football after the 2022 success.

An AI generated comment on reactions in Argentinean media: These were dominated by frustration, heartbreak, and anger, with strong criticism of the team’s performance, the refereeing, and especially the post‑match brawl that overshadowed the defeat. Many Argentine journalists described the team as exhausted, outplayed, and emotionally broken. Understandable, but some/many will find it hard to understand that Argentineans believe that refereeing decisions favoured Spain . .

Final word from a UK paper: Argentina’s final performance was a disgrace to Messi’s legacy. Which I know some Argentineans will feel not just disappointed by but also ashamed of.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Iran strikes back.

The United States of Trump America

The men’s issue that Pete Hegseth has really got. An entertaining listen,

The ‘hopeless, bad people’ just won Donald Trump’s World Cup. The U.S. president has relentlessly targeted Spain. Its soccer stars just had the last laugh.

FIFA’s World Cup Halftime Show Put American-Style Spectacle on the World Stage – Leaving some of us Europeans pretty cold. And irritated by the extension of the half-time break. Not to mention the – ad-revenue-raising and often unnecessary – ‘dehydration’ breaks.

Need I say that Trump made some pretty stupid post-Final comments? And probably didn’t hear the chorus of boos, whistles, and jeers directed at him before it began. Naturally, he tried to share the glory with the Spanish team. At minute 3.30 here, you can see the FIFA president vainly trying to get him off the rostrum. Complete pillock is a good British adjectival phrase for the man –  A stupid or annoying person; a simpleton; a fool.

Quote from a Spanish columnist: The USA has done to football what it’s done to pizza, the hamburger, sausages and Mexican tacos: converted it into something different and worse, to sell to the rest of the world.Sadly, it had to happen. But it will be fought, by folk who don’t think money is everything.

Spanish

• Estar a por las uvas: To be absentminded, distracted, or absent, unaware of what is happening around you.
• Estar en Babia: Ditto
• Estar en la luna: Ditto
• Empeño: Effort, commitment, endeavour, aim, objective.
• Para el momento de: By the time of

English

• Lug: 1. British slang for ‘ear’. Hence ‘lughole’. 2, British slang for someone who’s clumsy, slow, or awkward.
• Buggerlugs: An affectionate nickname for kids. Or what my mother used to call me, at least. When she wasn’t smacking me for being naughty/cheeky . . .

Did you know?

A US submarine which attacked targets on land.

You Have to Laugh . . .

Finally . . .

Next time you read a football match report – specifically the stats – you might like to know that:-

• xG is “Expected goals”, a modelled estimate of how many goals a team should score from the chances they create.
• xCOT is “Expected contribution off the ball”, an experimental metric that tries to value a team’s defensive and pressing actions when it does not have possession.

How did we ever live without these? Needless to say, Spain’s were 10 times better than Argentina’s.

Finally . . . Finally . . . .

Some strange things come up in my ‘Spain’ feed . . . As a white Mexican, I am supporting our white brothers Spain to win and to kick the Jewish brown Messi out of the World Cup.

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 X at Thoughts from Galicia. And on Substack here. 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. And this, on the annual costs of owning property here.

Finally . . . Finally . . .

As it’s the start of the month . . .  Some readers, I hope, will know that the verse I cite at the top of my posts is the opening quatrain of Fitzgerald’s wonderful – but very ‘free’ – translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which you can read about here. Some verses are well known, of course, eg:-

The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

My favourite:-

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
doctor and saint, and heard great argument
about it and about: but evermore
came out by the same door as in I went