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

Excellent news for those of us fed up of having sore eyes on terrazas . . . .The Council of Ministers has approved a new regulation banning cigarettes on the terraces of bars and restaurants. Smoking will also be prohibited on beaches, in public swimming pools, sports facilities, and work vehicles. Even open-air concerts won’t be exempt from the ban. The regulation will now go to Congress for approval. More info here.

Good news re wildlife in the bosques of the Basque Country.

Tourism . . . There’s a beach – Playa de los Catedrales – on Galicia’ north coast. When I first came here – 26 years – you could visit it easily and you’d find yourself among just a few other sightseers. In recent years, it’s become hyper-regulated, meaning you need to book a time – as with the Grand Mosque in Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada. Yesterday, the numbers were so thick they had to close it down. Nothing could induce me to make a 3rd trip to it.

After my usual frustrations this morning, I decided to ask an AI engine what Spanish drivers are told about negotiating roundabouts in the UK and, specifically, whether they’re told not to use el modelo español. This is a summary of the long answer: You won’t usually see the phrase “No uses el modelo español” in official guidance but the advice given has that practical effect, as Spanish drivers are implicitly told not to drive on UK roundabouts the way they habitually do at home. A good working summary for a Spanish driver in the UK is: “Olvida cómo se negocian rotondas en España y sigue al pie de la letra el Código de Circulación británico para carriles e intermitentes.” Other bits of specific advice are:-

• Obey the direction arrows on the road
• Do not overtake or undertake erratically inside the roundabout; maintain your lane until it is safe and correct to change.

I can’t help wondering if, inter alia, they’re instructed to signal before they leave the main road and not after they’ve entered a side road,

The World Cup

Final comment. From an English humorist: If you ask me, England won the World Cup. Sure, Spain came out on top in a joyless attritional final between a load of rolling, diving, scratching, whining cheats in front of Madonna, Tom Cruise, Justin Bieber, the two dodgiest presidents ever and billions of bored TV viewers. But England put 6 goals past the best football team in the world in the “bronze final” the night before, which means we won it. It’s like when a gold medallist is done for drugs long after an event, and the others have their medals retrospectively elevated. That match on Sunday was so awful, even from Spain, that posterity (if not Fifa) will ultimately eradicate the memory of it altogether and say that England beat France 6-4 in the greatest World Cup final ever played. And it was the fairest ever, too. Not so much as a yellow card on either side. While the so-called “finalists” were still punching and kicking each other long after the final whistle (with Messi missing out on the Golden Boot but picking up the Golden Wanker for trying to get Marc Cucurella sent off), in our final the players went into huddles at the end with the other team! I’m sorry, but I cried. Most football fans I know said they wouldn’t watch. They said it was bollocks. For losers. The commentators, the podcasters, the dreary, ex-player know-it-all said it was the match no one wanted to play in or see. There was no jeopardy, no pressure, nothing at stake. But if pressure means cheating and diving and no goals and 2 hours of lying and whining either side of The Muppet Show, and no pressure means attacking football, ten goals, no cards, ­old-fashioned Corinthian values, international friendship and a traditional 15-minute half-time in which Madonna does not come out in her bra holding hands with Ronaldinho dressed as Ali G, I’ll take it every time.

Just in case you didn’t realise: That is tongue-in-cheek. Mostly.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. A major response from Iran imminent?

The United States of Trump America

• The Good news . . . Trump Hits a Record-Breaking Low in the Polls.
• The very bad news . . . The Trump administration is in full would-be-despot mode, preparing to void the November elections.
• The Moment that Proved Trump’s Brain Is Pure Porridge.

Query: If monetising Truth Social tweets by giving advance notice of what Trump is planning/doing doesn’t amount to the promotion of insider dealing, I wonder what does. Another day, another case of presidential grift. To which there appears to be no limit.

Spanish/English

• Intromisión al honor: Defamation
• Estrujar: Squeeze, crush, scrunch, wring, crumple, drain, etc.
• Acrecenta: Increase, grow, expand, augment, deepen, etc.

Tongue-in-cheek means that something is meant ironically, jokingly, or not to be taken entirely seriously. AI tells me there isn’t an equivalent Spanish idiom, so you usually convey this less subtly with adjectives or phrases such as:-

• En broma – as a joke.
• En tono de broma – in a joking tone.
• Irónico/con tono irónico – ironic, with an ironic tone.
• Jocoso – humorous, light. Often used in more formal or descriptive contexts.
• En tono de burla – mocking tone (works when there’s a slightly sharper edge).

Did you know?

The White House housekeeper who made a president hate dinner.

You Have to Laugh

• The Spanish goalkeeper to Trump: You’ve had more shots made at you than Argentina did at me.
• The ballad of Stephen Miller.

Finally . . .

Trump and sports . . . Really the final comment on the World Cup.

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

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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.