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

The Ceuta Question.

• María adds here another layer of consideration Did the USA and Israel influence Rabat’s initiative? Only too plausible, of course.
• And Lenox Napier writes here on the brief ‘invasion’.
• It’s reported that: The night before the invasion, the Moroccan police had been beating people who had approached the border but, on the Thursday morning, they were letting people through. Crucially, it was noted that they were only letting Moroccans cross over, with sub-Saharan migrants being pushed back by force. Which means that the Moroccan government was using its own population as a bioweapon to make a political point. Almost 70 of whom died. So not really a jolly jape for anyone.
• Finally, here’s an article on how it all played into the hands of Spain’s far right. Which might well be what Trump wanted, of course.

Turning to trivia . . . .

Having a fair skin and finding them boring, I very rarely go to any of our many beaches. But this foto in a local paper today reminded me of the Spanish custom of walking en masse along the strand, first one way and then the other.

Does it happen in other countries, I wonder.

Every summer I wonder if the young women of Pv city are competing to see how minimal their shorts can be. This example is not, by any means, the shortest:-

But it is an example of what I see quite regularly – a male with shorts down to his knees and a female partner with shorts decidedly briefer. Sometime ending above the bottom of the wearer’s buttock cheeks, with the pockets hanging below them. And the same question always occurs to me. Why? Who are the women trying to impress? Especially in the case of a teenager accompanied by her parents.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump America

Two backfiring for Trump:-

• His attempt to censor ABC.
• His attempt to get Blanche confirmed as Attorney General.

It’s certainly not new to say the USA isn’t the model good guy it has long pretended to be. But it’s possibly true to say that its only recently that the Constitution of checks and balances and the US democratic model are not seen to be as robust as long claimed. Or, rather, I thought it was. But Perplexity tells me that: Critiques that the U.S. Constitution and its democratic model may be less robust than once claimed have been around for decades, and the sources I found show that argument clearly in 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2025[which all seem relatively recent to me!].What does feel more recent is the intensity of the claim in mainstream debate, especially amid polarization, democratic backsliding concerns, and frustration with constitutional rigidity. A fair way to phrase it is that the idea is old, but its current urgency is new. Interestingly – amusingly? – their first citation is a 2016 article which says that the answer would be greater presidential power, even in the case of Trump, as the problem really is the Congress. The authors had published a book also in 2016 entitled: How Our Constitution Undermines Effective Government—and Why We Need a More Powerful Presidency. I wonder if they’ve changed their minds in view of what a corrupt president can do even under the unchanged Constitution.

Here’s Occupy Democrats on the ‘brazen corruption’ of Trump’s latest wheeze to line his pockets.

Spanish

• Repostear: To re-post.
• Ver con ojos buenos: To look favourably upon.
• Jaquer: To hack into. To checkmate.

English

Chode: “In the US, “chode” is more likely to be heard as a vulgar slang insult for a contemptible or obnoxious person, [You know who] though some speakers also use it for a short, thick penis or the perineum. In the UK, dictionaries also list it as a vulgar slang insult, but the anatomical senses are less prominent in general usage and it’s less common overall”.

Did you know?

Did feral kids such as Mowgli actually exist?

Finally . . .

There are several shops in Pontevedra whose names are rather odd. One of these is Coosy, which doesn’t look like it came from Spanish, Galician or English. Or from a Spanish name. It sells women`s (fashionable) clothing but I rather doubt it’s a version of either ‘cosy’ or ‘choosy’. Though it might be. I should pop in and ask.

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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.