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

Hats off to the Spanish police for 2 recent successes:

• A Spanish-led international police operation supported by Europol arrested 78 suspects in Spain and Algeria, dismantling an alleged violent smuggling network across the western Mediterranean. The syndicate utilized an illicit fleet of “ghost speedboats” to traffic migrants, weapons, fugitives and drugs between Europe and Algeria, employing extreme violence and contract killers to maintain control. During raids across 17 locations in Spain, officers seized 18 high-speed vessels valued at more than €5m, alongside firearms, cash, and significant quantities of MDMA, hashish and cocaine. The network allegedly generated an estimated 24 million euros from migrant smuggling alone, charging up to €12,000 a trip..
• They’ve arrested John Rocks, the UK’s most wanted man – an alleged killer and sexual abuser.

Property ads are coming to your AI chats – and they could change how we buy homes in Spain.

A right-of-centre UK paper accuses the Spanish PM of pushing the EU to the brink. Which surely ranks as exaggeration.

An entire village near the Camino is on sale for €850,000 – San Sebastián, near Viana do Bolo, in Galicia’s Ourense province. It occupies c. 40,000 m² and includes:

• 11 houses, some detached and some divided into two dwellings.
• More than 40 bedrooms and about 21 bathrooms in total.
• A large main building of approximately 668 m².
• A chapel.
• The former village shop
• An old medical dispensary.
• Two warehouses and communal areas.
• Gardens, wooded areas, a disused sports/tennis area and a small swimming pool.

The estate is being presented as suitable for:

• A rural-tourism complex.
• A retreat or wellness centre.
• A group or family residential project.
• A cohousing community.
• A boutique hotel or private estate.

So, very suitable for the American dream. Let me know if you’re interested . . . You”l need a great deal of reparation money and a vast amount of patience.

The United States of Trump America

The despicable memes that Trump posts of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office, him in a fighter plane pouring excrement over the No Kings protestors, his phrase yesterday in criticizing Abdul ed-Sayed have drained the dignity of the office of the president and demeaned our country around the world. They are signals of serious cognitive decline.

I’m looking forward to the Little Green Book of Trump’s Sayings.

I wasn’t surprised to read this . . Some psychologists, biographers, and commentators have suggested that Trump’s relationship with his [cold] mother contributed to aspects of his personality—including a tendency to see himself as a victim, especially in conflicts with women, and to side with men accused of misconduct. However, most accounts emphasize his father’s influence as far more decisive. [How about misogny?]

Possibly amusing . . . What foreigners make of the USA.

The Way of the World

Psychopaths make up only a small proportion of the general population but they are disproportionately represented in senior leadership positions in companies. Here’s why.

Spanish

• Economato: Village store. Coop. Commissary.
• Acribillado: Riddled, peppered
• Chinchulines: Chitterlings, chitlins. (Pigs’ intestines).

English

The 30 most misspelled words.

Did you know?

How 2 great 19th century authors fell our.

You Have to Laugh

Trump’s name appeared in a cryptic crossword I did today. Need I say that the answer was corrupt?

Finally . . .

At 8.30 this morning MSN Weather told me it was partly cloudy in Poio and that no precipitation was expected for 2 hours. Outside, it was raining. On all the towels left there to dry overnight. A treacherous thing, Galician weather. A cosmic joker.

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.