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

Eating in Spain . . .

• The Spanish institution of merienda.
• The late dinner custom.

Good news . . . From October 17, all commercial calls trying to sell products and services will have to use a 400 prefix.

In Portugal, un sobremesa is a dessert. In Spain, it’s postprandial chat. An article in today’s VdG claims that ‘Galicians dominate this art’. I wondered if this just meant that Galicians talk even more than other Spaniards.

For reasons unknown, my draft of the paragraph on yesterday’s walk on the Camino had become distorted and I missed this when (hurriedly) reviewing my post before publication. Here’s the corrected sentences. . . I walked the Camino with 2 friends for 5 hours today. We actually started midway between Pv city and the spa town of Caldas de Reis. I was surprised that we were alone at that time. But at 9.15 we began to be passed by folk who’d left Pv city at an ungodly hour.

Portugal

The Spanish tend to think that the Portuguese are bad drivers. True or not, I suspect this sad event will strengthen this belief.

The UK

A valid viewpoint? . . . From 1958 to 1978,  broadcast The Black and White Minstrel Show: a series featuring white entertainers who had caked their faces with ridiculous make-up, in order to impersonate black people. These days, the BBC is understandably rather embarrassed about this. So much so that, in the wake of Black Lives Matter, it published an article on its website, wondering how on earth its past bosses could have been so blind. “It didn’t seem to occur to anyone in a position of authority at the BBC that the series really was offensive to more than just a few ‘killjoys’,” the article lamented. As a result, “this infamous programme” constituted “arguably the BBC’s most glaring failure to understand the damage it could do when it traded in outdated stereotypes”. True enough. I’ve got just one question.

If, as the BBC now accepts, it’s wrong to show white people dressing up as grotesque parodies of black people, how come it’s fine – indeed, wonderfully enlightened and progressive – to show men dressing up as grotesque parodies of women? I only ask because the BBC’s peculiar fixation with drag queens shows no signs of abating. Just this week, Newsnight invited one to participate in a discussion of the UK’s floundering economy. Perhaps we could boost quarterly growth if we each buy a pair of size 12 stilettos. Meanwhile, the BBC has been eagerly plugging the new series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Apparently we can look forward to meeting contestants who use such charming stage names as “Anita P—”, proclaim themselves to be a “Bikini Bottom Bimbo”, declare that they’re “feeling lit to the t–”, and challenge the “other girls” to “step their pussies up”.

No doubt the BBC would argue that this is harmless, light-hearted entertainment, to which only killjoys could object. But then, 50 years ago, that’s what its bosses said about The Black and White Minstrel Show. Still, times change. So, in another 50 years, maybe the BBC will once again be wringing its hands, as it wonders, in horrified disbelief, how it could ever have promoted the practice of pinking up.

The United States of Trump America

There’s still plenty of time for this list of Trump stupidities to be extended . . .

The loonies are leaving the White House.

Whither Ms Leavitt and Ms AOC? [Will Natalie Hart replace the former?]

The last pages of of Kurt Andersen’s fascinating run through the USA’s history – Fantasyland: How America went haywire. A 500 year history.

The Way of the World

Sad to reflect that I’d buy these, if my daughters were still teenagers.

Spanish

• Tener piel muy fina: To be very thin skinned
• Decenio: Decade
• Perdigón: Pellet. Buckshot.
• Mercadillo: Flea market. Car boot sale.

Did you know?

Pre-internet hoaxes you might have been duped by.

You Have to Laugh

A label on bananas sold in a UK supermarket: Wash before use? How many folk eat the skins?

Finally . . .

Do you know why wasps are so prolific in late summer? This is when when the larvae stop producing their sugary secretion, prompting hungry adult wasps to go swarming all over our picnics.

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

The Usual Links .

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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.