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

Spain is not kind to its self-employed – autónomas – burdening then with taxation and VAT bureaucracy even before they make a sale, never mind any profit. They work longer hours than employees for what’s described as a ‘basic salary’. Not surprisingly, a high proportion of those who don’t give up are converting themselves into limited companies. I’m reminded that, back in 1941 a Brit author claimed – in The Spanish Labyrinth – that the Spanish were not very entrepreneurial. Well, it’s bloody hard to be when the Tax Office takes this approach, and tries to bankrupt you before you get started.

As I don’t ‘do beaches’, I was unaware that, firstly, we’d been in an era of toplessness and, secondly, that it’s now ending – for the reasons given here.

Another thing I don’t do is attend any of the concerts in Pv city that start at 10.30 and go on – deafeningly – until after midnight. Today, I was astonished to read that – at some venues in Galicia – folk are now paying €70 to sit where they can’t see the stage and so can only hear the performer(s). Nowt as queer as folk, as they say in the North of England.

Portugal

Face-covering in public places is to be banned under a new ‘Burqa law’. This is championed by the right-wing majority in the Portuguese Parliament and includes fines of up to €3,000.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. The unstoppable conflict widens . .

The United States of Trump America

• This will surprise/shock some (US) Americans, I guess.
• Dear dog . . Is Trump Planning A Nuclear Attack on Iran?
• Everything About Natalie Harp – Trump’s shadow, gatekeeper, info-funneller and ‘human printer’.
• Trump Rage Erupts Over Iran as Aides Leak an Embarrassing Truth

There’s a lot of speculation about what on earth Trump has got in the back of his trousers. But, so far, I haven’t heard my theory – It’s what passes for his brain.

The final pages 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

Another thing to worry about, if you have an Android phone. You need to heed the advice given re calls to you from the would-be fraudsters.

AI

Losing the trust of young folk.

Spanish

• Encauzar: To put in place
• Pulir: To refine
• Criba: Review
• Hacer chof: Not standard Spanish; it usually refers to the onomatopoeic “chof”, the sound of something splashing, falling flat, or being squashed. In everyday Spain Spanish, estar chof can also mean feeling down, flat, or disappointed .

English/Do you know?

This is a list of 30 words which are alleged to be ‘beautiful but forgotten’. Well, not by all of us.

You Have to Laugh

Finally . . .

A bit of nostalgia for me today . . . When I came back from teaching on an island in the Seychelles, aged only 19, it was very hard to adjust to life in the UK, as I found everything very artificial/phony. So much so that I retired into semi-seclusion in my bedroom. The memory of this was brought back to me by these poignant words from Robert Graves’ Goodbye to All That – on how he felt returning, in 1917, from the appalling slaughter of 4 years in the trenches of North France: England looked strange to us returned soldiers. We could not understand the war-madness that ran wild everywhere. The civilians talked a foreign language; and it was newspaper language. I found serious conversation with my parents all but impossible. Of course, my experience had been totally positive, so not remotely comparable to his, other than that he’d been – at 22 – not much older than me. But the culture shock was similar. And, in my case, not long after I’d got over the first one, I experienced a 2nd one, when I went to university in the very centre of London. And then again both going to and coming back from living in Iran and Indonesia. And even the USA. Perhaps that’s why I have no roots in the UK. And no plans to ever return.

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.