Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.
And, lo, 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

Lenox Napier writes here on the recent earthquakes in the South.

The Voz de Galicia today pointed out that – in contrast with planes and buses – you can’t make an advanced booking on Renfe’s trains beyond early November. At least not on trains between Madrid and Galicia. But a new EU Regulation will extend the period of advance booking to 5 years (sic).

Another first for Pv city . . . A group of tourists on bikes being led down a narrow street in the old quarter on a guided tour. What next? Horses? Motorbikes? Hovercraft??

Yesterday, 200 folk gathered below a house in the centre of Pv city to watch firemen erect a ladder to rescue a broken-winged pigeon stranded on a balcony. Given how much of a nuisance these ‘flying rats’ are in the city, I found this astonishing. And had much more sympathy for an exhausted Egyptian vulture which also featured in the news as having been blown off course by a storm. At least they don’t constantly try to grab my empanada. Or fight en masse overa cake left on an adjacent table.

Nice comment from a restaurant owner about this summer’s tourists in Pv city – They spent less. There’s been a lot of supermarket tourism.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Farcical hyperbole from Bessent.

The United States of Trump America

Nice: I’ve seen Donald Trump without make-up. He looks like Spam.

The insane, ignorant imbecile tries to dictate to the meat market and, in the process, proves that his tariffs raised prices. Not mention displaying his total ignorance of economics and his contempt for his own supporters.

A UK academic who recently came under immense media scrutiny, responded by killing himself. Given the little bit of her psychological make-up revealed by her missives, I wonder if Ms Harp will end up doing the same. Especially if Trump throws her under a bus to try to save his own skin.

Relevant Books

• To be published in October. Can be pre-ordered now: Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy
• The final pages of Kurt Andersen’s fascinating run through the USA’s history – Fantasyland: How America went haywire. A 500 year history.

Spanish

• Chupete: Dummy/pacifier
• Sepulturero: Grave-digger. Undertaker/Mortician
• Pandereta: Tambourine

Did you know about?

The Oxford electric bell battery – running since 1840.

You Have to Laugh

Talking of flying pests . . .

Finally . . .

This morning, I heard a suitcase being advertised as having ‘full 360 degree wheels’. Is there any other sort, I wondered. And, of course, asked an AI engine . . . Yes. The “full 360° wheels” are called spinner wheels, but many suitcases still use inline (fixed) wheels that only roll forward and backward. ‘Different planes, then?’ I suggested to the engine, which replied: If you want to be precise: both types roll in a vertical plane at any instant, but only spinners have an additional swivel axis that lets that rolling plane rotate around a vertical axis, giving effective 360° movement.

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.