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 crisis has cost the PSOE 2.5 percentage points – almost 10% of its total – but it still leads the PP party by 4.5 points. That said, PP and the far-right Vox would outnumber the PSOE and its (fractious) allies and might well be able to achieve an absolute majority at the next general election, meaning more populist policies.

Yesterday I discovered another new Camino. We must be approaching 50 of them now. Not a long one, though. It goes by 2 names: O Orixe (The Original) and El Camino de Barbanza-Sar. It was officially blessed in only 2021 and runs along the Galician coast from Corrubedo to Padrón, where it joins up with the traditional Portuguese Camino to Santiago de Compostela, a total distance of 138km all the way. Enough for you to get a Compostela, assuming you can collect enough stamps in your ‘pilgrim passport’.

Driving along it yesterday, I was surprised to see so many rucksacked ‘pilgrims’ walking it in the midday heat. But, then, September used to be cooler than August and the numerous internet guides might not have caught up with the change. In fact, the heat will dissipate tomorrow, the first of 3 days of rain here in Galicia, before it returns on Friday, just in time for a weekend hike with friends.

A sombre headline in the Diaro de Pv today: Archaeologists find a saponified brain inside the remains of a skull in a church’s lower choir, but without any other body parts. They say that there are only 3 international precedents of this kind: in Italy, Chile, and Argentina. [Saponification is a post‑mortem chemical process in which fats are hydrolysed and then react with minerals (cations) in water/soil to form a stable, soap‑like material called adipocere or “grave wax”].

Petrol(gas) has now reached €1.95 in Pv city, against 1.54 when Trump went on his diversion – an increase of 28%. For some reason, the price of a coffee has increased in sympathy.

The UK

I read today that 2011 saw the end of the ‘Gifted and Talented’ register in 2011. Once intended to identify and stretch high-achieving pupils, it fell out of favour as concerns about elitism grew. In my (not-private) grammar school, what was called the top(Alpha) stream did the O level exams a year earlier and then progressed to the ‘6th form’, missing out the 5th. This was intended to give the brightest pupils an extra year – after A levels – to prepare for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams. My alma mater still exists but I’d be surprised if this – ‘fast-track’ – system remains. Indeed, I wonder if Oxford and Cambridge still have entrance exams.

The EU

The entry-exit system is suspended in 9 countries as border control procedures are blamed for airport chaos.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump America

Trump is smart enough to plaster buildings with his name before he dies, as he knows no one will do this when he’s dead. But too dumb/arrogant/delusional to realise they’ll all be removed when he’s gone. Making it all pretty pointless, unless you’re a megalomaniacal narcissist.

Relevant Books

Here’s another one for the list . . . Profiles in Cowardice, by Jacob Weisberg. Cited in this podcast.

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

Canada

Thanks to Trump, changing its key alliances away from the USA. Could there be anything more stupid than compelling your neighbour and biggest trading partner to do this?

Spanish

• Descalificar: To disparage
• Carrera: University degree course. Race.
• Risoterapia: Laughter/clown therapy

Did you know about?

The Hogan’s Heroes Actors Who Fled Hitler, Fought Nazis, and Survived the Holocaust.

You Have to Laugh

A Trump-like meeting?

Finally . . .

Welcome to new subscriber Joseph.

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

The Usual Links .

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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.