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

More here on the energy-saving deficiencies of Spanish homes: Almost every home in Spain wastes energy, and the country is not renovating them fast enough to meet its 2030 targets. . . To meet its commitments, Spain must cut household energy use by 26,394 gigawatt hours by 2030. That means insulating 1.2 million homes and replacing 3.5 million heating and hot water systems in just 4 years.

Says Mark Stücklin here: Spain’s coastal housing problem is not too many holiday homes, but too little housing supply. Restricting second homes and tourist accommodation won’t fix that — making it easier and cheaper to build might.

This is why Galicia can’t claim to be uniquely ‘Celtic’.

See here for the evolution of Spain’s occupation status.

Talking of maps . . . I can’t reconcile this map of Pv city with either my own views or with Google’s map. It’s published by the PV council so perhaps it’s right and we’re both wrong:-

Google:

Anyway, I just wanted to post it to prove that Pv city has a bullring, possibly the only one in the North of Spain. The big white circular thing.

The earliest sunrise time in Galicia is around 7. Which is 6 in the UK, where the earliest sunrise is at 4.38. Since I rise between 5 and 6, this means I get up in the dark every single day of the year. But always enjoy the dawn. Unless the Atlantic Blanket is upon us, as it is from time to time in the winter.

The UK

I’ve noted that UK pensions are lower than Spanish pensions. That said, more money can be gained in the UK by applying for Pension Credit. The sad fact is that 37% of those entitled to this don’t apply for it. Meaning that some old folk live in more straitened circumstances than they need to.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump America

A couple of indictments of the Mafia Don et al, here and here.

In case you don’t know . . . Trump’s death in office would end his own ability to grant pardons but it would not make pardons permanently impossible. A later president could still grant them, although the political circumstances might make that more or less likely.

Relevant Books

• 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.
• Profiles in Cowardice, by Jacob Weisberg. Cited in this podcast.

The Way of the World

The EU will introduce restrictions on the use of social media. But will they achieve its objectives? And will Trump invade Europe to defend the financial interests of couldn’t-care-less US tech giants?

Spanish

• Enqustarse: To become entrenched, deadlocked, stalemated.
• Dolo: Intent, fraud, malice. eg matar con dolo.
• Atisbo: Glimmer, glimpse.

Did you know?

English: An answer to a good question . . . We say “won’t” because it developed historically from an older form. The modern form won’t was established by about the seventeenth or eighteenth century. In Middle and Early Modern English, will had alternative forms such as wol, woll, and wolle. The negative was written in forms such as:

• wol not
• woll not
• wonnot

Over time, wonnot was shortened to won’t. Meanwhile, the ordinary positive form gradually settled on will.

You Have to Laugh

I regularly greet a local guide who was giving tours long before they became as common – and as populated – as they are now. Last evening, she was walking past my table alone and I asked her if she’d lost her latest group. ‘On purpose!’, she shot back.

Finally . . ..

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.