Colin Davies

27 September 2026

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’

NB: If there’s a RV in brackets after a (paywalled) link, you might be able to read it via a Reader View extension to your browser, avoiding the paywall. If there is no RV, it will mean that the article is free to view or listen to. Or that I’ve forgotten to type it . . .

Cosas de España/Galiza

Unlike France, Portugal and Belgium, Spain has no national legislation banning or restricting the use of the garments worn by some Muslim women. But last week the city council of Lleida in Cataluña approved a ban on full-face coverings in public. The last time this was tried there, it came up against a Supreme Court decision. So, we wait to see what happens this time, after the lawyers have re-jigged the language.

I’ve been known to say that accessing and using Renfe’s web page is less than satisfactory. So, HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that: Fed up with paying consultancies for quality that leaves much to be desired, Renfe has decided to launch a competition to build its website. Let’s hope it’s successful.

The big international triathlon event of the last 3 days . . . . Someone failed to realise that the closure of a main road in and out of Pv city for 5 hours before the start of a big football match would cause problems. Chaos ensued. Possiby the same genius also closed one lane of another major road out of the city on Friday – during the event – when it could have been done tomorrow, after it had finished.

There’s been a late-night concert on each of the 4 nights of the event, each astonishingly loud. I fear for the hearing of many young Pontevedrans as and when they reach old age.

BTW . . . I neglected to say yesterday that the 2 US pilgrim sisters who’d booked a single room in the Motel Venus love-hotel-cum-brothel for last night specifically requested a large double bed. And were told that they’d also have a jacuzzi in their room. I said I guessed the receptionist had assumed they were a pair of lovelorn lesbians. . . .

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump America

Today was the 2,077th of unfettered buffoonery under Trump.

Trump: Factories are being built all over the country. It’s a miracle, actually.

Trumpism is not a foreign import. It is distinctly homegrown (Palmer raids, various Red Scares, the Klan, Jim Crow, John C. Calhoun, Joe McCarthy, Haymarket, Harlan County, George Armstrong Custer (oops), Andrew Jackson, COINTELPRO, Weather Underground). And if the (genuine) Left (plus a genuine Right) hope to combat this project now and in the future, all Americans must focus on the profoundly American sources of the president’s authoritarianism. Trump is the symptom of our distemper, not the cause. He is not unique. He has had many predecessors in our history, some of them very recent – some of them responsible for the election of Donald Trump, twice. Our question is, “What will we, all of us, do about it?”  There are no simple answers except for hard but humane work in a shrinking and increasingly inhospitable world.

Meanwhile . . . Ms Harp goes on the record, demonstrating her true self. Assuming it was really her.

Relevant Books

Spanish

Spanish word/phrases originating in historical events:

  • Biccoca: Means something valuable gained at little cost. In the Battle of Biccoca. Swiss pikemen were mauled by Spanish arquebusiers while charging on open terrain.
  • Guiri: Very popular slang word for tourists. It refers to guiristinos, which was how the Legitimists were called in the Basque country during the Carlist wars. Means somebody who’s not from here.
  • Defensa numantina: To put up a fierce resistance to something. Refers to the siege of Numantia during the Roman conquest of Iberia.
  • Armarse la de San Quintín: Essentially means hell broke loose. Refers to the battle of Saint-Quentin, which at the time was reputed for its bloodiness.
  • Poner una pica en Flandes: To accomplish something very difficult. Refers to the Spanish Road and how arduous it was to supply the war in Flanders.
  • Como Fuenteovejuna todos a una: Refers to an 15th century incident in Fuenteovejuna. The villagers banded together and killed a tyrannical alderman, and under torture would only confess that Fuenteovejuna did it. It is used in the context of collective resistance.
  • Estraperlo: Means shady business and refers to a 1930s rigged gambling scandal.

English

No. 6 has long been used as a touch-typing test.

Did you know?

How a 1902 Rag became a 1970s hit. Incidentally, one of my favourite tunes.

You Have to Laugh

Finally . . .

Garden news: The robin remains elusive but the mole is back, with a vengeance. Both of them out of sight. But at least audible in the case of the robin

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

The Usual Links

This – from veteran blogger Lenox Napier – is an excellent weekly newsletter (Business Over Tapas) on all matters Spanish. Indispensable for those who needs insights on how and why things happen here.

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.

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