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. If there’s RV2, it means a second click on RV might let you see the article though the first RV click didn’t work.

Cosas de España/Galiza

The terrible train crash between Madrid and Sevilla.

• Why was the Iryo train stopped outside Urda and why did the AVE train crash into it? The Iryo driver’s reported explanation is that the train would not let her restart or verify its LZB train-protection system, so she remained stopped at the entry signal to Urda. In radio exchanges, she first told Atocha control she was stopped at Urda’s entry signal; after being told to resume normally, she called again about 5 minutes before the collision saying, in effect, that the train was not allowing her to check the LZB system and therefore she was still stopped. She did not say she stopped voluntarily or because of an obstacle ahead; the reported reason was a technical failure preventing restart/verification of the train-protection system. Iryo sources have also said the driver was still in contact with the control centre and awaiting instructions when the crash occurred. The central unresolved question is why the AVE was authorised to resume at normal speed while the Iryo was still stopped and the ‘block section’ was occupied. The Transport Secretary has described that authorisation as contrary to operating rules and has said the drivers themselves were not to blame.
• This commentator in this informative video stresses that the AVE train hit the Iryo train at 200kph, when it should have been stationary or doing 40kph at most. He stresses that the trains on this old line still don’t use the latest ERTMS security system, but instead still use the original LZB system. As I recall, the lack of the ERTMS system was a major factor in the equally fatal crash outside Santiago de Compostela, 13 years ago. The commentator raises many questions that need answering, eg on adequate investment in safety over the years.
• How did the Spain train crash happen and what will investigators be asking? An Audio file appears to point the finger at the control centre, but https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/29/how-did-the-spain-train-crash-happen-what-will-investigators-be-asking

The property crisis: Mark Stücklin writes here on the flaws at the heart of the government’s housing policy.

The economy: Spain’s unemployment rate is again above 10%, at 10.2%. There has been growth in the employment numbers but posts in the public sector 4 times n the private sector. So that: The total number of civil servants and government employees stood at an unprecedented record of 3.74 million people by the end of September. Which doesn’t read like good news.

Moroccans have taken over from Brits the number one foreign purchasers of properties in Spain.

Alongside olive and some nuts, another crop that’s being tested for its potential in ever-warmer Galicia is flax(lino).

The UK

Well-known myths about Britain.

The Middle East/West Asia War

Trump is in a corner and likely to lash out at Iran again. Here’s how to avert that disaster.

The United States of Trump America

• That guy’s the president. If he presses a button, the world ends.

Money, money, money . . . The (intolerable/ludicrous?) influence of mega-rich oligarchs in the USA . . . Ahead of the midterms, Musk has spent just under $600m to promote the Republicans and is expected to spend another 100m in the next few days, most of it in Texas. He’s expected to succeed in getting the infamously corrupt Ken Paxton re-elected as senator there..

In this podcast, the estimable Jennifer Welch has views both on this money issue and on others raised here recently.

Relevant Books

• Princes and Thieves: A new book on the corruption of Jared Kushner, reviewed in the NYT here (RV)
• Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest
• Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. This is not simply a book about Trump. He is the vessel, not the disease – the product of a system decades in the making, fueled by powerful interests, weakened democratic institutions, and a media ecosystem that too often chose access and complicity over accountability. The book confronts the defining questions of our time: How did we get here? Why did so many institutions fail when they were needed most? And what must we do now to defend democracy before it is too late?
• 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.

Spanish

• Violación: ‘Non-consensual sexual penetration’. Rape
• Violada: Raped
• Agresión sexual: Sexual assault

English

Two more words from Vanity Fair of 1850:-

• Pekin: A silk dress fabric with broad, equal-width vertical stripes, often alternating colours or weave textures. The name derives from Peking/Beijing.
• Pelisse: A woman’s long outer coat or cloak, typically loose and often fur-lined or fur-trimmed; in the early 19th century it was a fashionable sleeved overcoat worn over a dress.

You Have to Laugh

A friend returned from the Canary Islands this week and amused me with the news that there are forenames there which stem from the US navy using the ports there and leaving behind ‘souvenirs’ of their presence. Two of these names are Usnavi and Usmail, taken from inscriptions on boxes. There are also corruptions of English nouns in daily use – such as Patatas quinegua for ‘King Edward potatoes’. Perplexity advises that the above 2 names are also a phenomenon in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.

Finally . . .

Well, the Pilates class I moved to is now as ‘chatty’ – and almost as noisy – as the one I moved from. But least the chat is shared and isn’t an endless monologue from the woman who doesn’t draw breath.

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.