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 train crash

• One thing emerging from the morass of commentaries and diagrams is the key question of whether the disaster reflects changes introduced to allow more trains – both from Renfe and its private competitors – to run on the same line. This involved the reduction in size – from 30km to 10km – of the ‘boxes’ in which only one train would be permitted, necessitating the appropriately improved security systems. And increasing the risks created by any system failures.
• The other issue highlighted – especially in view of the accident earlier this year on the same line – is that of maintenance. Where management might have dangerously cut costs.
• The driver of the 2nd train is reported to have repeatedly warned about the deteriorating conditions of Spain’s high-speed railways.
• It’s sobering to realise that – reportedly – there was a 3rd train behind the one that hit the stationary one at almost 200kph. The driver of the 3rd train is said to have ignored permission from the Central Control to increase his speed to the normal and slowed to less that 40kph.

I confess I’m reminded of a comment made to me 25 years ago, after I’d said how impressed I was by Spain’s new highways. ‘Just wait’, said a cynical friend ‘until maintenance of these is required’.

Property:

• The emptying rental market.

Society

• The definitive guide to tipping etiquette across the Iberian Peninsula.
• Lenox Napier writes here on his local camposanto.
• HT to Lenox for the news that the IGN offers updated, high-resolution digital editions of its classic printed maps of Spain, available free from its website

Trivia

• I got my monthly snailmail drop today – 2 letters and 3 magazines, 2 of which were one week late and the other one 3 weeks late, making it somewhat less topical for a satirical rag. Long gone are the days when I’d see (and greet) the postman on his daily rounds. Does Correos, I wonder, classify as one of the Spanish institutions which aren’t what they once were?

The United States of Trump America

With 3 days ago, there seems to be a (liberal) consensus that:-

• The democrats will take the House.
• The Republicans, despite everything, could well retain the Senate.
• Whatever happens, Trump will be even worse in the 2nd half of his presidency.
• Only the popping of his clogs will prevent this.
• The USA will take a very long time to recover from the damage done to it since 2016.
• There needs to be changes to the Constitution.
• The 2028 elections are anyone’s guess.

Meanwhile, something to laugh at . . . The character from a novel you’d never find remotely credible:-

Relevant Books

• 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

• Malecón: Breakwater. Boardwalk. Seawall. Embankment.
• Dar la cara: To come forward, face the music, etc.
• Plantearse: To consider, envisage.

English

More From Vanity Fair of 1850:-

• Ordinaries: Cheap, fixed-price public dining houses or restaurants, often frequented by officers, travellers, and less wealthy men. [Offering menús del día long before Franco?]
• Querist: A person asking a question.
• Duck trousers: Trousers made from duck cloth—a strong, plain-woven canvas, originally linen and later usually cotton. The name comes from the Dutch doek, meaning “cloth”. [I think they were still known as ‘ducks’ in the 20th century, at least at the Army & Navy stores.]
• Negus: A warm, sweetened, diluted wine punch—less strong than neat wine or spirits. Named after Colonel Negus, an early-18th-century English officer credited with inventing it.

Did you know?

For nearly a century, the US federal government employed professional tea tasters to determine whether imported tea was good enough for (US)Americans. The program survived multiple presidents, inspired a Supreme Court decision, and required an act of Congress to abolish. Naturally, it took another 27 years to finish the paperwork.

Finally . . . You Have to Laugh

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.