8Awake, 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
Property
Two articles from Mark Stucklin:-
Lenox Napier writes here on the bad old days of producing a local newspaper. Pioneering one, to be exact.
Between my daughter’s flat in the barrio of El Cabanyal in Valencia and the huge, sandy beach not far from it, there’s a very run-down zone which cries out for gentrification. And, indeed, there are some very splendid examples of this already, standing out like gold teeth in a mouthful of rotten molars. I can’t imagine it will look the same in even 5 years’ time. Especially as the city council is said to be moving residual (gypsy) residents elsewhere.
The traffic in Valencia city is not as bad at the weekend, of course, but there’s still a lot of horn-blasting, as drivers race to get through the next bloody set of traffic lights, slaloming down the main drags.
I took my younger daughter 21km to the airport this evening. We must have passed through more than 50 sets of traffic lights. Some of them on green. And the last one in a closely-knit group of 3 on red. I await the fine
Trump’s USA
Michael Kasdan, an attorney and NYU Law professor, has warned that with loyalists installed across the Justice Department, the FBI and every executive agency, Trump is “going to fight against Congress and the American people like a caged animal.” Just what an exhausted country needs. Will only the Grim Reaper stop him?
Meanwhile, what else will he insanely double down on? Fearing the worst would be a wise move. Anticipating it, even wiser. Think the unthinkable. After all,Trump does. Time and time again.
The Way of the World
- Western democracy was always a managed oligarchy. Now it’s breaking.
- Global warming: October was a record month virtually everywhere.
Spanish
- Canguru: kangaroo. Baby-sitter.
- Viruta: Chip. Shaving.
- Tornería: Machine shop.
Did You Know of?
The Great Horse ‘Flu of 1872.
Finally . . .
Did you know that ‘flu is short for influenza del diablo? The influence of the devil.
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.
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.
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 . . .
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.
