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Tuesday, August 07, 2018

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 7.8.18

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable. 
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain. 

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here. Garish but informative.

Spain
  • Here's The Guardian on the right-wing reaction to the upsurge in would-be immigrants. The levels, by the way, are still below those of earlier years.
  • Reader Sierra has supplied this latest example of the application of the PP government's infamous 'gag law', under which it's dangerous to do anything which a policeperson would regard as disrespectful of him/her(zim/zer?).
Life in Spain
  • If you're planning to take a train in Spain this holiday month, my advice would be to either get to the ticket desk at least 30 minutes before departure or avail yourself of one of the nearby machines. Yesterday, I experienced 20 and 30 minute waits in Pontevedra and Vigo while the residual, non-vacationing ticket clerks dealt with couples who clearly wanted to discuss every possible option for travelling around Spain by train. Without too much (any?) consideration for the line of worried travellers building up behind them. Una verguenza, said one of my fellow queuers.
  • Here's The Local with (again?) 'Spain's 10 weirdest museums'. Possibly different from these. And these
The UK
  • Officially, there are almost a quarter of a million of Spaniards living in the UK. Here's what a survey says they find most odd about the place. Strangely, not from The Local
Galicia and Pontevedra
  • Santiago Cathedral's marvellous Portico de Gloria was recently restored to its original splendour. But this was probably not part of the plan . . .
  • Owners of kiosks in a sale of artefacts in Pontevedra have endorsed my observation that there are far fewer foreign tourists than last year in Pontevedra this month. I wonder if it's because the hot weather in the UK and elsewhere has led to far more 'staycations'. Or to more holidays at home-country resorts. Foreign 'pilgrims' are, of course, well advised not to do the camino in August. And some take the advice.
  • The post-corrida drunken revels on Saturday night in Pontevedra resulted in 9 youngsters being admitted to hospital with alcoholic poisoning, plus 14 injured in fights.
  • A propos . . . The son of my neighbour last night confirmed my suspicion that some of the females having alcohol bought for them by older friends or relatives are as young as 12.
  • On Sunday, A 47 year-old Baque chap cycled the entire French Way in just under 24 hours, setting a new record. When he arrived at the square in front of Santiago cathedral, one of his relatives – trying to help him brake – knocked him off his bike. Resulting in a broken collar bone, 'many bruises' and an unplanned trip to the hospital . . .
  • You might have cheese-rolling competitions in the UK but we have straw-bale-rolling here in Galicia . . .
Finally . . .
  • Readership: Having finally eliminated Amazon bots, I now know the real(?) number is somewhere between the 2 (very high and very low) numbers on my Blogger 'dashboard'. Yesterday, the main countries of origin were:-
- Spain: 40%
- The UK: 33%
- The USA: 14%

No huge surprise there.

© David Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 7.8.18

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