Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: News from Hamburg, Germany: 12.11.18

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 pagehere. Garish but informative.

Matters Hamburg/German

It was miserablly wet weather this morning. So, not the best day for taking a ferry boat along the river Elbe and back. But this is what my host and I did, and here - to add a bit of colour - is the ferry boat . . .

We also took a look at the old tunnel under the Elbe, built over a 100 years ago but now used only by pedestrians and cyclists:-

Here's a couple of decorative features which no one would spend money on these days:-

At the end of this post are fotos of 5 of the 'old' minis I've banged on about, all parked within 50m of the flat I'm staying in, in the Eppendorfer Baum barrio of Hamburg.
On a camino earlier this year, I developed a list of 15 criteria for the perfect public toilet. As far as I can tell, here in Germany these are usually in the 14-15 range. Not so in Spain, as I recall. But I guess it helps that the charge in the really public toilets here is 50 cents, though not for those in bars, restaurants and (most) museums. I doubt anyone would think of writing the guide to German WCs that one 'pilgrim' told me last summer she was planning for toilets along the camino. Draw your own conclusions from this.
In the UK sprouts are generally a once-a-year vegetable – an accompaniment to a huge roast turkey Xmas dinner. Having seen some in a local supermarket, I guess they're a less unusual/infrequent vegetable here. It takes all sorts. Perhaps they rank as a treat for vegans.
Which reminds me . . . One high spot of the trip to the Baltic yesterday was a delicious herring sandwich. Another was witnessing a Ukrainian waitress responding well to the rather idiosyncratic sense of humour of my half-English, half-German host. Usually he just upsets one party or the other. Or, at least, leaves them rather confused. Well, you can't please all the people, etc. And I can usually be relied on to laugh. Or smile.

Matters Spanish

Under the recently defenestrated, (right-of-centre) PP government, the policy in respect of solar energy defied both belief and common sense. But the new (left-of-centre) government has returned to the prior policy of encouraging and subsidising the use of the sun. And has abolished the 'sun tax' imposed by the PP government after its sudden U-turn a few years ago. Perhaps the PSOE have fewer friends in the traditional energy sector. So has less to worry about by way of a financially adverse reaction . . .
I confess to knowing very little of Lorca's works. So this Guardian article was instructive.

Spanish

Word of the day: Pacho/Pachá. Again new to me.
If you're struggling to master Spanish – or any other language – this article from The Olive Press might just help.

Finally . . .

Here's some good news, I guess - A 5 minute neck scan can predict which people are at greater risk of developing dementia a decade before symptoms appear, a study has shown.

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain