Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 28.6.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable. 

                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Spain

• The news is of a Europe-wide heatwave, with even UK temperatures forecast to rise to 29 or 30 degrees. Quite low by the standards of parts of central Europe. I hope I'm not guilty of schadenfreude (or even just smugness) to say we're luxuriating today in a  temperature of only 25, softened by sea breezes . . .
• The BBC reports here on the government's fight against the scandalous maltreatment of (already low-paid)   workers, which defrauds both the employees and the Treasury. 
• I might have already posted this El País article on Villar de Domingo García and its Roman treasure(s).
• Desperate times, desperate measures. From the Tax Office, the Hacienda.
• The Camino de Santiago . . . I've talked of the numbers on the Portuguese Way these days but these are nowt compared to those on the last 100km of the French Way, from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela. Which I've compared to a crowded elevator, or airport walkway. But that's not the worst thing. This is the utterly thoughtless cyclists, most of whom come up behind you at top speed, shouting for you to get out of their way as they get close to you. Sometimes very close. But even these are not as infuriating as those who weave in and out of walkers without any warnings at all. I thought of this again last night when reading this in a forum: Not the biggest fan of the last 100 kms. Rudest locals. Most commercial. The crowds did not bother me at all, but the cyclists turned into real maniacs; walked 400+miles not a problem with one bicyclist; but during the last 100 kms almost got ran over several times. You've been warned!

The USA 

• Stock exchanges decided they no longer wanted to function like public utilities operating in the public interest to create a fair and efficient market place for stock trading in America and would instead become whore houses for high frequency traders at the Wall Street mega banks and hedge funds. See here for more on this sorry saga.
• And talking of vicious creatures . . . 

Spanish

• Word of the Day: Pasta. A versatile word.

Finally . . .

• Off to Santiago today, with a visitor. Here's George Borrow's take on the place, with his wildly wrong prediction that its glory as a place of pilgrimage would continue to fade away. Though it would be fair to say that the majority of today's 'pilgrims' fall into the 3rd of these categories offered to you as you seek a certificate to prove you've done the last 100km (the Compostela):

1. Religious reasons
2. Religious and cultural reasons
3. Purely cultural reasons.

The question for folk facing these choices is where the most common (and, to me, meaningless) 'spiritual reasons' fits . . .