Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 10.5.21

Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable

- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain' 

NOTES: 

1. Yesterday’s Carlin should have been John, not George (a late US comedian).

2. If this is later than usual, it’s because I’ve spent 5 hours failing to solve the problem of the 2 non-functioning USB ports on my newish Mac Air and then trying to get my old Mac up and running on. Which is slow and has a US, not Spanish, keyboard . .

3. If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.    

My thanks to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for one or two of today’s items. Especially as I can’t access my notes on the Mac which can’t be charged up . . .

Covid  

Spain: The restrictions - or lack of them - in your region, as of yesterday.

Cosas de España/Galiza

The lockdowns haven’t resulted in a baby boom. The birth rate remains stubbornly low and in the first quarter of this year was 9% down on last year. All that cohabitational stress, I imagine.

Pontevedra had the second worst birth rate last year. It was 10% down.

Pontevedrans made 58% more complaints against banks last year than in 2019. Which is hardly surprising in view of the massive deterioration in the service available from fewer and fewer branches and even ATMs. Not to mention the re-introduction of account charges, and nil interest. Needless to say, profits are well up this year.

I imagine the increase in complaints against the telecoms companies was even higher, despite the fact our corrupt politico-corporate nexus lumbers us with prices among the highest in the EU.

We have a cellulose factory on the outskirts of Pontevedra city. Despite the fact it’s the only major employer here - apart from the bureaucracy, of course - our (Galician Nationalist) mayor has been trying to get rid of it for at least 20 years. There’ve been several false dawns in that period but now the regional President has said nothing is going to be done without EU funds to finance a transfer of the factory elsewhere. Brussels probably has higher priorities. So we’ll continue to suffer from the (occasional) awful smell it emits. La Celulosa, not Brussels.

My favourite restaurant features in today’s Diario de Pontevedra. I can’t get a link to the article, so here’s a (poor) foto of the lovely owner and her Moroccan Iftar feast:-

María’s Level Ground: Days 35 & 36 A more serious problem than mine . . .

Finally  . . .

I’m told that the label I cut off my new shirt yesterday contains a microchip, for security purposes.