Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 15.5.21

 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' 

 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here.  

 

Covid  

Spain. More optimism?

The UK: In contrast, pessimism. The newish Indian variant, being more transmissible and possibly vaccine-resistant, could kaibosh plans for relaxations and delay the return to whatever normal used to be. Overseas summer holidays for Brits are looking less and less likely. You’d have to be pretty optimistic/stupid to book a holiday right now.

An interesting article on Ivermectin and its non-use. A minority view seems to be gaining wider acceptance.

Cosas de España/Galiza 

Mark Stücklin returns to the subject of squatters here, with a warning for those planning to buy property in Spain. Especially those who plan to leave it empty some of the time.

Those new speed limits . . . A foto guide. Not at all confusing. If you never exceed 20kph, you should be OK. Though not in Pontevedra city's one-way streets, of course.

Here's an article on the cleaning of Santiago cathedral. For some reason, the before and after fotos aren’t of the main facade, even though it’s no longer covered in blue plastic, I believe. As for the beautiful Puerta de Gloria, it used to be free to see this but, now it’s been re-painted, this costs €12. Maybe even more now.

I read yesterday about wild boar marauding in our hills but, as yet, nothing as outrageous as this . . . In the latest example of wild boars wreaking havoc in Italy, a group of them cornered a woman in a supermarket car park and stole her shopping.

Portugal 

A 2nd volte face in within 2 days. Now the Portuguese government has returned to the assurance Brits will be allowed into Portugal from Monday, May 17. Not May 30. Despite EU ‘rules’. Hence:-

The UK 

One wonders what this signifies: More than 5m EU citizens living in the UK have applied for settled status, nearly double the number thought to be residents before the 2016 referendum.

 

Religious Nutters/Crooks Corner

My favourite religious nutter: Self-proclaimed Christian “prophetess” Kat Kerr, who thinks there’s football in Heaven, that God will put back any baby lost through a miscarriage, and that God keeps a warehouse in Heaven for anyone who needs (for example) a new kidney, now claims she has definitive proof of angels. Kerr now says she has a picture of “Heaven’s Army” dragging demons, in chains, past the roof of her house. Just imagine what would've happened to this woman in, say, the 15th century. Or even the 19th.

 

English

The neologism cheugy: Pronounced chew-gee.

1. Used on the internet to denote lifestyle trends characteristic of the early 2010s, seen as the opposite of trendy or as trying too hard. Hence cheugs.

or

2. Aesthetics/people/experiences that are basic. Broadly, someone who's out of date.  

Finally  . . .

Irritating things on (British) TV.