Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

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'* 

Living La Vida Normal in the Netherlands . . .

• The Netherlands v Spain 1: The people here are so damned quiet. Especially those who come up behind you fast on a bike or even a scooter.
• The Netherlands v Spain 2: A (pregnant) woman, outside her house door, backed into my path and then smiled, apologised and moved out of my way. I'm no longer used to such courtesies.
• The Netherlands v Spain 3: Dutch folk seem to say both Hello and Sorry with an English intonation.  And in the latter case they seem to mean it  . . .
• A Dutch vignette - A car driver giving way to a cyclist giving way to some ducks in the road.
• Wine prices - as elsewhere in the world - tend to be priced here, for example, as 7.99. But, unlike elsewhere, if you pay in cash you don’t get the 1 cent back in your. change. Because, in the Netherlands, the 1 and 2 cent coins exist only in theory. Very sensible, in my view, but it would be even better if the prices were ‘honest’ too.
• A shop in Gouda central station. Why Sissy-Boy??? . . .

Anyway, here's the Wiki entry.

Life Back Home 

• An interesting point . . . The COVID-19 crisis has made the la Line area’s reliance on Gibraltar even greater than normal, with the Rock giving about €500 million to the region every year.
• María's Day 40.

The EU

• Says a knowledgable observer: The real significance of the EU's latest agreement is that Brussels is now a full debt-issuing entity. Which means it will also start raising taxes directly from the citizenry, probably in small amounts at the very beginning from green taxes and the like but it won't take long for the scope and scale of its tax collecting activities to grow. In other words, like the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, the EU is now fully operational. And that, at a time when democratic norms are being eroded across the West, is a pretty scary proposition. 

Finally . . 

• By popular demand . . . Fotos of Haastrecht:-

2. A church:-

3. Possibly the vicar's fine pad, next door:-

4. The main street:-

5. Pub by the canal:-

6. The ancient bike which let me down:-

NB: The foto doesn't do justice to the rust. Nor to the ineffective brakes . . . 

* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.