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'*  

Covid 19  

• More food for ongoing thought:-

1. Exposing Coviid's 'orgy of incoherence'.  

2. Fascinating maps and charts of the 'uniquey bad' US situation.   

3. More endorsement of the Swedish approach. 

Living La Vida Loca 

• The Economist reports that much of the AVE high-speed train system here is poor value for money. Which is no great surprise. I'll post the article when I have it but here's El País in Spanish on this.
• The real problem caused by this excess expenditure on a prestige project has been neglect of the pre-existing rail system. The tracks of which owe much/most to the 19th century.
• I came across this sad cri-de-coeur yesterday, from someone autistic: In Spain everyone expects you to be extroverted and funny and be able to talk all the time about bullshit like sports or girls. People are quick to catch on that you're weird otherwise. I wish I lived in some country where being autistic is okay. In Spain, I suffer.
• Well, we've had fireworks every night this week, in one city square or another. This is unusual and I wonder whether it's compensation for the absence of several events this year. 
• Just before last night's we had a sort of light-show on the (infamous) reformed O Burgo bridge, with the usually-off side lights alternating between white, blue and purple. See these poor fotos:-

• •    I confess to wondering why money was invested in this feature. Will this light show be a regular feature or just an annual one, during our Peregrina fiesta in August? Either way, for whose benefit is it, given that there are normal lights to illuminate your way on the surface of the bridge?
• Talking of urban features . . . I had thought that there was only one 16th century house in Pontevedra with heads on the top of its facade but someone told me about this one, above the ferretería in Rúa Real. 

I imagine no one knows who they are here as well.

• Maria's chronicle of her lfie here in Galicia, Day 58.    

The USA

• President Fart talks:-

1. The 1917 Spanish flu [it was 1918-19] probably ended World War 2. He meant WW1, of course but even this claim would have been stupid.

2. The most horrible and disrespectful person in the USA. Talking not about himself but about Biden's running mate. A woman, of course. Fart only knows 2 types of women. 1. Nasty and 2. Willing.

Social Media 

• Hundreds of thousands of people are still trading fake reviews on Facebook despite promises that the platform would crack down on the problem. An investigation by the consumer rights group Which? found that Facebook was failing to halt “fake review factories” in which people offer freebies or money in exchange for positive reviews of products on Amazon.

English/Spanish

• Three more refranes:-

- There’s no accounting for taste: Sobre gustos y colores/no discuten los doctores/no hay nada escrita.

- There’s no smoke without fire: Donde hay humo, hay calor.

- Things always happen/come in threes: No hay dos sin tres.

Finally . . .  

• I've been deleting old comments to this blog, dating back to 2002. One, 10 years or so ago, said my profile foto reminded him of actor Robin Ellis, of Poldark fame. I checked and decided the reader was not only kind but shortsighted. Though possibly way back then . . .

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