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   

• If you arrive in the UK from Portugal at 4am tomorrow, you won't have to self-quarantine for 2 weeks. If you arrive at 3.59, you will have to. As if.
• France, Spain, Germany and Italy are facing the most serious coronavirus outbreaks since the lockdown after holiday travel and social-distancing fatigue [especially in Spain?] allowed the disease to spread again. There are concerns that cases could rise further in Europe as tourists return home and their children go back to school. 
• Spain has recorded more than 3,000 new cases in a day, the highest increase since its lockdown ended on June 21. Although a countrywide return to lockdown has yet to form part of the national conversation, officials are concerned at the trend. However, they note the type of cases is different from the spring peak. Sixty per cent of cases are asymptomatic, compared with probably 90% of cases being very serious in March. The rapid rise in cases is attributed to an excessively fast easing of lockdown rules and fatigue. “We were psychologically exhausted and this undoubtedly made people relax. We underestimated the risk. There’s no evidence that the virus is weaker. We could go back to the spring pandemic at its worst.”
• Says a Granada nurse: “In March, we were the heroes, and we got applause each night. Now, seeing how many people are going out partying without giving a damn about the rules, that applause feels like it was meaningless.”

Living La Vida Loca  

• Well, after 27 tries yesterday, I'm again calling the comisaría this morning. With an equal degree of success.
• A tad shocking to read yesterday that, in Pontevedra province, the promised minimum income has so far only been received by 0.5% of those entitled to it. More bureaucratic sloth?
• And disturbing to read that, if you're hit by squatters(okupas), it'll take at least to a year to get them before a judge, who is then most likely to hit them with a fine - for a 'minor offence' - rather than any sort of eviction order. So, what's to lose, if  you're never going to pay the fine? Needless to say, the problem is growing. Especially in a month when folk leave their properties vacant to go on a holiday.
• There was a machine and crew again on the reformed O Burgo bridge yesterday, attending - I think - to the lighting system. I wonder when it really will be finished.
• Which reminds me . . . I saw a couple of camino 'pilgrims' on it yesterday. A mere trickle compared with the torrents of recent years. Back to 2009 levels. They were drenched on Tuesday and will be again today. Though the sun shone a lot yesterday, giving them some dry relief.
• I've finally figured out why this pedestrian bridge is so wide . . . It's to allow groups of cyclists to spread out so they can cause maximum inconvenience and irritation to those of us on foot.
• I was wondering yesterday whether Spanish - with all its gender aspects - would provide greater problems than non-gendered English does for the woke generation of ‘snowflakes’. Copas de nieve, in Spanish. And 'Stay woke' appears to be either Mantener despierto or Mantener alerta.  

 English/The USA 

• My elder daughter works for a major international consultancy. This is how I know that the latest euphemism for 'sacked' in the USA is 'transitioned out'. "What's in a phrase", someone didn't once ask.

English/Spanish

• Three more refranes (from a sheet ripped up by my grandson):-

- What the boss says goes: Donde hay patrón, no  Manda marinero.

- What you see is what you get; No hay mas cera que la que arde.

- What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts: Lo que se pierde en una cosa se gana en otro.

Finally . . . 

• Here's a foto of the (possibly) acceptable 'Japanese knotweed' (Persicaria capitata) from outside my front gate:-   

• If  you get the impression my posts are rather rushed - albeit late - this week, you're right. A very active 19 month old in the house can change your priorities quite substantially. Or at least your time allocations.

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