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 Loca in Galicia/Spain
It's reported that Pontevedra is the only Galician city with an increasing rate of Covid infections. And that medics allege it’s the fault of poorly-managed testing. I'm not at all sure how but I can say I've driven past the PCT testing point several times in the last week or so and have never seen a car waiting to enter it. Lots of car-parking space, arrows and ropes but no cars. Odd
It looks like I'm going to have to wait until April for my jab. Which might well kibosh a planned/hoped-for trip to the UK in March for the birth of my 4th grandchild.
My preferred supermarket chain - Mercadona - says it's going to pull out all the stops to reduced plastic packaging. Which rather surprised - and pleased - me, as I've had the impression for a while they were going n the opposite direction.
Large jellyfish have appeared in the river that flows round Pontevedra city. Global warming?
I had some wine delivered at the primera hora yesterday. As usual, this turned out to be 10am. Endorsing my long-held view that the standard adjustment measure for Spanish times - midday, lunchtime, dinnertime, etc. - is the addition of 2 hours. At least.
Here's Lenox Napier - on his Spanish Shilling page - talking of the plight of many Spanish villages suffering from 'bloodletting'. Of which we have quite a few in Galicia.
And here's something on one of our famous castros, from Max Abroad. Who does a fine job finding appealing places around Spain.
The UK/The EU
The British media continues to talk of Brexit happening at the end of this year, when in fact it took place at the end of last January. What we're nearing is the end of the transition phase, when there will or won't be a trade deal. No one knows right now.
The Way of the World
High culture: Cambridge University’s leaders have become embroiled in a free speech row with dons who are refusing to back a new rule requiring them to be “respectful of the diverse identities of others”. The Council of the 800-year-old institution has proposed a series of updates to free speech rules but academics have argued that the changes are “authoritarian”. Critics say the changes are “no doubt meant well” but the vague nature of their wording mean that they could be used to undermine academics’ freedom of speech rather than protect it.
Low culture: Caffeine hybrid shampoo - German engineering for the hair. Dear dog. How gullible do you have to be to pay a premium price for that?
Finally . . .
Life and its coincidences are sometimes eerie. Or 'spooky, as Dame Edna would say. Last night, I had the Manfred Mann song 'Come Tomorrow' going round and round my head. Typing this post, I switched on the the TV, to hear . . . guess what. Followed by the Moody Blues, whom I saw in The Cavern, back in the (famous) day.
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.