Thoughts from Galicia: 14.8.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.

- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain. 

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here.

Life in Spain:-

• Tourism - long important to Spain - now represents a higher percentage of GDP than the 'booming' construction ever did before its sudden collapse in 2008. It has different pluses and minuses, of course, and Don Quijones addresses them here, while pointing out the likelihood of mid-term reversals.
• Tomorrow, Tuesday, is a public holiday in Spain. Something to do with the Virgin Mary, I think. So today, Monday, is one of the country's famous puentes, or 'bridges'. When many folk take the day off. Or call in sick. Not a time to be on the roads, says El Tráfico, who warn us the jams will make it a nightmare under a hot sun.
• A survey tells us that clothes and booze are still relatively cheap in Spain but that telecommunications are a lot more expensive than elsewhere in Europe. As if we didn't know. And, in the case of my barrio, utterly inadequate for 15 of the 17 years I've been here.

Here in Galicia, property sales have begun to boom again, despite the fact that our cities boast many empty flats. One interesting aspect is that more than 50% of sales are now in cash. One wonders why.

As I've mentioned, this weekend saw the start of our annual fiesta in Pontevedra city. It's called Semana Grande, or the Big Week. Possibly because this 'week' runs from the 11th to the 21st of the month. And involves at least 2 spectacular firework display. At midnight, of course.

I'm more convinced that ever there's a Beggars' Bus which goes from town to town here in the Rías Baixas of Galicia. Or it might just be that our fiesta has drawn in the 2 or 3 new ones who've appeared in the last few days. Effectively, they're as itinerant as all the craftspeople who go from one place to another for the now-obligatory Medieval Fair every town offers during the summer. 

Here's a piece of doggerel which this development reminded me of yesterday:-

Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark.

The beggars are come to town.

Some in rags and some in tags,

And some in hand-me-downs

My friends Anthea and Phil told me last night that the last line in their neck of the northern English woods is:- And some in velvet gowns.

And here's a foto of one of the panhandling newcomers. Rather younger than most, I thought. Well, the first time she appeared, I did:-

By the way, I've probably committed an offence by not pixellating her face. But I don't know how to do it.

Which reminds me . . . Those charged under Spain's Citizen Security law - known colloquially as the Gag Law - numbered 3,391 over the last 18 months here in Galicia. The majority of these were for drug-related offences but just over 1,000 miscreants were charged with 'disobedience' or 'resisting authority'. Incidentally, with only 6% of Spain's population, Galicia managed to garner 17% of the national total of these offences. I'm guessing this is connected with our status as the leading gateway for Colombia's cocaine exports. Some of which don't leave the region.

Talking of offences . . . here's a foto that could well get me arrested in the UK, not a smile from the teachers accompanying this snake of kids linked by a rope:-

Finally . . .  I mentioned Hygge yesterday: Here's Private Eye on this topic recently:- "There is no direct translation of the Swedish word Lagom, but on the available evidence we may take it to mean 'lifestyle publishing fad' . . . Alert readers will have noticed that it is a bit like Hygge, the Danish concept of cosiness that singed a thousand bedside tables with unattended tea-lights. Like Hygge or, indeed Ikigai or Simplicité - two other recent publishing wheezes - Lagom is supposed to evoke an entire culture that is assuredly much better than yours. . . . It's all so painfully smugge."