Folk who drive the wrong way down Spain's autovías are called kamikazes. The latest is a 69 year-old Brit who managed 26km before he was stopped. I can't help wondering whether his offence is considered more grave than wearing earphones while listening to a BBC4 podcast. And whether he gets fined more than 200 euros. Vamos a ver. Meanwhile, the most celebrated kamikake is still the quadriplegic who took a wrong turn off a roundabout and went 10 kilometres against the traffic en route to a brothel. In a motorised wheelchair.

Talking of driving, this is a car I snapped yesterday.

Hard as it may be to believe, here in Spain you're allowed to take it on the roads without any training whatsoever and without the need for a driving licence. That said, I don't think I've ever seen one on an autovía.

And talking of roads, it's reported that, thanks to the imminent bankruptcy of the toll operators, many of the excellent highways built in the boom years now face closure. Traffic, it's said, has reduced by two thirds. The prospect of everyone being forced to take the old two-land N roads is truly dispiriting.

And as for driving . . . I thought I was faring badly but how about this. And how about the excuse from the traffic wardens! Defies belief.

At dinner with my neighbours and friends on Friday night, I did my party trick of astounding them with the news that we don't have IDs or 'Family Books' in the UK. And that we don't have to provide ID when we use our credit cards and then sign a chit. Most disturbing of all for them was the fact we could journey from birth to death and never have need to use a notary. For notaries, thanks to the French and her Civil Code, are demi-Gods in Spain.

But do you have passports?

Yes. But it's not obligatory.

So, you carry them with you to prove who you are?

Well, no.

So, you could give a false name to the police?

Yes.

So, how does that work?

Well, very differently from here. And effectively. And perhaps you can understand why

we get a tad annoyed at the irritations of life here, like having to prove who you are to get a couple of bottles of wine on your credit card. And to use a bloody notary for just about anything serious you want to do.

Which reminds me . . . There is a very decent Rioja on the shelves here at the moment. It's called Coto de Imaz and I've seen wines from this bodega in the UK. In particular, try and get the Reserva 2008. This costs 8 euros here (which I used to think of as 5 quid) but by my rule of thumb this will work out at 8 pounds x 2 = 16 pounds. A bit pricey but a lot better than the 10 quid Riojas on the shelves.

I mentioned rationalisation of administrative levels the other, as something the government wasn't pursuing via an electoral pact. Well, the plans to eliminate many of the 8,116 municipal councils have come to nought, the only reform being the transfer of some powers upwards to the provincial governments (las diptutaciones). So, a chance well and truly missed.

Reading even half of this will give you a better understanding of why the Greeks haven't responded well to German-inspired austerity. And who can blame them?

The EU: As the Economist puts it:- One euro crisis may be over, but another has begun. The single currency is no longer under siege in financial markets, but it will not prove politically viable unless growth returns. Output has now contracted for six consecutive quarters in a recession stretching back to late 2011. The downturn is still steepest in southern Europe. Output fell by 0.5% in both Italy and Spain, the third- and fourth-biggest economies in the euro zone. But GDP is now declining in most euro-zone countries, including France, the area’s second-largest economy, which is back in recession following a second quarter of declining output, of 0.2%. The main exception remains Germany, the biggest economy, though it barely grew in the first three months of this year. I'd thought that a recession of this length qualified as a depression but apparently not. So there is some good news. More here.

Finally . . . I thought Spanish TV was bad. Brazil has a program called Miss Bumbum. Naturally enough, its purpose is to find the country's best arse. Female, of course.

It was a noisy lunchtime down in Veggie Square today. First off, there was possibly the worst violin player in the history of the world going from table to table, as if he were some maestro in a Hungarian restaurant. Not content with doing it once, he did it again. Perhaps because no one gave him anything the first time round. I seriously considered giving him 5 euros and telling him to piss off. Then there was the woman at the next table to me who couldn't talk without screeching. It reminded me of Thursday night, when I and two Spanish friends had sat behind a group of 8 Germans who, despite the fact they were all talking, were making scarcely any sound at all. My friends were great impressed at this skill and suggested they must all be lip readers.

Just in case you've been in a cave for the last day or so, here's a video of the Yellow Duckmarine going down in Liverpool's Albert Dock yesterday. Given there were more than 30 people on it, it seems miraculous no one drowned.

If you're au fait with English politics,you'll know who Nigel Farage is and what damage he's causing to the Tory party right now. In an article on him in this month's Prospect magazine, I was intrigued by this comment on the British character. Non Brits may disagree. Especially one down in Portugal - The characteristic that best defines the British people is that they have the finest bullshit detectors in the world. Go to any gathering in Britain - in a pie factory or in a palace, in Brixton or Brixham - the one character trait that we most admire and celebrate is a person’s ability to inhabit their character as proudly and directly and amusingly as possible. It’s the contortions we cannot abide. I guess400 years of democracy have brought us to this point. Or 800, if you count Magna Carta.

Finally . . . Senseless graffiti is the bane of Pontevedra. On the other hand, the good stuff is admirable. And here are some of the latter:-

And here's Pontevedra's oldest building, and the only one showing Moorish influence.

And a nice pharmacy.

And a funny little chapel entrance - no longer used - squeezed between two large modernish buildings.

Spain, like the UK, has a list of what are considered to be dangerous dogs. Apart from the usual suspects, it features the boxer breed. Which would come as a surprise to many of us, I suspect. It certainly did to the writer of a letter to El País this week, in which she stressed the dog was so good with kids it had official 'nanny' status in Britain. Be that as it may, it seems to have blotted its copybook here in Spain.

Being importuned by beggars is a risk taken by everyone who takes a coffee or beer in Pontevedra but rarely have I found myself, as I did today, being panhandled by 3 at virtually the same time. Including the gypsy crone who hasn't bothered me for more than 10 years. A sign of the times, no doubt.

God knows why I haven't come across this expression before since it encapsulates life here but here it is - Saltarse las normas a la torera. 'To flout the rules'. Torera itself means a bolero jacket or a female bullfighter but I've no idea how the idiomatic expression comes about. Perhaps someone could oblige. If anyone knows.

It's good to see that the Spanish president and the leader of the Opposition can come together in a cross-party agreement to tackle an issue in a non-partisan way. But it's a shame this had to be opposition to Brussels rather than, say, tackling corruption or reforming the political system to cut out surplus layers. In other words, they can get together to talk and oppose but not to take action. That's politics, I guess.

A week or so ago, the Spanish national rail carrier, RENFE, introduced a raft of cancellations to its services. The thing is, though, they didn't bother to give out any details in advance. Leading to a degree of chaos, as people arrived to take trains that no longer existed. Hard to imagine a better(worse?) case of poor customer orientation.

The latest development in the Is-princess-Cristina-a-crook saga, is that some whistleblower has admitted that the 15-16 employees on the payroll of the company used by her husband to move pubic money into his private pockets were fictitious. The other development is that, whereas one part of the Tax Office is saying she's got no case to answer, another is saying she certainly does, as her annual returns were, well, imaginative. All the more surprising, then, that she took part in a public engagement this week. The first for quite a long time. Perhaps she's been assured she's untouchable.

The EU: If Germany won't push off, will Italy? Given that - The country has one great structural problem: it is in the wrong currency with an intra-EMU exchange rate overvalued by 20 to 25%. See here for more on this.

Finally . . . A milestone has passed in the UK. There are now politicians there who are aspiring to be party leader and who use the modern(kiddies') pronunciation of modúhl and not the correct one of módel. Ditto hospitúl and hóspital. And several other assaults on my ears at least. The impact of Estuary English, I suspect. Newsreaders next, I suspect.

The latest issue of The Economist contains a review of "The Story of Spanish" - The languages of the Celts and the Iberians left little mark on Spain. The Phoenicians were no more successful, although they bequeathed a memorable nickname to posterity: I-shepan-ha, “land of hyraxes” (more familiar as Hispania). The Romans had better luck. . . . It was never obvious that Castilian would one day become Spanish. Of the kingdoms that reconquered Spain for Christianity, Castile was one of the least important. Neighbouring Asturias and Navarre were originally much bigger. But Castile’s place astride the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela helped it grow richer and more important, and after its merger with Léon it leapfrogged the others to lead the reconquest. . . . The official tongue of nearly two dozen countries, Spanish is one of the most important languages in history—but it punches far below its weight. . . . Although it is a single language, Spanish varies considerably. This befuddles advertisers who would aim to sell to the entire Spanish-speaking world, like the shampoo-maker who discovered that 'cabello chino' (“Chinese hair”) means curly hair in almost all Latin America save Ecuador, where it means straight hair. More here.

I said the other day that France wanted 'less Europe' for itself but more for everyone else, under the guise of more EU 'economic government'. The Economist puts this slightly differently; it sees an ailing France calling for harmonised taxes and convergent welfare systems as a French perception that the answer to her own lack of competitiveness is for everyone else to raise their labour and welfare costs. Germany, it seems, doesn't agree. Hence the rift in the Franco-German alliance that underpins the EU. The result, predicts the Economist, will be half-baked solutions emerging from the mid-year summit, most obviously as regards the banking union which everyone agrees is essential to save the euro, if not the EU. But which no one really wants. Or, like St Augustine, not just yet at least. 

Quotes of the Week

• We don't grow up; we just grow old.
• He is a man of splendid abilities, but utterly corrupt. Like rotten mackerel by moonlight, he shines and stinks.
• The Entente Cordiale is the expression of tendencies which are slowly but surely making war between the civilised communities of the world an impossibility - The Economist, June 1913. 
  

  
  

  Well,there was lots more I was going to write but I was invited next door at 9 for a dinner at 10 which actually started at 11 and I've just got home at 12.30. So, I leave you with more fotos of balconies . . . .

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

I was walking across the bridge into town this morning when a cyclist passed me on the road, without a helmet. I was shocked. A cyclist on the road and not the pavement. Unprecedented.

The Spanish word chorizo not only means, well, 'chorizo' but also 'thief'. Hence the cartoon in one of our local papers yesterday of a large baguette from which protruded the feet and the left arm of a person lying within. In the fist at the end of the arm was a Spanish flag. The title of the piece? Bocadillo de Chorizo or 'Chorizo' Sandwich. Says it all really.

A UK charity has awarded a gold medal to a Spanish dog for 'an outstanding act of bravery'' and 'exceptional dedication to duty and social commitment'. Forgive me, dog-lovers, but this is ridiculous. A dog has no concept of bravery and even less of reward in the form of a gold medal. It would have been more appropriate to honour its trainers. By which I don't mean its protective footwear.

Whenever the Pontevedra council raises a paving stone in the old quarter, it finds Roman remains. So it was, a few years ago, that they discovered by chance the original approach road to the Roman precursor to Burgo bridge, across which wend pilgrims on the Portuguese Way to Santiago. And then they found medieval houses alongside the road and even a Roman milestone. As this was back when money fell like manna from the sky, big plans were laid for full excavation and a museum. Indeed, work started on the project and, before long, you could walk both around and above the site and, if you were fluent in Gallego, read all the helpful notes. They even changed the road lay-out parallel to the site, removing a roundabout and permanently changing the traffic patterns across the bridge. A couple of years later, the observation gantries went. Then the extremes of the site disappeared back under grass. Then work stopped completely and the site became a feral cats' home, as does every place here when it's abandoned. Next all the buildings and roads were covered in sheet plastic, offering even more protection to the cats. Finally, it was announced a few weeks ago that the remaining remains would be covered in sand and then grassed over. So, all that one can hope is that this time a record has been place in the archives so that, when the good times return, someone will know exactly where to look. Which hasn't always been the case here - judging by the surprise which greeted the stumbling on a huge defensive ditch (fosa) below the city walls a few years ago. But at least in that case, after a year or two of doing nothing, the ditch was covered over and a nice little museum set up in it. As for the Burgo bridge site, this is what it looked like a few days ago. Enjoy it while you can.

I've just finished the Domingo Villar book I mentioned yesterday, lent to me earlier this week by visiting friends. Quite enjoyable but one minor aspect slightly annoyed me. There's a couple of references to 'flat-bottomed boats' in Vigo harbour or visible from Rande bridge. But anyone in Galicia would know these aren't boats but batías, or mussel-rafts. A sort of nursery for the creatures, which grow on chains hanging below the rafts. And are harvested when 'ripe'. Lots of pix here. Of course the reason for this mistake is that the translator isn't from Galicia and has gone with one of the standard dictionary definitions of batea as 'flat-bottomed boat or punt'. Not really good enough.

I mentioned a week or two ago a busy café that had been converted into the town's nth boutique. Well, I was told today that the owner hadn't planned to retire but had received an offer he couldn't refuse. My informant added it all only made sense if the place had been set up for money laundering. Passing it today, I wondered how this could be done if no one - as it seems - ever shops there. And then it dawned on me that there's really no need to have actual customers, just chits that evidence transactions that bring cash into the business. Ladies of straw. I was reminded of these three adjacent boutiques in a tiny street that goes up from Vegetables Square to the main square and which could hardly be described as a busy shopping thoroughfare. To say the least.

I should stress I'm not suggesting for a second that any of these fine establishments is involved in anything that isn't entirely above board; I'm simply repeating the idle gossip of the town and academically musing on the abstract subject of money-laundering.

To finish the subject of balconies - here's some handsome examples on a building which 5 or 6 years ago was a black shell. Shame it wasn't beautifully restored 10 years ago, when it would certainly have gained at least some tenants and wouldn't now be totally unoccupied.

Finally . . .  My Ferrol friend, Richard, has sent me this foto of impressive galerías in La Coruña. Pertinent facts:-

• 5 out of 6 floors are gallería'd. All but the ground floor.
• It's raining.
• The wind is blowing hard. You can't see this but it always is there.

The reason why Spain's 'old quarters' (cascos viejos) are so aesthetically appealing is that there's nary an ugly building in them. In stark contrast to the new barrios which surround them. Or, as a character in Domingo Villar's Death on the Galician Shore puts it, "In the past, there were were rarely any ugly buildings." There are, of course, buildings in decay - like these two below - but the dictum holds true for Pontevedra's gem of an old quarter.

Reader Sierra had pointed out that there are far finer galerías in the city of La Coruña, up on the windy and rainswept NW corner of Galicia. But it struck me today that - apart from the inclement weather - there's another reason. Up there, the impressive 6 or 7 storey buildings face the sea and its weather and every floor needs protection. Here in Pontevedra, where the streets are narrow, it's only the 3rd floor which is exposed to the elements. So there are no galerías needed for the lower floors. Only balconies.

Which is a nice lead into today's fotos. When I was taking these, by the way, I was constantly aware that I needed to be quick as people were about to walk into camera shot. Since I wasn't hard to see, I was forced to consider two explanations:- 1. They had seen me but didn't care, or 2. As I've said before, they lacked antennae and were unaware of that I was doing. I prefer the latter explanation as the former amounts to very bad manners where I come from.

But on to the pix . . . .

Final note on the galerías . . . They have a very modern use. Where the building houses offices, they fall within the definition of 'outside' for those who must smoke. Or so it seems.

You might think there'd be nobody in Spain dumb enough to protest against a monument on a university campus to the Civil War's International Brigade but, if so, you'd be very wrong. Far-Right lawyer Miguel García has pursued its demolition through the courts and won. On a technicality of planning law, it seems. Will he be suing next for the re-erection of all the Franco statues? And for the return of all the old street names dedicated to his monstrous generals? I wouldn't be overly surprised. You can almost guarantee he's a member of Opus Dei and needs to get something in return for all that self-flagellation.

As an aside, it seems that, if you run foul of Spain's planning laws, you'll be served with a demolition order if you've erected a small monument or if you're a British couple called Prior and you've bought a house legally and in all good faith; but not if you've erected any of the hundreds of thousands of illegal houses all over the country. Or even if you've built a particularly ugly hotel right on a beach. As I say, I guess it makes sense to someone. In an arbitrary sort of way.

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, 3 of the Spanish king's distant cousins have been implicated in a Chinese mafia money-laundering scandal. The latest names on the ever-revolving corruption conveyor belt.

Which sort of reminds me - If I were to ask you which EU countries' CEOs took home the highest pay, would you really come up with 1. Italy and 2. Spain? In the latter case, they pay themselves an average of 788 euros an hour, compared with 592 in the UK and 545 in France. Because they're worth it? En passant, the lowest paid workers in Spain get 3.85 euros per hour.

Galerías in Galicia are 1. Shopping malls under residential blocks, or 2. Glass-enclosed balconies on the outer walls of flats or whole buildings. There are lots of these in Galicia's coastal cities and Pontevedra is no exception. For some reason or other, I decided to photograph many of them today. And here they are, all from the old quarter, or El Casco Viejo:-

And, finally, here's Plaza de Verdura - Vegetables Square - as it looks today, with the Casa da Luz in the background.