The ‘modernising’ socialist Spanish government is holding a conference for the presidents of all the country’s 17 regions [‘autonomous communities’]. The agenda includes the financing of the communities, amplification of the powers of their governments and [yes!] their participation in the EU. At the same time, the central government is presiding over a debate on the construction of the Senate. So, if you are a community president, these are exciting times - which possibly explains why one of them had a heart attack last night. But one can’t help wondering whether the lid has been taken off Pandora’s box. Will the Spanish government really have any rationale for its existence once its power has been lost to Brussels on one hand and to the regions on the other? Or will it be the first country in the world to have both a constitutional monarchy and a constitutional executive?

The dreadful events in France are being followed here with possibly even more interest than elsewhere. One reason for this is that economic migrants from Spain 30-40 years ago tended to end up in the appalling Paris ghettos. So there’s more knowledge here of the situation than in other countries. Plus, Spain has its own large inflow of African immigrants and so is asking itself whether riots could happen here. Possibly not, as Spain’s immigration problem is of much more recent origin and so the problem doesn’t exist of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants who are disaffected citizens. Or at least not yet.

Finally, a bank story with a smile – I wanted to make an emergency transfer today to my daughter in Madrid but had given instructions on Friday for my spare funds to go on short term deposit. Happily, the bank had indulged in their normal sloth and hadn’t carried out my instruction on either Friday or Saturday. So the money was still in my current account and I could make the transfer early this morning. I had feared Sod’s Law would operate to complicate matters but even this universal law seems to have no force in Spain.

For new readers – If you’ve arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, you might find my non-commercial guides interesting – at colindavies.net