The police in Zarragoza yesterday arrested 68 drivers who were bent on racing between Benidorm and London - in emulation, I suppose, of Burt Reynolds in the 70s movie Cannonball[?]. But with their own hair. And not quite so bent.

Mind you, this is nothing compared with one of our home-grown heroes. On Sunday night the police in Vigo arrested a man for driving at very high speeds through the centre of the city. I say ‘arrested’ but what actually happened is that they pulled him out of his wrecked car after he had finally shunted it into three others. His terrified passenger claimed that he had pleaded with him to slow down after he had seen the needle go above 190kph, or 119mph. Before that it was just fun, presumably.

The Spanish government has asked Brussels to accept Euskadi, Galician, Catalan and Valencian as official languages. It is not all clear whether this is of any practical significance, e. g. in adding to the existing tower of Babel, or is just a deft [but empty] political move in the Spanish context. Meanwhile, though, it has been reported that the new voting equipment in the Spanish parliament has buttons labelled only in English. You couldn’t make it up, could you?

Today, Pontevedra. Tomorrow, Paris?? In the last few days I have come up behind young women with ‘SEXY GIRL’ and ‘RICH’ spread expansively across their be-jeaned buttocks. In the former case, the 4 inch high, sparkly letters would be hard to miss even at midnight. I have said to my daughters in the past that Spanish women are not exactly behind the door when it comes to highlighting their secondary sexual characteristics but this is taking things a tad too far, perhaps. Though it would be a mistake to construe this as a complaint.