Three men are cutting down [and up] the eucalyptus trees on the other side of the road from my house. Although they’re using power saws, none of them is wearing safety glasses or ear plugs. Nonetheless there have been no reports of death or even injury so far. On the one hand, this may prove that they know what they’re doing. On the other, it may not. So I’ve moved my car 50 metres down the road, just in case they miscalculate with the huge trees directly opposite that have somehow rooted themselves right on the edge of a granite escarpment. This may not save the house but at least I’ll be able to drive down to my insurance company.

Here’s two things you may not know about Christmas cards in Spain:- 1. They’re not a local custom, and 2. It’s difficult to deliver them by hand to flat dwellers. The former is a blessing but the latter is a nuisance. It arises from the fact that all the mail boxes are inside the front door. If I were less English, I’d press one [or possibly all twenty] of the intercom buttons and shout ‘Postman!’ as soon as I got a response. But I’m not. Not this year, anyway. Roll on Xmas 2005.

Good to read that the teaching of Spanish is rising rapidly in the UK, at the expense of French and German. I’ve beaten into my two daughters that, with English and Spanish, you can go anywhere in the world. I'm pleased to say they can now cry in both languages.