The young men of Galicia persist in their mission to eradicate themselves on the roads. Three more this weekend, in the Pontevedra province alone, aged 21, 23 and 24. All, tellingly, in single-car accidents. And ‘For reasons as yet undetermined’.

It’s traditional in Spain to talk of the ‘incline of January’, meaning the difficulty many families have of getting to the end of the month after the two gift-fests of Christmas and The Kings. Not to mention the 5 expensive family dinners inside two weeks. These days, though, it seems readily available credit has softened the gradient for many. The same factor probably accounts for the festive spend being significantly up on last year, even in real terms.

Which reminds me, at 3.8% Spain’s 2005 inflation was again the 3rd highest in the EU, after Latvia [7.1] and Slovakia [3.9]. The smell of burning must be coming from an overheated economy, unrestrained by any fear that the value of the country’s currency will reflect the problem. It can only end in tears.

Telefonica, my favourite company, has 18 different ADSL packages on its web site. As ever, all of them have 3 or 6 month introductory offers. If you want to know what the price is after this, you have to click Ver precios [See prices]. I probably don’t need to tell you this but, if you do, nothing happens. Perhaps – as with the Corte Inglés site – it’s all my fault for having a suboptimal browser. And not, God forbid, because Telefonica would rather you didn’t find out.

The number of phishing emails demanding I regularise my account with one or other Spanish bank has now risen to over 200 in the last 2 or 3 of days. I wonder if I’m being singled out for special treatment because of the letter of complaint I sent to the MD of one of them. If so, I think I prefer the customary silent response.