I happened today upon a web site offering advice on how to do business in the Spanish culture. I could sympathise/empathise with most of it but was struck by the lengths gone by the author to be diplomatic. I particularly appreciated this bit – Punctuality is expected of foreign visitors. However, you may sometimes find your Spanish counterparts arrive up to 30 minutes late. And this – It is best to arrange initial business meetings for mid-morning due to the relatively unusual structure of the Spanish working day. Presumably this means your counterparts probably won’t have returned from lunch when you are wanting to leave for dinner.

In a national survey this week, most regions in Spain showed 75% support for the imminent points-based driving licence and said they expected it to reduce mortality numbers. Here in Galicia, however, the statistics were reversed, with 70% of respondents being unsupportive, on the grounds it would achieve little or nothing. Other than the possibility somebody got a page upside down, I’m at a loss to explain this dichotomy. One thing’s for sure - it won’t do much for Galicia’s reputation for backwardness. Even if they are right.

Here’s something new – a positive banking story. I spent a lot of time on the phone yesterday with one of the banks I use and was singularly impressed with the way they went about things, particularly their willingness to cut corners to accelerate matters so that a deadline could be met. The sting in the tail, of course, is this was my British bank, First Direct, who have always given excellent service. Meanwhile, back here in Spain you may not be surprised to hear I've now been waiting 3 weeks for a response of any sort to a letter I wrote to the MD of the BBVA complaining about a 2 month delay in getting an answer to a query about an investment. And today CitiBank asked me to fax them a 4th copy of my Identity Card so they can send me the credit card I applied for on 8th October. You couldn’t make it up. So thank God they’re cheap. As if. It all reminds me of something an American R&D director once said to me, ‘They may not be efficient but at least they’re slow’.

And tomorrow I have to start the process for renewing my residence permit....