I see Spain’s President was on the phone immediately to the German Chancellor to advise he didn’t support the proposed takeover of a Spanish utilities company by a German operator. I’d be prepared to take a large bet Tony Blair never called Mr Zapatero to say he didn’t support the Banco Santander purchase of the Abbey national last year. And I don’t suppose Mr Z called Mr B to tell him he’d throw a spanner in the works, if Mr B was against the acquisition. Capitalism works to different rules on the Continent, of course. Especially south of Paris.

We’ve been advised again the 500 euro note is remarkably popular in Spain, where 59% of the EU’s notes of this denomination are currently in circulation. Experts tell us this means the country’s black economy is in fine fettle. Though one doesn’t need to be Einstein to figure this out, especially as the housing market continues to boom.

Someone was run over yesterday on the zebra crossing near the roundabout where I’ve nearly been killed several times. I can’t say I was terribly surprised. More relieved it wasn’t me.

And talking of roundabouts, I’ve mentioned this one before. First they constructed a circle, then they deconstructed it and now they’ve reconstructed it again. Throughout this [long] process, I’ve wondered whether they were going to force two lanes of traffic on the town’s busy ring road to suddenly bend its way around this feature. And now it looks like they really are, despite the fact the artificial inset built into what was the verge is not as long as a truck. Again, it doesn’t take genius to work out trucks in the inside lane aren't going to weave left at this point and so will cut across the trajectory of cars in the right lane who have no choice but to do so. I will post a picture of the first crash, which can’t be long coming. My bet’s on the truck.

Our friend Francisco Umbral . . . Here’s part of Wikepedia’s section on him. Given its style, I have a strong suspicion it was contributed by himself:- He was one of the reporters who best was able to describe the countercultural movement known as La Movida, but his literary quality undoubtedly came from his creative fecundity, his linguistic sensibility and the extreme originality of his style, very careful and complex, creative in its syntax, very metaphorically developed and flexible, abundant in neologisms and intertextual allusions; in sum, of a demanding lyric and aesthetic quality. He practices a species of anti-bourgeois criticism of customs and manners, without renouncing a romantic ego, and, in the words of Novalis, has the intent of giving the dignity of the unknown to the everyday, impregnating it with a desolate tenderness. As a political reporter, Umbral is a highly trenchant writer. Having become a successful journalist and writer, he worked with Spain's most varied and influential magazines and newspapers.

You’ll be pleased to know my editor says that’s quite enough of bloody Umbral.