Now that the Catalan politicians have made huge steps in the direction of achieving ‘nation’ status, they’re consolidating this in a number of impressive ways. Firstly, they’ve inaugurated the Miss and Mr Catalan Nation beauty competitions and sought inclusion in worldwide events of this nature. Secondly, they’ve demanded recognition of Catalan’s status in the worldwide organisation for the sport of Pitch and Putt. Almost worth dying for.

And talking of pariahs, the local gypsies have figured twice in the news this week. Firstly, Galicia’s Supreme Court has confirmed the local council can knock down the 10 illegal shacks on land earmarked for an industrial park. Mind you, the council has said they lack the resources to do this so it may take several more years before we see anything happen. This might be because the council is only too aware that the second incident involving the gypsies was a shoot-out at one of the pay booths on the nearby autopista. This was between members of the same family. So imagine how they treat strangers.

In Pontevedra this week we had the re-opening of a bridge which had been under repair for some time. Ten minutes after the Mayor had finished the opening ceremony a truck and a bus crashed into its lowered roof. That’s the trouble here; everyone’s in too much of a hurry.