Valencia has an annual fiesta which involves the creation of numerous large ‘satirical’ mannequins which are paraded and then burned. Given Spain’s colourful history, it’s normally a racing certainty some of these will be irreligious and some will depict Moors and Arabs. But not this year, apparently. The participants are said to have to have imposed some discipline upon themselves so as to avoid upsetting Muslim sensitivities. Out of respect? Or fear?

If you’re flying with Iberia on a late night flight, you might like to know that, if it’s ‘delayed’ and you are put on the first flight the next morning, this doesn’t count as a cancellation. So you won’t be compensated in any way. There seem to have been rather a lot of such delays recently. Some cynics have gone so far as to suggest there’s a deliberate policy operating here, when flights are not full. Surely not. Would any company today really treat its customers in such a cavalier fashion?

Speaking of Telefonica - With my March bill came 1. Yet another [highly profitable] increase in the fixed charges, and 2. Loudly trumpeted advice that – compulsorily – they will henceforth be charging by the second for calls to mobiles. Hidden away in the Notes is the information that the fixed ‘set-up’ cost of each call will virtually double. This must mean that for short calls – e. g. to an answerphone – the cost will now go up. Very considerably so if you’re paying a low rate under a contract.

You wouldn’t have thought so from looking at them but Spain has the oldest fleet of cars in Europe. More than a third are said to be older than 10. The government of Madrid has decided to do something about the emission problems this entails and, from 2008, will ban cars more than 13 years old. By 2010, the limit will be 10 years. I wonder if this will impact on the surprisingly high price of second-hand cars here.

An interesting quote from an article in Prospect Magazine on the devolution of greater powers to Scotland and Wales under the changing UK constitution – Will Scotland support stronger powers for Wales? Or is the dynamic of devolution an envious one, a game of leapfrog in which the Scots seek permanently to keep one step ahead, as we have seen happen with the vanguard regions in the historic nationalities of Spain?

So the EU ban on importing beef from Britain has now been lifted in full. I wonder if the French will take any more notice of this than they did of the 1999 partial lifting. Or whether the EU Commission will, this time, fine them if they don’t. As if.

Another drunken ‘kamikaze’ driver was arrested on Tuesday, after driving 12km the wrong way down the A6 north of León in the small hours of the morning. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll surely know by now this is the time of day to stay well away from Spanish roads.