Dawn

Dawn

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

A reader last week asked me to explain the British attitude to identity cards. Well, I'll certainly try but not until I'm back in Spain. Meanwhile, though, here's an example of how things are simpler in the UK. I had to go to the central post office to get a package which had arrived when I was out. A little to my surprise, I was told to bring some identity as well as the delivery slip but no photo was demanded of me. And certainly no identity card. So a credit card was sufficient. This is more than used to be the case but is still less onerous than in Spain. But it's not hard to guess what will happen when identity cards have been foisted on an unwilling population.

Carving a leg of lamb roasted by my mother on Sunday, I noticed it was missing not just the knuckle but also the wonderfully tender piece of meat that used to be just alongside or below it. As this was always my [self-bestowed] reward for carving, I asked my mother why it wasn't there. 'EU regulations!' she said. Can this really be true? If so, it's surely high time to quit the doomed enterprise.

The British police are cracking down on the use of mobile phones by drivers, making use of speed cameras to get the evidence. A reporter in a national newspaper endorsed this decision on the basis she'd seen 6 people breaking the law in the space of only an hour. 6 in an hour? This is truly pathetic by Spanish standards. A mere 5 minutes would more than suffice there.

A sign of the times in the UK . . . Next to the tee of one of the holes on the municipal golf course near my parents' flat is this notice:- 'Golfers are reminded it is a criminal offence to deliberately aim a golf ball at the house of any of our neighbours'. Apparently, you can hit the residents themselves with impunity.

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