A local priest is punishing those of his parishioners who’ve declined to make at a least a 12 euro contribution to a new sacristy. He’s said they’re disqualified from using any of the church’s services and shouldn’t even bother to turn up in a coffin. Perhaps the Pope will give him a call from Valencia and tell him about charity being ‘the greatest of these’.

It’s forecast the Constitutional Tribunal will face at least 16 appeals next year against the various statutes currently being negotiated between the central and regional governments. So not just a political distraction but also a judicial distraction as well. Though, if you have a constitutional court, I guess it has to do something other than tap its fingers.

Seven weeks to go before the end of the period of grace but so far I’ve seen no sign of changes being made in my favourite café to ensure compliance with the anti-smoking legislation. I am decreasingly optimistic, especially as I’m unlikely to carry out my threat to take my custom elsewhere; the tapas portions are just too generous. Not to mention the wine helpings.

Belatedly, my thanks for the nice message from the member of the Ex Wives Club. Given that this came with kisses, I’d guess it’s not from either of mine.

My thanks also to the reader who posted the explanation of jibarizar. I also got the following from Google:- La palabra ‘jibarizar’- ¿Se puede utilizar para indicar que se usan piezas de varias máquinas para arreglar o construir otra? . . . Podría servir para esa función si se indicara que la máquina resultante es más pequeña que la original. Por ejemplo, con el desguace de un barco grande se puede construir (jibarizar) un barquito. Lo fundamental de ‘jibarizar’ es la reducción de tamaño. En las fusiones de las grandes empresas suelen resultar unidades de menor número de empleados, es decir, jibarizadas.

And talking of the jibarizado English football team. . . a Spanish commentator has written that Italy’s superb performance last night was an example of how to compete that Spain was light years away from. I would ask where on earth this leaves England but we’re talking at least different planets here. Possibly even galaxies.