By Anglo Saxon standards, not much moves fast in Spain. And certainly not in August. The obvious exception is anything on wheels with a motor attached. In contrast, apart from the AVE to and from Madrid, few Spanish trains proceed at much above a snail’s pace - thanks mainly to antiquated track systems. So it’s all the more surprising that the reason given for a fatal crash near Palencia on Monday was ‘excessive speed’. The driver, it was quickly announced, had been doing more than twice the maximum permitted. Just as in the case of an even more fatal accident on the Valencia metro last month. In this case, the city council has pronounced the disaster ‘unavoidable’. One wonders just how and why but, as they say a commission of enquiry is unnecessary, we will probably never know.

When my elder daughter was living here with me, she had a pupil from Madrid who insisted Pontevedra was the noisiest city in a very noisy country. Neither of us really believed this. But she now lives in the centre of the capital city and, when she was here recently, said she now accepted this. But this may be because her room here is closest to the endlessly barking dogs, the pile-driving on the building site in front of the house and, last but not least, the inconsiderate Catalans who prattle loudly into the very small hours of every summer night. And then, of course, on the other side there’s nice-but-noisy Tony, his eternally-crying 4 year old and his father-emulating 9 year old. When I list all these, I do wonder how I stand it. I guess the nocturnal ear-plugs are part of the answer. Plus loud music. Which then contributes to the noise pollution.

Language Promotion: Yes, I agree that attitudes in the 3 Spanish ‘nationalist’ regions are a reaction to oppression under Franco. But, even if understandable, I feel it’s a great shame things are now being taken to the opposite extreme. Denying the existence of Spanish is not the way to go. The ‘co-official’ languages surely both have their place in each of the regions. Especially for those who want to communicate with the rest of the world. Or even – in the case of Galicia - with tourists who don’t come from, say, Ourense or Lugo. Everyone speaking only Gallego in Galicia would be economic madness for a poor region. And not too clever from a cultural point of view either.