God forbid that Spain should ever get the sort of Health and Safety Gestapo that stalks the UK but it’d be nice to see a little more concern for personal safety. And a little less of the cavalier attitude towards personal risk. Very fashionable at the moment are quad bikes - driven at great speed by young men who spurn the theoretically-compulsory crash helmet. So you won’t be surprised to read that, in Galicia alone, 5 of these have been killed just in the last month.

Actually, I was almost hit today by a quad bike emerging from a garden. But this wasn’t the most noteworthy episode of my morning; five minutes later, while crossing the bridge into town, I had to swerve to avoid being run down by a motorised invalid carriage whose driver was engrossed in texting a message on her mobile phone.

The good news of the last week is that the police in Valencia captured 513 kilos of cocaine. The less-good news is that 20 kilos of this has since gone walkabout. If you come across any of this, please call the Valencia police as they claim to be baffled by this development.

I’m indebted to a reader [see the comment on my blog of 2.8] for the explanation of why Spanish drivers stay in the outside lane of the motorway with their indicators on, even when there’s no traffic. They believe [know?] they can drive with impunity way above the maximum of 120 by claiming they were finishing an overtaking manoeuvre they started 20 kilometres back.

Quote of the Weekend

Couldn't we all do with builders who arrive and finish on time? My daughter made the cardinal error of believing the builders when arranging to move to her new home; it'll be at least three weeks from the due date before they can move in.
Terry Wogan, complaining about a piffling 3 weeks delay on the part of his daughter’s builders. How about 3 months? Or 3 years, even?