A Spanish friend told me today that, when she visited her boyfriend in the UK and they went away with another couple for the weekend, she’d been shocked to find everyone took to reading after breakfast. For the Spanish, she added, the only correct form of behaviour in the presence of others is to talk. As if I needed telling.

Then this evening someone asked me why the Spanish are such inveterate conspiracy thinkers. Maybe, I ventured, it’s because where conversation is mandatory it gives you something better than the weather to talk about.

Galicia Facts

The Galicians are renowned for their superstitions. Two I’ve heard about this week are the throwing of stones over the church roof [to ward off evil witches, apparently] and the taking part in a procession whilst lying in a coffin, to expiate your sins. The former naturally results in more injuries to the participants than the latter, as there are no rules as to which side of the church you should throw your stones from. And if there were, no one would obey them.

Beats boring reading, I suppose.

And possibly even talking.