After some help from murcian and a study of today’s papers, I’m a tad wiser on the Catalan political imbroglio. For one thing, I’ve taken on board that the local socialist party has a different acronym from the national party and that the president of the former probably favours one particular power-sharing deal viewed with horror by the centre. As for the next Catalan government, there are numerous alliance permutations arising from the [very Continental European] existence of several parties but I was rather intrigued by the suggestion of a columnist in our Voz de Galicia that the only option compatible with democracy is minority government by just one of these. Hardly a recipe for stability, I wouldn’t have thought.

I was asked by a Spanish friend last night whether it was true that the British who are piling into the area up near Ourense preferred to live away from their fellow countrymen and rather resented hearing the sound of another British voice in their local café or bar. He’d been astonished to read this in an account of the invasion in a local paper. When I said it was true, he shook his head in disbelief. Like all Spaniards, his instinctive reaction on hearing the voice of a compatriot anywhere in the world would be to rush up and start a long conversation.

The Spanish, of course, relish talking because it’s a key element of their love of life. Another reflection of the belief that we’re essentially here to have fun. Maybe this explains why Spain is at the bottom of the European list for book-reading. And getting worse, apparently. Only 53% of Spaniards over 14 read at least one book a month, which is ‘two points’ down on the last survey.

I had a visit today from the chap who’s going to increase the size of my satellite dish. He was very pleasant and efficient but, as is customary with all such technicians, arrived without some essential tool for the job. This time it was the little necessity of a ladder. Asking me if I had one, his excuse was that his company had given him a new car and he couldn’t fit one in the boot.