Several policemen in Madrid have been tried for selling explosives. Some of them have been sent to prison but some not. The former include a couple who spilled the beans about the operation. They were found guilty of something like ‘revealing secret information against the public interest’. Which sounds to me rather like a charge left over from the Franco era.

The Valencian government is to use aerial photography to locate illegal housing developments. I can’t believe the task is so challenging down there. With so many mayors being arrested, it occurred to me today we could have a national media campaign featuring the sort of photos one sees in hotels and stores of ‘Employee of the week”. We could a mug shot of the Greediest Mayor of the Week. Or – given the numbers – of the day, even

Interviewed in one of our local papers, a lady who likes her cigarettes said “This ban on smoking is not fair. I’m not going to pay 100 euros to eat a meal where I’m not allowed to be comfortable.” Stuff the comfort of others, then. But I’m sure her ‘individualistic’ attitude is not representative of smokers in general.

Galicia Facts

No sooner do I quote the article about Galicia being like a piece of Gruyere cheese than events overtake us. I wrote last week about subsidence in a major new highway leading to a Keystone Cops incident but now we learn the road is to be closed for ‘5 months’ while the risk of further subsidence is addressed. The underground drainage pipes, it seems, are not made of the specified concrete but of metal. Astonishingly, this deteriorates when in contact with water.

In the interests of balance, I should report it stopped raining for a while today. And the sun even made a pathetic attempt to peer through the clouds. But the thick grey blanket is forecast to return tonight.


NOTICE: I’ve compiled my blog for 2003-4 into a compendium under various obvious headings. Anyone who’d like a [free] copy should write to me at colindavies@terra.es, putting Compendium as the subject.