A resident of Vigo has run up a total of 45 driving infractions since the law was tightened last July. Most, if not all of, of these are for barrelling around the country at speeds not only in excess of the limit but also above the 215kph maximum of his Lexus car. The police and courts, it seems, have yet to catch up [or at least deal] with him but he stands to pay huge fines, spend some months in jail and - if he had them – lose 10 driving licences because of the 130 points he has forfeited.

In this pragmatic country, if you are unfortunate enough to have your driving licence suspended, you’re allowed to serve your time in two-week slugs of your own choosing. Your annual vacations naturally select themselves. I guess it makes sense to someone.

Random quotes from Gerard Brenan’s South from Granada. Bear in mind he’s talking of Spain in the 1920s:-

- There is no obstinacy as great as Spanish obstinacy

- In any unhypocritical country such as Spain the priest’s influence depends not upon his being free from this or that sin but upon his general character.

- The rich in Spain, after they have died, are sealed up in those masonry chest-of-drawers, known as ‘columbarios’, which are part of the Roman inheritance.

- Spaniards think badly of drunkenness, because it deprives a man of his dignity. Yet a foreigner’s actions do not really count.

Finally, someone hit my blog this week having entered how to survive 12/21/12 in their search engine. Intrigued, I did my own bit of googling and came up with:-

A more significant date is December 21, 2012, as this is the end of the Mayan calendar. This will mark the end of the Piscean Age of secular materialism and the true beginning of the Age of Aquarius, which will last for one thousand years.

So, know you know.