So Mr Blair went out as he came in, with a consummate display of the sort of showmanship that might well be missed. If you wonder how Mr Blair can be so admired for his political skills and yet so despised for his political failures, try this for a reasoned, if right-of-centre, view of him.

I mentioned the new president of Valencia the other day and his vow to stand firm against Brussels. Well, he’ll need to. The European Commission – the executive of the EU - has announced it’s referring Spain to the European Court of Justice over the new Valencia Land Law, which it considers not much better than its notorious predecessor. But I suspect the new president won’t be losing any sleep over this development. Authorities much closer to home – in Madrid – have proved impotent in this area over a number of years. Assuming they had the political will to try.

In what may be a sign of tougher times ahead for other insalubrious operators here, the national police have broken up the Spanish branch of a network trafficking in Russian women for the numerous brothels of southern Spain. A total of 88 arrests were made. Hopefully, some at least of these will be convicted and deported.

The UN has become the latest pessimistic commentator on Spain’s property market. It warns that a housing crisis is inevitable and even goes as far as to suggest growth in domestic violence is linked to this problem. Which is plausible, I guess. Especially when you consider the latest interest rate rise will add 100 euros a month to the average mortgage.

As a very modern and dynamic country with a rapidly growing economy, Spain likes to compare itself with other leading nations, particularly its European neighbours. But the latest survey won’t give much cause for satisfaction. Spain, it’s said, now leads the European league for cocaine usage, having taken over [I guess] from the UK. In fact, consumption here is 4 times the European average, with 3% of the population between 15 and 64 said to be using the drug. Not only that - Spain also leads when it comes to interception of cocaine, reflecting the fact that most of Europe’s requirements land on our coasts. Galicia’s specifically. In fact, only the other day we had the pretty regular incident of a powerful speedboat being abandoned on a beach with its engines running, after a chase by narcotics agents. It was reported to contain cocaine with a street value of close to 150m euros. But the one thing that always puzzles me is - why don’t we have the rates of petty crime so regularly associated with drug funding in the UK. Are Spanish parents subsidising this for their kids as well as dangerous cars?

So, it’s been the wettest June in British meteorological history. Well, it hasn’t been quite that bad here in Galicia but decidedly not a good month. At least this final week seems to be trying to make some amends. I may soon be able to throw the duvet off the bed. Roll on July.

Finally - for admirers of understatement - here’s a comment from the British Medical Association on the latest large-scale IT disaster of the Blair government - "We now find ourselves in the Kafkaesque situation of having thousands of excellent doctors with no job for August and thousands of empty posts. It's difficult to see how this won't impact on patients."