I see the EU wants to harmonise inheritance and gift taxes across Europe. Coincidentally, this has been a topic of debate in Spain for a while now. With 17 autonomous communities, we currently have [of course] 17 different regimes. Naturally, this leads to ‘irregularities’ and much avoidance/evasion. Sad to say, Galicia’s regime is one of the harshest. So we’ll be grateful for any degree of harmonisation we get, regardless of whether it comes from Santiago, Madrid or Brussels. [Over-governed? Us??]

Talking of pain for Galicia . . . as someone who’s paid out several arms and legs travelling between its cities, I wasn’t too surprised to read yesterday that this ‘poor’ region is subjected to road tolls to an extent only matched in the top 5 ‘rich’ regions. Specifically, 43% of our main roads involve payment, against only 9% in Andalucia and 0% in Estremadura. I think we should revolt. Especially as we pay the country’s highest insurance premiums for driving on these expensive highways.

Driving 1: I’ve arrived at a plausible theory for the correct signalling of the gypsy driver I cited yesterday. Allegedly, such niceties as a licence and car taxes are regarded as voluntary by the community. If so, it means the driver probably wasn’t subjected to the bizarre teaching of the local driving schools on how to negotiate roundabouts. However, this doesn’t account his courtesy at the zebra crossing. Probably just a nice chap.

Driving 2: I was impressed at another bit of courtesy at a zebra crossing yesterday. Seeing me waiting, a lady kindly beckoned me to traverse the crossing. Before reversing and parking her car on it.

Driving 3: Walking across the bridge into town yesterday, I saw a car had parked on the shoulder of the autopista that runs below it. A woman was sitting in the driving seat with a baby in her lap. Another woman got out of a rear door [the wrong one!] and moved to the passenger seat. I assumed she’d take over the baby. But, no. The first woman drove off, cradling the baby with her left arm, while steering with her right. Quite possibly she was breast feeding. I hoped she’d at least turn off for Pontevedra 500 yards up the motorway. But, no, she carried on towards Santiago at upwards of 100kph. I’m still not sure I didn't dream this.

Anyway, my thanks to Enrique for the citation of a better site on which to see videos of this week’s events in Pamplona. To those who missed it, here’s a news item posted as a comment yesterday:- Right in middle of the San Fermin fiestas and the week of running with the bulls, a group of women are demanding more equality in the event. They want to see a day when cows, instead of bulls, run through the streets, and have launched an initiative ‘Las vacas quieren correr’ [The cows want to run]. The women say that instead of the traditional ‘mozos’ [lads] who run with the bulls, they should the ones to run with the cows, claiming this is ‘pure logic’. They consider such an event will see fewer injuries than at present, in view of ‘the more pacific nature of the fairer sex, be it bovine or human’. As it happens, I was actually reading this report when the comment was posted. And I was thinking – 1. There’s not much feminism in Spain, and 2. If I were a male who wanted to discredit feminism, what better way to do it than make an announcement like this?

A question on the bull-running – Do they hose down the cobbles every morning so that some at least of the huge beasts will always fall over when they get to the Estafeta corner?

Reading an article on essay-writing novelists yesterday, I stumbled upon the views of the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa on nationalism. I reproduce them here for the usual reasons - to amuse some and irritate others. . . Llosa, it’s said, takes the view that nationalism is always a lie. And that, centring on ‘bovine complacencies’ and “populist idiocies”, it carries with it the risk of degeneration into something resembling a “sectarian cult”. Strong stuff.

It’s not often you read the word ‘bovine’ twice in 2 minutes, is it?