I talked recently about attitudes to risk, saying they're different here in Spain. One reader effectively accused me of racism but no matter because the thin end of the ‘ealthnsafety wedge has just made its appearance in one of the final events of our August fiesta extravaganza. The Devil who chases kids round the old quarter of the city used to chuck little firecrackers at them. As of this year it’s flour. But we all know this can get in your eyes so within 10 years I imagine it will just be harsh words. And then a nasty grimace.

As I expected, Galician friends last night confirmed that the author of yesterday’s quoted article wants more education in Gallego so that the masses can learn to speak the codified form which is currently the preserve of only the ‘cultivated’ few. For me, the most interesting thing about the ensuing discussion was the resentment felt by all of them at attempts to foist on them an ‘artificial’ language different from the one they all spoke at home as kids. And still do whenever the want or need to. One of them even felt strict logic demanded that codification included a return to Portuguese spelling, as in Espanha. Not that he was advocating this reintegrista approach. Whenever I report this sort of thing, I get angry letters from Galician nationalists/Nationalists whom I take to be relatively young and idealist. My response is that I’m only recording what I hear. They’re all free to post alternative views, without needing to question my parenthood.

Anyway, I guess the writer of the article would agree with the VP of the Galician government, the Xunta, who’s said he wants the community’s ‘national’ anthem to be taught to children in our kindergartens. Sadly for him, he appears to be getting no support from his socialist coalition partner in the position of Minister of Education. Needless to say, when the President of the right-of-centre party criticised the proposal, he got the stock divisive accusation of being a pawn of Madrid.

Spain’s central bank says that, like Ireland, Spain has lost competitiveness over the last decade. It attributes this to high inflation and the weakening of the dollar. I suppose it’s possible to argue this wouldn’t have happened if the EU bank rate hadn’t been so ridiculously low for the Spanish economy, producing not only this result but also massive structural distortions such as the exploding property market. Which is now more explosive than exploding. Or is it vice versa? Or even implosive?

Pontevedra Book Club Recommendation: I’ve just finished a delightful book, Casa Nostra, by an Englishwoman – Caroline Seller Manzo – who married into an eccentric Sicilian family [are there any others?] and took on the challenge of converting part of the villa-cum-castle which her husband and his idiosyncratic siblings each owned some of. It’s beautifully written and full of anecdotes that will resonate with anyone living in Spain. Even Galicia, even though this is not normally regarded as having a terribly Mediterranean culture. Here’s a reference. One interesting comment is that, despite being close to Italy’s largest fishing port, the Manzo family could not avail itself of cheap or even high quality seafood and shellfish, as this all went off to the rich cities in northern Italy. I suspect this is true for us as well, despite the proximity of Vigo.