Fourteen Spanish estate agents [realtors] are forming a group which will ‘take initiatives aimed at favouring their activity in the market and generating confidence among investors’. Good luck to them. Meanwhile, 300 of these fine companies have recently shut down in Andalucia. Where you can now get a free flat with every sandwich you buy. Though the offer is limited to one a day.

I see the British government is going to start subjecting welfare claimants to lie-detector tests. As there are now more people there receiving payments for permanent disability [‘bad back’] than for unemployment, this is possibly 20 or even 30 years too late.

A couple of interesting quotes in this month’s edition of Prospect magazine . .

- Large areas near the Mediterranean will become less and less hospitable. . . The middle range of Europe – from Ireland through much of Britain and across towards the Czech Republic - will be the most habitable part of Europe 20 to 30 years from now. We should anticipate that more people will migrate to these areas. . . Meanwhile, most people are still thinking in the old way, about timeshares and golf courses in southern Spain.

Jacqueline McGlade, Head of the European Environment Agency

- As things now stand, if the Scots and the Welsh believe they have too little money to spend, they have no alternative but – and every incentive – to blame London. The potential for moaning is infinite.

Anthony King, talking about the perils of devolving power and the need to ensure the local governments can raise locally the taxes they want to spend. And get the blame for them. Generally, my impression is Spain does this rather better than the UK.

In the 7 years I’ve lived in Pontevedra, there’s never been a time when I haven’t had to thread my way through some noisy and dusty bit of municipal work or other. This is a nuisance but one very positive result been a huge increase in pedestrianised space, usually leading to welcome enlargement of the town’s café society. I don’t suppose it’s irrelevant that all these new tables and chairs are licensed by the council and so bring in good revenue but so what. On the downside, every bit of work has reduced roadside parking, even in those areas where traffic is still allowed to flow. But, as someone who’s not daft enough to take a car into driver-unfriendly Pontevedra, this scarcely concerns me at all. However, as I’ve watched the work extend out of the old quarter, beyond the shopping precincts and well into the residential areas right down to the waterside, I have wondered whether the income-chasing town hall might find a way to pave over at least part of the river. Especially as its revenue from taxes on property deals faces a precipitate fall. Vamos a ver. Perhaps a couple of new jetties.

Which reminds me . . . Having discovered the names of the restaurants which El Mundo used to arrive at the average cost of Galicia’s menu del día, I checked out most of Pontevedra’s yesterday. Even though all of these are at the top end of the market, their average came out at only 8.60. So, I’m still nonplussed at their figure of 13.10 for the region as a whole. Perhaps the cost is a ridiculous 15 to 20 euros in the main tourist streets of Santiago. Especially if the menu includes percebes, which are appalling both for their taste and their price. But they are an aphrodisiac. Of course.

You don’t often get a chance to say this in Galicia but, after a very dry 5 weeks, I wish it would rain a bit. My lawns are looking very sorry for themselves.

Finally, despite numerous requests, I’ve decided not to replace my current photo with one of me bare-chested and sporting – Putin-like – a hunting rifle. Sorry.