Despite – or more likely because of – publicly telling the mad Venezuelan President Chavez to shut his gob, the Spanish king seems to have been everyone’s Man of the Year. It was also his 70^th birthday at the weekend and the papers seemed to be full of little but praise for his massive contribution to the modernisation of Spain. Which is a strange role for an hereditary monarch but, nonetheless, the eulogies seem well justified.

The France-ification of Spain? – Brussels has again threatened to fine Spain over the takeover of the energy company, Endesa. The EU claims the irregular conditions placed on the two bidders for it contravened single market rules. The Spanish government has now been given a deadline of Jan 10 to remove these but has said it has no intention of doing so. And I don’t suppose it has yet paid the huge fine imposed for the Great Flax Fraud of the late 90s.

Overall, deaths on the road were well down over the holiday period but the incident that caught the eye was that of a group of teenagers whose car hit something solid when they were travelling home from a party in the early hours of one morning. The police say the car was doing 200kph[125mph] and you might think this said all that needed to be said. However, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to read the popular complaint that the accident occurred because the road wasn’t straight enough. Which I suppose it wasn’t. And possibly never could be.

The Adventures of an Intrepid Zebra Crossing Crosser: Chapter 278. I stopped mid-crossing last night, not sure whether an advancing learner driver was going to halt or run me down. In the end, it compromised and stopped with its bonnet halfway across the stripes, a few inches from my static legs. Naturally, the instructor glared at me as if it were my fault.

Galicia Facts

Good to read that crime statistics fell in Pontevedra during 2007. But ‘domestic violence’ incidents rose. I wonder if the slaughter of noisy neighbours falls into this category.

The founder of Zara is, effectively, Galician. Or his company is based here anyway. One has to feel some sympathy for the poor chap these days. Stock market falls have reduced his fortune from 20 to a mere 13.8 billion euros. Which reminds me – I see there’s now a Zara Home shop down in Pontevedra. Or Thara Khome as it’s pronounced here. There’ll be one near you soon.

Talking of businesses in Galicia, here’s a disturbing recent headline from a local paper – The obsession of Galician businessmen with industrial espionage is overwhelming the 27 private detective agencies which operate here. Reportedly, 30% of companies tap their own phones and subject their employees to lie detector tests. Charming.

Finally . . . If you’re coming to Galicia this year and planning to eat the local delicacy, octopus, you might want to check it for edibility. But perhaps not by sniffing it. For the latest way to smuggle cocaine through Vigo is to spray tonnes of Venezuelan octopi with the stuff. You have been warned.