Anglos tend to see the Spanish as wonderfully sociable and affable but noisy and rule-averse. Sitting outside a nursery/primary school yesterday and both watching and listening to how 3 and 4 year olds interacted with each other and responded to the teachers’ orders, it was easy to see where this all begins. I was reminded of a passage in Giles Tremlett’s recent book ‘The Ghosts of Spain’ – Socialisation is an obsession with our children’s teachers. In the first years of infant school, the teachers seem to care more about ‘formando el grupo’ than, for example maths. Reading is good but can be viewed as a suspicious solitary occupation. A child who seeks only their own company is deemed strange. They may find themselves up before the figure who looms large, the school psychologist.

I commented yesterday on the obsession with paper here. One manifestation of this is the numerous mini-documents you get from your bank every few days. Not content with giving you a monthly statement to check, it forwards separate vouchers in respect of every debit made by a third party. I understand this is so you can exercise the right to reject – within a two-week period – any charge you think erroneous or fraudulent. But I guess it’s also a reflection of the comment made by a reader a few months ago, viz. that Spain is a low-trust society. Another, perhaps, is the fact that – according to an accountant friend – property developers are currently finding it impossible to get bank loans. The accuracy of a man’s word and his financial statements may have been irrelevant when it was impossible not to make money but, in the current climate, they’ve quickly resumed their previous questionable status. The risk, of course, is that even honest and financially sound operators will go belly up, adding to the pile of properties to be auctioned off. Truly, a property collapse is not a pretty sight. As Spain appears to be finding out for the first time.

Talking of paper and trust - Some friends buying a house here paid the notary his bill by bank transfer from the UK and asked for their deeds so that registration of title could take place. He said he’d hand them over when they’d sent a copy of the transfer confirmation which is standard here but which UK banks don’t issue, especially if you make the request over the phone. They asked whether he couldn’t just check his bank account but he declined and replaced the onus on them. So, in one fell swoop, I’ve managed to combine notaries, low levels of trust and poor customer service. Not bad for a few minutes’ work. Imagine what I could do if I didn’t enjoy living here!

Galicia Facts

Close to our coastal town of Vilagarcía, there’s a virtual palace built by one of our notorious drug barons. Taken over by the authorities when he received his latest prison sentence, this was refurbished as a convention centre and wedding venue. But these plans have all been put on ice this week because his daughters claim they’re being denied the half of the place devolved to them on their mother’s death in a [strange] car accident. Hard as this may be to believe, the suit is being heard in the European Court of Human Rights. Try as I might, I find it impossible to believe this institution was set up to serve the interests of the relatives of men responsible for destroying thousands of lives. Perhaps I’m missing something. Or maybe we can just blame incompetent legislators and greedy lawyers.

I regularly confess to being mystified as to why Spain continues to receive huge amounts of dosh from Brussels while boasting of its enormous progress and status as the 7^th largest economy in the world. I mention this now because the Pontevedra council has just announced that – to go along with the dozens of real beaches just outside the town – we are soon to have the quality of our life improved by the creation of an artificial fluvial beach alongside the river that flows through it. My suspicion is that this will be at least partly funded by taxpayers from northern Europe. But I will check and, if not, eat both umble pie and my hat.

To end on a lighter note – my printer just broke down.