Reportedly, 43% of Spanish kids between 6 and 11 have a mobile phone. Presumably the standard teenage argument of "But I'm the only person in my class without one" starts younger here.

Reverting back again to the issue of pronunciation of foreign names, I had hoped by now to be able to tell you how the name of the President of the EU bank is said here. But I've not heard it this week. So, can anyone help out - Is it tree-shé, tree-ché or trich-ette? My money's on the last one.

The Life and Insane Times of Modern Britain: Number 37.
Earlier this week Victoria Clarke was fined £350, plus a similar amount in costs, for putting her rubbish out on the wrong day.

At the side of the road down to town from my house, they're constructing a new children's playground. This will match an existing one on the other side of the road. On reading about these plans a few weeks ago, my first thought was the risk of kids running from one side of the road to the other. And my visiting sister had the same initial reaction when she saw the work going on this week. So, are we being oversensitive? Is the Spanish attitude to risk more pragmatic ? Sensible even? My sister said she assumed there'd be a footbridge across the road but I rather doubt this will happen. At least not until one, two or even three children have been hit by cars. By the way, the work is being part-financed by the EU. Try as I might, I can't see how it's a good use of the money of taxpayers in other countries to build something for the kids of rich folk who live in what's widely regarded as the snobbiest part of Pontevedra. But, then, I'm biased. And I have just read this about a self-regarding waste of time and public money.

Galicia

Talking of children, here's a shop in town that's one of the many offshoots of the immensely successful Zara [Inditex] group. Which is Galicia-based, of course. Sadly, it seems to be beyond the resources of even a very profitable Spanish company to employ the services of a native English speaker when it comes to brainstorming names for their new shops. Though there's an even more depressing possibility - they did. But perhaps I'm being too pedantic.


Walking through town this morning, I noticed another shop with a strange name - Purificación García. It's one of Pontevedra's numerous women's clothes boutiques and it finally dawned on me it was simply the forename and the surname of the owner. Of a chain, it seems. Here in Spain, Garcia is so common it's considered the equivalent of Smith in the UK. So it's nice, I guess, to have Purification as a first name to spice it up a bit.

A nice quote about the camino to Santiago . . . The main reason, I suppose, why some people dislike Lourdes is that they suspect it of commerce, miracle-mongering and idolatry. It is strange that such strictures seem not to apply to the pilgrim destination of Santiago de Compostela, the shrine of the doubtful remains of an Apostle. Perhaps the likeness of the Spanish journey to a sporting challenge makes it seem wholesome.

Talking of wholesome challenges, if you're lucky enough to be in Galicia this weekend and you're anywhere near my home barrio of Poio, you could do worse than attend tomorrow's Tripe Festival. This is the second year of the event and the mayor has promised twice as many free portions as last year. What more do you need?

If you're unlucky enough not to be in or near Poio but fortunate enough to be in New York, then you might like to pop along to the Hispanic Society, where they're showing photos taken in Galicia in the 1920s by Ruth Matilda Anderson.

Finally. . . I noticed this morning that this blog has a Follower. I'm not sure what this means - compared with, say, Google's Reader facility - but I've now added a Follower link on the right - just in case anyone else feels they'd like to go public.