According to the writer of this article, blogging as we knew it is dead because we amateurs are being displaced by professionals. Or, as he puts it - "The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge." I can't say whether he's right or not generally and I'm not sure I even agree with him that, despite this development, we can still be guaranteed to draw "the Net's lowest form of life - the insult commenter." Even here in Spain I no longer have the pleasure of these gentlemen visiting my blog. About which I am not totally happy, of course.

For a blogger like me, who gets his inspiration from the newspapers, a bigger problem is that the news is so unremittingly bad at the moment. Everything actually or potentially whimsical has been driven from sight. Which means that, as yesterday, I'm forced to resort to personal matters.

So . . . I have a very old friend visiting this week. As a graduate in French and Spanish and a teacher of both for more than 40 years, he's keen to throw himself into the local culture. Which is why today be became the second visitor in 8 years to ignore my counsel and to try the local speciality of pig's ear. And, of course, the second not to finish it. Now he's refusing to accept that a fluent speaker of Spanish can easily understand Gallego. Between you and me, this is because he's stumped by something we've just read on a wall - Abride as escolas e han pechar os cáceres. Fortunately, I was able to put him right. See, I am bilingual without even knowing it . . .

Here in southern Galicia, the October weather continues to be spectacular, in contrast with that of most of the rest of Spain. My daughter in Madrid tells me the last couple of weeks have been like living in the UK. No wonder she's a bit down.

I see Briatore had done a 360 degree turn and now feels that Hamilton is the man to bet on for the Formula 1 championship. Which rather contrasts with last week's statement that he was bound to fail about because he "had learned nothing". But it's all good publicity for a sport which has the intrinsic capacity to bore one to death.

If I were a betting man, I think I'd be wagering against Sr. Zapatero making it to New York for next month's global conference. There appears to be a massive Spanish diplomatic offensive taking place but the problem is that, vis-á-vis American decision-makers, President Zap has already been offensive enough. Recoges lo que has sembrado, perhaps. If this is bad Spanish, you can blame my visitor.