I’ve seen some Atlantic storms here but perhaps not one in which the winds were as strong as last night’s. I counted at least ten abandoned umbrellas as I walked into town for dinner. Worse, having stopped briefly to pick up a roof tile from my front lawn on the way out, I managed to get my car at exactly the right spot to meet a huge rubbish container sent flying by a strong gust. So, my offside wing mirror is now hanging from its electrical cables down the side of the car. But I’m consoling myself with the thought that it could have been a telegraph pole through the windscreen. Or a roof tile as I was emerging from the front door. I’ll try to maintain these thoughts as I pay 200 euros for the fitting of a replacement mirror. Not to mention the memory of the amusement arising from one of my friends suggesting at dinner that I sue the local council for having dangerously mobile contenadores.

January is a month when a lot of bills come in. The Spanish phrase is ‘La cuesta de enero” – The January uphill struggle. Or, if you like, The January hump. Either way, not a good time for the electricity company to move from billing every two months to every month. But, hey, it’s a monopoly so why worry about customers’ concerns? What’s the point of having captive customers, if you can’t take advantage of them? Maybe it looked like a good idea when energy prices were soaring but the government was forcing you to keep you price increases minimal. But it looks very mean-spirited now.

Gordon Brown is said to have a hand tremor. This is a side-effect of lithium, an old-fashioned remedy for depression, still used when nothing else works. So, is this the reason for his increasingly bizarre performance? And are the odds on him topping himself reducing? Which is not a nice question. But, then, neither is How deep will the British depression be? Or, How much more is going to be lopped off my pension by currency devaluation?

To cheer myself up, I took a look at this video of a bear-skinned British guardsman clouting a Bulgarian kid imitating his marching up and down. Amusing but I suspect it’s a hoax.