Following on from my comments on the importance of being regarded as a ‘friend’ in Spain, there’s been a little bit of (public and private) dialogue on the essential superficiality of some of these relationships. Indeed, someone has rightly pointed out that stranger-ship much also be superficial, if it can be converted into friendship by the exchange of just a few words. Or even by the bumping of shoulders. But, yes, it’s true – many Spanish relationships are very superficial. More like acquaintanceships, really. Some of us have no problem with this but others find they need the sort of deep relationships they’re used to in other cultures. Where living away from your family – or having piss-poor relatives – means you have to have good friends as a safety net and a support mechanism.

Anyway, the estimable Ben Curtis – of Notes from Spain and lots else – has learned the hard way to eschew the sort of critical comment I am wont to make and has taken things to the other end of the spectrum this week. He’s started a series on what makes the Spanish the great people they are. His first blog was on the impressive honour system which rules in bars here and his second offering in on how meals are shared here and how the bills are divvied up at the end of them. Click here for this one and scroll down for the first one.

It will, I’m sure, surprise no one that El Tráfico has announced they’ll be ramping up the number of random breathalyser tests this summer. But who can object to this, so long as it involves none of the chicanery that takes place around speed traps?

News about Spanish banks continues to confuse me. Santander and BBVA still rank among the world’s most profitable banks but the industry as a whole (“The most robust in the world” – Pres. Zapatero) is reported to be about to close 10,000 branches and shed 35,000 employees. Of course, most of these could be in the troubled savings bank sector, about which Charles Butler comments here. One of the interesting aspects of these (less than transparent) banks is that the regional governments have a veto over any of ‘theirs’ being taken over by one from another region. And it seems that the central government – which needs all the friends it can get – is going to chicken out of removing this political barrier to commercial progress.

As of 1 July, we’re supposed to be free to change our electricity supplier. As we have only a limited time to exercise our choice, it would have been nice to know what the competitive prices are. But this has proved beyond the capacity of the government and the industry and I forecast that 1. there will be little other than inertia, and 2. prices will rise. Beyond the 2% announced yesterday, I mean.

Finally . . . For those who don’t know, BBC3 is their TV channel aimed at the ‘young’ audience. But I suspect the channel is secretly premised on a maximum IQ of 90. Sky News, on the other hand, now seems to be aimed at viewers who would find BBC3 too taxing. Which is why I’m very glad I can also get news-for-adults from France 24, Al Jazeerah and even, at times, the EU’s EuroNews. And I never thought I’d ever say that.