I touched yesterday on fraudulent demands for money. I see today that my electricity company has again overestimated my consumption last month by 40-50%. You’d think they’d notice they’re having to repay me each time they actually read the meter, wouldn’t you? I certainly have.

Which reminds me . . . We were all recently told – after a fashion – that we’re now free to change our electricity suppliers. My guess is that uptake was less than 5%. Possibly even less than 1%. If there’s one thing that’s efficient in Spain – especially when it comes to obfuscation and obstruction - it’s the cartels providing life’s basic commodities here. No wonder I read in today’s papers that the ‘technological chasm’ which exists between here and other large European economies is about to get bigger because of under-investment in high speed telecommunications.

It’s reported that almost no new housing starts are now being made in Spain. With an overhang of a million or more properties lying unsold on the market, this is understandable. Especially as the banks are nervous about lending money for construction. But, given the long lead times on completing buildings here, it should make sense for things to pick up in a year or so’s time, so that new properties can come on stream when the pipeline empties in 2013-14. But one would be rash to bet on this happening. So the almost certain outcome will be a shortage of new properties in four year’s time – at least in some parts of the country – and another surge in prices. Hey, ho. Back to the merry-go-round.

As I’m off on a long trip tomorrow, I checked my tyres tonight. The pressure in each of them had risen since I last checked, meaning they were over-inflated by 10%. This is not much by Spanish tyre-shop standards but, in this case, the people responsible are the mechanics in the Rover dealership. I wonder if they’re even aware what the manufacturer’s recommendations are. Or perhaps it’s an article of faith here that tyres must be over-inflated as Spanish roads are different.

Finally . . . I didn’t make the Galician-German sausage-and-beer fiesta in the hills on Saturday. And I also decided to give the Poio tripe fiesta a miss on Sunday. Am now thinking of initiating the Fiesta de Sopa de Patatas in my own parish as of next weekend. Any takers?