Well, today is the official start of summer here in Spain. Maybe. As Richard told me yesterday, up in Ferrol - as well as down here in Pontevedra - people have joked it wouldn't be a bad idea for spring to start first. Save for the excellent week I and my friends had on the Camino at the end of May, we've not seen a lot of sun. It's much the same in the UK, where meteorologists have recently forecast a decade of cool, wet summers. Thanks, of course to Global Warming and some sort of persistent new weather system in the Atlantic. I wonder if this forecast will be any more accurate than that of a decade ago, when we were told Galicia would be as hot as Andalucia by now and that hordes of Brits et al would be driven up here to buy our properties. Ya veremos .

Meanwhile, click here if you want to know more about how Spain's equinoxes are calculated this year. And, on the off chance that summer might swing into action, here's a list of Spain's top ten beaches, including one up here in Greener-than-ever Galicia.

Just in time for this as-yet-non-summer, Easyjet has announced a new Gatwick-Santiago flight. Three times a week and all year round, they say. Let's hope their promises are more credible that Ryanair's

And here's a recent article on corruption here in Spain and the (lack of) confidence in national institutions on the part of Spaniards. Politics scored an even lower total than the one I cited earlier this week.

Right on cue comes the news that, as expected, the Public Prosecutor (i. e. the government) has secured the release of the banker who was only jailed a couple of weeks ago. It seems he didn't get a fair trial. Though it wasn't a jury which reached this decision. Just him, his lawyers and said government. Well, at least justice has been transparent.

Things are clearly getting serious when the Galician government announces that, in the interests of a more productive economy, 3 of the 12 regional holidays next year will be on Saturday and 5 will fall on Friday or Monday. If this doesn't bring people onto the streets, nothing will.

Said economy is not all bad news. Exports continue their excellent growth, allowing some to say things will start to turn up late this year. Though only as a prelude to several more 'difficult years'. I hope so. If not, there won't be a shop left open in Pontevedra. Except those which were never really in business anyway.

The recent kerfuffle about Princess Cristina's sale of 13 properties and the alleged error that led to this, have highlighted a fact that all buyers of Spanish property should be aware of - Notaries make mistakes. More importantly, they don't check all aspects of a property. This can leave you with considerable problems after you've bought the property, when you need to sort out - at the cost of time and money which should have been the seller's - discrepancies between your purchase document(Compraventa) and the town's property register(Catastro) and the local Land Registry(Registro). Here in Galicia, at least, these are very common and I've met many folk who've rued the fact they accepted the property agent's claim that the notary would take care of everything. Astonishingly, even though people would always use a lawyer in the UK and even though every independent web page tells them to do the same here in Spain, most of them ignore all this and plunge in on the basis that a property agent surely wouldn't lie to them, even when he wants a quick sale. And will be long gone when the problems arise.

Anyway, don't take my word for it. Read this article by an expert on what a Nota Simple is, how you get one and how you go about things when it's inaccurate. As Mark would surely agree, it's best to use a lawyer to ensure it's accurate in the first place. And here's the web page of one who is not just honest but who's handled dozens of purchases for Brits and other foreigners over the last 8 years.

Finally . . . The last of the balconies:-

This is the rear of the priest's house, alongside the cathedral-basilica of Santa Maria. Not a bad joint. But the bishop's place is (even) bigger, of course.

And here are three more under-frequented boutiques that look like surviving La Crísis, one way or another:-

All within a stone's throw of each other, in the same short street.