Useless buildings; The house below; Death of the monarchy?; Spanish insults; Spanish fashions; The singing wife; Galician stairs; & Another insult.

The collapse of Spain's ludicrous property bubble and the end of her phoney economic boom have left us withsome outstanding legacies. Here are 9 or 10 of them - someone's idea of the ugliest monuments to the madness of the last decade - the most useless buildings in Spain.

Nearer to home, construction continues on the house below mine, visited about a year ago by me and my Ferrol friend, Richard. I suspect it's nearing completion, as there was week or so of activity recently. I took this foto then and got the impression the boss-man was not too happy with me doing so. I wonder why. Possibly he thought I was from the Tax Office.

Is the Spanish monarchy about to become a victim of growing discontent with the political settlement of 1978? Are the Spanish increasingly hankering for a return to republicanism? This writer seems to think so.

The Spanish language is at its richest when it comes to swearing and insulting. Which is odd for a people who are usually quite charming. Anyway, I came across this list yesterday of the 221 best insults in Castellano. What can I say other than it lacked the one I hear most frequently - gilipolla - and my Spanish friends retorted that it was missing several others. I have to admit I only recognised 3 or 4 on the list. But was delighted to find you can insult someone by calling them a percebe - or goose-barnacle - as I hate the blasted things.

And still on lists . . . Here's The Local's take on Spanish fashion statements you might or might not want to take home with you.

Coming to your local council meeting soon? The wife of the mayor of Mijas sings his praises in public. I assume she's a council member as well. The amazing thing is that people clapped at the end of her performance. I mean apart from the said mayor.

I realised after I'd posted yesterday that the stairs going nowhere are a Galician joke. Retranca. Gallegos are regularly accused of being indecisive. So that, it's said, if you meet one in the middle of a staircase, it's because he doesn't know whether to go up or down. The steps I saw were clearly a humorous commentary on this slander.

Finally . . . I occasionally receive a message from Google telling me someone I don't know has added me to their Circle. Unlike Linkedin and Facebook, for example, this doesn't seem to need my OK. I wonder what it means. And I fear they'll de disappointed as the only thing I publish to Google Circles are my blog posts.

Which reminds me . . . I read yesterday that, in Liverpool, the 5th most popular How to question to Google is How to Google. Another calumny, I'm sure.