Lovely Leticia; The Bulls; Galicia's trains; Insurance; & Don't do do.

The lovely Queen Leticia has caused a bit of a stir. She's given herself a fashionable bob, appeared with bare shoulders and arms and even offered a bit of cleavage. The majority reaction is horror at the confirmation of her much-discussed skinniness. Possibly even anorexia. I can't say I noticed any cleavage but, compared with what's on display every night in Spain, it can't have been significant.

Bullfighting in Spain is not in the best of health. Some blame greed, some the poor quality of the bulls and some the inadequate artistry of the toreros. Either way, it's a minority sport and may well be a dying one, despite subsidies from the current right-of-centre PP party. Anyway, a headline I saw this morning read: "The Dictatorship of the Modern Bull." There's a saying here that even a maestro can't do anything with a 'bad' bull. This article seemed to be saying the opposite.

If you're interested in getting the gen on Galicia's fast trains, it's all here. The lines are described as 'high speed' but I don't think they're the real AVE McCoy yet, as they lack the brakes of the fastest trains. At the other end of the spectrum, there's mention of the train from Portugal to Galicia not connecting with this network. This is because it goes to the wrong Vigo station, not just because it's one of the slowest trains in the world.

Anyone over, say, 25 will know that insurance companies are brilliant at increasing your cover so that your premium is high and then equally brilliant in finding ways not to reimburse you for your loss. So it is with the gold Iranian coins I lost in my recent burglary, which "should have been listed under the Joyas (Jewellery) section and not as part of the contents". Which reminds me . . . If you don't know what the rule of proportionality is, you should pin back your ears. Essentially, if you decide you wouldn't want to replace half of your contents and so only pay for cover for half your possessions, the insurance company will say you can only get half of the value of the goods you thought you were fully insuring. It may be that you can avoid this by identifying all the specific items which comprise half of your total and that you want to be insured. Worth checking out, perhaps. Before the disaster that no one expects arrives. 

Finally . . . Inhabitants of towns along Galicia's famous camino have finally decided to take action against walkers who leave the wrong sort of deposit as they pass by. More on this here.