ID cards; My battery quest; Spanish evictions; Cannabis Clubs; UK immigrants; Flea-market fun; & A new (to me) museum.

Spanish nationals in Spain will soon be able to get a DNI 3.0, the latest electronic version of their ID card. Foreign residents - even those of us from the EU - will remain unable to get even a DNI 1.0. All we have is an A4 green 'certificate' giving our ID(NIE) number. As this lacks a foto, it's useless for anything other than keeping in a draw. To prove identity, we need a passport or a driving licence. Or maybe a library card. Except, that is, for those of us who (wisely but illegally) retained the old laminated card we used to be given, the expiry date of which no one (except a notary) ever checks. I guess it all makes sense to someone.

It was end April when I first started looking at getting a new battery for my Mac laptop. And end July when I ordered one from my local IT shop. Well, it's now end August and I'm still waiting to have one installed. This is partly because the shop sold the first one that arrived, on the grounds that I hadn't gone in to pick it up promptly enough, and partly because I've been waiting 2 weeks for the second one to come in. Or, rather, I'm waiting for them to call me to say it's in. But I'll go to the shop (for the 6th time?) today to see how things stand. I mention this because this sort of - not uncommon - experience contrasts so sharply with the speed and efficiency with which Tiffintown's old quarter is being prepared for our annual Medieval Fair on the first Friday and Saturday of September. But the latter is associated with fun and this often seems to make a big difference here in Spain. As I've said several times.

Here's something saddening on the issue of evictions in Spain, where the law is still decidedly on the side of the rapacious banks which gave mortgages out like sweets to all-comers at the height of the bum. 

And here's something on the rise of cannabis clubs in Spain. Not to be associated with ordinary clubs, whose neon lights are pink and where activities are more horizontal that vertical.

The numbers of new foreign workers in the UK will be published today. The one that interests us is that of Spanish folk newly inscribed on the social insurance system. This was 54,000 last year, an increase of 19% and a new high. However, Spain has lost its 2nd place (after Romania) to Italy, whence 58,000 job-seekers went to the UK, up by 37%. Their Romanian competitors totalled 152,000. Almost 3 times more than the Spanish. Details here.

Spoiler warning: This story is heart-warming. Down at the flea market last Sunday, I was taking pictures of the rubbish being sold from the floor by the gypsies and Rumanians:-

These compare with the traditional stalls like these:-

Anyway, as I was snapping, a girl of about 5 asked me who I was taking fotos of. 

She had a lovely face, with plate-sized brown eyes and I told her I was just photographing the merchandise. She asked if she could take one and then took this one:-

When I asked her if she'd like a copy the next weekend, her faced beamed with enough light to illuminate the city. So, I'd better get them developed pretty soon, or she's going to be terribly disappointed. Wouldn't it be nice to know I'd given her a life-long love of photography?

Finally . . . My blog friend, Anthea, has discovered the existence of a plaque on Pontevedra station, recording the 100th anniversary of the start-up of The West Galicia Railway Company Ltd. And of the the John Trulock railway museum up in Monforte de Lemos, near Ourense. Must get there one day. More on the museum here and here.