Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, March 05, 2005

In the Byzantine world of Spanish national, regional and local politics, it’s often hard to know who’s trying to secede from whom. You’ll recall that one of the provinces in the Basque Country has said they'll leave it [and presumably stay with Spain] if the former succeeds with its ‘illegal’ secessionist plans. And now a tiny place on the Spanish French border – La Val d’Arán – has announced it’ll seek independence from Catalunia if the latter hives itself off from Spain. The inhabitants of this valley apparently look more favourably on Occitania than on Catalunia. No, I don’t where this is either but suspect it’s related to France’s Languedoc region.

One of Spain’s great joys are its cafés, where you can sit for as long as you like over a single drink. And even get at least one newspaper thrown in for free. That said, if you go at peak times, it’s a good idea to take some back-up reading. This is because it’s not considered rude in Spain to read while you talk and so take a lot longer than would otherwise be the case. Nor is it bad manners to ‘sit on’ a paper even though you’ve finished with it. In the latter case, custom demands that you simply go up and ask for it but my stupid British reticence gets in the way of this if the previous reader hasn’t eased the situation by shoving the journal to the side of the table.

The government has issued more information about the forthcoming ‘points-based’ system of driving licences. If I’ve got this right, drivers who don’t commit any offences over a 3 year period will gain points additional to the 12 we’re all going to start with. As yet, I don’t know whether this means that I would now have 126 points on my licence and could commit absolute mayhem for several years before running the risk of losing my licence. Doubtless someone will make things clear pretty soon.

Topical Quote of the Day

I’m with you for a free press. It’s the newspapers I can’t stand.
Tom Stoppard

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