There is, I think, a tendency for those on the Left to assume a certain moral superiority, convinced as they are that they have right – if not God - on their side. But, here in Pontevedra, the three café-bars I regularly frequent are currently having their communal edition of El País nicked each day. And surely this can only be by a socialist. Unless it’s a fascist, determined to ensure that contrary views are not spread. Time - and vigilance - will tell.

I went yesterday to check whether there was any news of my dead laptop. The lovely young lady in the shop laughed and said it’d only been a week and it was likely to be at least another two or three before I heard anything. Possibly four if the makers had a lot of work on. When I asked if I could track it on the internet, she smiled and said not, as it had been sent off in their name. When I asked if they could track it, she smiled again, paused and said they’d call Monday. I was less than convinced but will make another trip on Tuesday. Sadly, giving you bad news with a smile is what often passes for customer service in Spain. And they then tend to be astonished – hurt even - should you tell them this isn’t quite enough. But I guess it’s better than getting bad news with a disdainful sneer, as in El Corte Inglés. Or even good news with a sneer.

President Zapatero has said he won’t be doing a U-turn and cancelling plans to close Spain’s nuclear powers stations. What’s the betting that, like fellow greenish socialists Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, he changes his mind when the financial facts are fully explained to him? Assuming he can understand them.

And talking of betting, I should have wagered a vast sum on Chelsea winning the English FA cup yesterday. Given my run of bad luck, there was absolutely no way my team, Everton, was going to win. Especially after scoring a goal with less than 30 seconds gone.

En passant. The insult to injury of my car engine blowing up is that I will probably have to pay for it to be towed from the workshop to a wreckers’ yard, where they will refuse to give me anything for it. And then I will have to go down to the police station, fill in a form or two and pay the government around 50 euros for the privilege of taking it off the road. Is there nothing that the Spanish state will not take financial advantage of?

Finally, the outgoing President of the Galician Xunta has blamed his ridiculous forecasts for the arrival of the AVE high-speed train in Galicia on lies and omissions on the part of the relevant ministry in Madrid. Of course.