Dawn

Dawn

Friday, June 12, 2009

I read something today which years ago I would have greeted as good news but which now I don’t. The government is planning to make numerous changes to the road traffic regulations and, as far as I’m concerned, there can be only one objective in all this. And it’s got little to do with road safety. For instance, you currently stand to lose some of the 12 points on your licence if you park on a bend or in a bus stop bay. But soon you won’t. My guess is the police don’t enforce the current regulations because they realise virtually every driver in Spain would soon lose all their points and be banned from driving. Which would be killing the Golden Goose. Far better to jack up the fine and encourage the police to implement the more lenient law. And it’s surely no coincidence that the discount for not arguing the toss but coughing up immediately is going to rise from 30 to 50%. And that you’ll be able to pay Mr Plod on the spot with a credit card. No wonder “critics of the changes consider that the Guardia Civil have now become tax collectors.”

But there was some good news today. . . .

Firstly, they were fitting glass sides to the bus-stop-in-process this morning. Engraved glass at that, giving the crest of Poio council, amongst other things. Surprisingly, there’s no chicken.

Secondly, the agent for the household insurance on my place in the hills allowed me to change the policy-holder and bank debit details without sending me back home for a copy of a missing document. And without demanding a copy of the title deeds of the house. Of course, it wasn’t all plain sailing. I’d tried to do this at the offices of the insurance company itself yesterday. But, by some bizarre, stuff-the-customer logic, they felt they could change the bank account details but not the policy-holder. For this, I’d have to make a separate journey to the agent with whom the policy had been taken out. I waited in vain for the words “But don’t worry. We’ll do that with the agent and save you the inconvenience of wasting another hour in your life.” But to get back to being positive . . . this success with the agent suggests either things are getting easier in Spain or I am getting good at these sorts of challenges. But as hubris rarely goes unpunished, this is surely the prelude to a really irritating problem next time I have to do something routine.

Although Banco Santander steams on and on in the UK, here in Spain all is not well in the banking sector. The second largest bank, the BBVA, has announced plans to close several hundred branches and the Finance Ministress has admitted that, thanks to duff loans and fishy deals with regional governments, the savings bank sector is in for a major shake-up. I say ‘savings bank sector’ but, as has been noted before, these institutions now comprise Spain’s largest estate agency/realtor - because of all the properties they’ve taken onto their books in lieu of mortgage repayments. Needless to say, Spain’s real estate agents are less than pleased about the competition, especially as it’s not hard to guess which applicants are going to get preferential treatment when it comes to a mortgage. Anyway, you can read a bit more about all this here, should the mood take you. The Finance Ministress says “The system will be strengthened: We'll have fewer but more solid financial institutions." But she would, wouldn’t she.

The Catholic Church is urging us, via a major advertising campaign, to put a cross in the box which authorises the State to give it a minute fraction of our taxes. This is because, about thirty years later than planned, the Church is no longer getting a lump sum each year (increased for inflation) regardless of what taxpayers have done or not done on their submissions. In other words, this is the first year in which it hasn’t been a complete waste of time to ponder what you were going to do and then tick or not tick the box accordingly. You might wonder why the State is giving a subsidy to one of the richest organisations in the world but I’m afraid I can’t answer this. Possibly something to do with education. And inertia.

Finally . . . I see that Bonnie Tyler – an icon in Spain – is coming to Vigo to take part in the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of something called Century Rock. Last time I saw her on British TV she looked decidedly worse for wear. So I guess a good time is guaranteed. Even if she doesn’t sing. Especially if she doesn’t sing, perhaps. Move over Amy Winehouse.

Postscript: Half an hour after I wrote this, I set off to town in my newly-fixed car. Or, rather I didn’t, as it wouldn’t start. After an hour, the guy turned up from the garage - actually, the owner – and proceeded to give it the high-tech attention of a bash of the starter motor with a nearby branch. What was I saying about hubris? Back to the workshop tomorrow morning.

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