Well, whoever felt that the performance of the England team couldn’t get any worse than against the USA last week was in for a considerable surprise last night. My friend Jon had relented on his decision not to watch another England game and persuaded me to join him at his place for the match. Not the best decision we’ve ever taken. A dismal display of stunning ineptitude left far more questions than answers. And the Spanish commentators thoroughly bemused. One thing, though, is clear – I won’t be subjecting myself to the agony of watching the game against Slovenia. At half-time, I’d told Jon that even France could beat this team. At full time, I changed this to Pontevedra FC. So, thank God Spain lost against Switzerland and Germany against Serbia. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to stick my head above the parapet.

Which reminds me . . . Can anyone say why there were five minutes of extra time in Spain’s match the other night? Did I doze off during some stoppages?

The Catholic Church has calculated it contributes over thirty billion euros a year to Spanish society. Which contrasts with the mere 252 million it gets from the folk who tick the appropriate box on their tax returns. The Church says most of the money goes to social security taxes for the 20,000 priests here. Given the developments of recent years, one wonders if they have their contingent liabilities on the balance sheet.

Our friend Ambrose, though no europhile, has long been a critic of German responses to the various crises of the last year or two. Likewise – as you can see here – one of the USA’s leading economists. Impressively, he’s honest enough to use the phrase “I don’t know” in respect of a key question. But, then, who does?

Surveying the global financial scene, an analyst has opined that "Western societies have been succumbing to a psychology which decrees that tomorrow doesn't matter, at least until it arrives.” Given that I’ve said for years that the Spanish live primarily in the here-and-now, this attitude is hardly new to me.

Which reminds me . . . I went to the offices of the administrator of our community today, to ask why the fence on the passageway behind my house hadn’t been fixed since I raised it with them four months ago. Here’s the conversation that took place after the initial pleasantries were over:-
I wrote in February about the missing board in the fence of the high passageway behind my house. And I was told work was imminent. Here’s a foto just taken showing that it hasn’t been done. 
The entire walkway is going to be repaired/replaced. But we don’t have the money now. There’s a meeting of the community of 5th July to discuss this.
We’re talking about the safety of children running up and down and playing on the passageway. And about a single board that I could put up myself. There are several of them lying about the garden. There’s no question of cost. And if cost really is a consideration, why have they started this week to paint the boards you say are going to be replaced? Rather than take 10 minutes to put in a new board?
The gardener David is going to do it immediately.
I’ve heard that phrase five times now and David himself used it three weeks ago.
[She calls David]
OK. David’s going to do it this weekend.
Good. Thank-you.

Finally . . . Not long after I arrived here I noted there were five bookshops in the centre of Pontevedra, all run on Dickensian lines. Indeed, I think I even wrote that, if I had the money and the inclination, I’d buy them all, close four of them down and establish one large, efficient, profitable operator. Well, time has worked its magic and the latest closure took place this week. We’re down to two now, I believe. As for customer service and efficiency . . . perhaps too much to hope for. Especially if we get down to one monopoly operator.