More Thoughts from Galicia

It's indisputably good news that Spain had a trade surplus in March. Well, good-ish. Exports have been growing for some time now (definitely good news) but the reason for the surplus was that exports plummeted 15% on last year - reflecting the parlous state of the domestic economy, of course. So, this particular silver cloud had a black lining. The government has, naturally, trumpeted the silver bit and stressed that 'Spain is continuing its marked process of reorientating its sales to non-EU markets, where the economic outlook is more favourable, such as the Middle East, Africa and United States." I would expect success to come more in the first two rather than in the last of these, as business norms there are closer to what they appear to have been in Spain over the last 10 years. Judging by the number of businessmen in the dock.

A prominent local example of dodgy business practices is that of the large fish-canning business, Pescanova of Vigo. This recently went into administration and all sorts of questionable practices are coming to light. Like leaving 23 subsidiary companies off the balance sheet and hidden from the auditors. With new auditors going through the books, we can expect more examples in due course.

The banker who was jailed a couple of days ago is now back on the street, having put up 2.5m euros with no apparent difficulty. One of the allegations against him is that he pushed for the acquisition of a US bank without the necessary approvals here in Spain. Possibly because he feared someone might notice he and his colleagues stood to make millions in 'commissions' if it went through. As it did. No wonder he can afford the bail.

Shaving can be a productive business. This morning I realised that the John Carlin who writes on football in Sunday's El País, is the same chap as the author of one of my favourite short pieces on Spain: Spain - The Place to Live. For a moment, I thought he might also be the author of the estimable The New Spaniards but this, of course, was John Hooper.

A 12 year mystery was solved this evening; walking past a jacket just dry-cleaned I caught a whiff of the smell I've associated with Galicia ever since I came here. In desperation for an alternative, I'd attributed it to damp in summer clothes badly stored over the winter. But no, it's stench that - here at least - stems from a bad cleaning. Which is ironic, when you think about it. Needless to say, Mr Internet has plenty of comment and advice on this, as here. I'm trying the vinegar bath solution.

Here's one of my favourite bloggers commenting on the Hollande dash for la gloire I mentioned yesterday. He clearly agrees with me that there's une chance grosse of it all coming about. And his last line is great.

Finally . . . Ireland came last in the Eurovision song concert tonight. I thought their drumming extravaganza stood a good chance of winning. Which is why I'm not involved in selecting numbers for any contestant. The Irish mistake was not to have a penny whistle as well as drums, as the winners, Denmark, did.