Sexy coaches and sexy judges.

Walking into town today, I had to wait for a Glamtour coach to move off the crossing before I could continue. Its sides were decorated with sexy silhouettes, leaving me wondering what sort of tour it was. Especially as it was heading in the direction of Poio's 3 brothels. But a quick search suggested it had come up from Portugal to see the sights. Though I still don't know why a woman on the back seat was waving at me. Perhaps she's a reader.

As if things weren't bad enough in the nearby, virtually-orderless Vigo ship-building yards, it's quite possible Brussels will soon demand repayment of 3 billion euros of aid given between 2005 and 2011. A ruling will be made on the 17th of this month and fears are high whilst hopes are low. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. He who lives by the subsidy will die by the subsidy. Etc.

Vigo does have a bit of a reputation for rule-bending, of course, but this has traditionally been around fish quotas. I'm guessing the ship-building subsidies may have been mis-spent - like those used to finance a large brothel down south a few years ago - but I don't know for sure.

An interesting Spanish maternal fact - Although the WHO recommends continuing to breastfeed babies up to the age of 2, most Spanish mothers stop when their baby is under a year old. And a majority switch to a bottle, or even solids ,when it's between 3 and 6 months. Perhaps the kids get sick of the taste of cigarettes.

Researching which of the various Caminos de Santiago I'll do in September, I've come across a new one - El Camino de Invierno. Or 'The Winter Way'. It's only been an official Way since 2006 and one of its raisons d'etre is to cut out the mountains that greet those on the French Way when they get to Galicia. It parts from the French Way at Ponferrada and passes through the lovely Sil valley before heading up through Monforte and Lalín. Might be worth a try. Before the winter sets in.

You'll recall there's a big corruption case being tried down in Andalucia, where a large number of politicos are charged with benefitting from a phoney pension fund. Operating on that well known crooks' principle of "If someone allows me to cheat him, he's a fool. If I don't do so, I'm the fool", they have diverted squillions into their own bank accounts. Anyway, I mention this because the papers love to picture the lady judge on her way into and out of the court. Possibly this is because she's young, attractive, well-dressed and not averse to wearing dresses that are ever-so-slightly low cut. What always amazes me - coming from a country where judges only come from the ranks of experienced lawyers and so are well into middle age - is how young she it. Maybe 35-40. This is because you study to be a judge in Spain and so take your first cases when still quite youthful. Here are some pix of the lady. Would an English judge get away with turning up in jeans? I suspect not. So much for my age-assessing skills, by the way; she's 49. Never does any harm to flatter a judge.

Finally . . . Verbal evolution: vaqueros - buckaroos - cowboys - jeans, in Spain.