Time passing...

No, these are not mug shots!

Despite the furore in the British press about Identity Cards, the Spanish seem to take them for granted. And what is odder is that the phasing out of the equivalent for foreign residents, the Carné de Residencia, which can be used to validate credit cards or as an alternative to a passport in many cases, is causing an uproar among large sections of the British ex-pat community (including many who I suspect are anti-identity cards in the UK!)

Fortunately, since we are for identity cards both here and in the UK, our applications last December must have slipped in under the wire and a couple of weeks ago, after much form filling and a slow journey through the bureaucracy, we went to the Police Station in Cadíz to collect them. Then, last Sunday, we took another step towards integration when we went off to vote in the local council elections. Counting is easy because under the system of proportional representation you vote for a party list rather than the name of a ward councillor as in the UK. However, the result is delayed because although the PSOE, the Spanish Socialist Party, still has the largest number of seats round here, it no longer has a majority, so the parties have till mid-June to agree on a coalition. We are not quite waiting with baited breath but we do feel a certain amount of satisfaction at having taken part in the democratic process.

And here, for no particular reason, is a Tarta de Bernjenas that I made for lunch one day. I have planted aubergines (as well as courgettes, two kinds of melons and tomatoes) and they are flowering, so maybe towards the end of the summer I will get to cook this again with home made ingredients....