Old Habits

I listen to Spanish radio sometimes when I am exercising (much better than the TV, though this is saying almost nothing) and have been struck by how often, when discussing a piece of news, the presenter will refer to and add a commentary about the attitude to the issue of "we Spanish" in a positive, entirely unironic way. Not only is it as if such an entity obviously existed, but also as though it held a distinct and unified, or at least dominant, point of view. Despite the federalism which requires such fancy footwork from Spanish politicians, especially now that Zapatero's socialists require the support of nationalist groups, in the absence of a substantial body of United Left MPs in Parliament, to pass any legislation, the Spanish national psychology, it seems, has yet to experience its post-modern moment.

Meanwhile, we remain fiercly resistant to any attempt to define us as British expats-although as the picture of me drinking tea from a flask on a walk across the salinas on a bright Boxing Day morning (neither the flask nor Boxing Day are Spanish concepts) identity might reside more in the doing than the thinking! Old habits die hard indeed. My new year resolution is to make more of a habit of writing this blog.