Your second home is not your castle.

In Spain second-home owners have long trembled where lawmakers tread. Since the 80's I recall local governments and builders taking advantage of foreign owners who clearly didn't know the ropes. Or they did know them, but the Town Hall kept changing the goalposts. OK, I know that's a mess of mixed metaphors but not such an ugly mess as a heap of rubble which was your house and which represented all your savings. It's difficult to win when bent local government officials, lawyers, estate agents and builders are in cahoots, all after a big slice of your money for some building that isn't legal  - or is only half-finished as is the case today with builders going belly-up so often. And then once you've spent it, they want to knock it down 'cos the law says they can. In this case it's not Spain's law but sod's law when this happens so often.
Valencia seems to be one province (but not the only one) which has a reputation for being unfeeling when dealing with what is and what isn't legally built, and one which seems to have it in for foreign residents. On numerous occasions its municipalities have demanded bulldozing of properties, appropriation of land, payment of fees for new roadways, extra taxes for services and utilities etc.  So much so that many affected residents banded together (in a group called PNALC) and took their complaints successfully to Strasbourg. Everything seems to hinge round how one interprets the 1988 central government environmental law (La Ley de las Costas). Theoretically it imposes restrictions on new building after1988 and declares illegal  dwellings or parts of dwellings if they infringe this law.  Today the socialist central government seems to have decided to apply more severely this law which is putting the fear of God into anyone with a house within sight of the sea. La Ley's aim is to allow access to the entire length of the Spanish coast to you, me and the dog. Secondly it seeks to stop erosion and mass building.(see footnote link for a full explanation)
Good, I hear you say. Illegal building and the resulting speculation has been rampant far too long in Spain. There are far too many places where ugly hotels and blocks of flats label a nice strip of sand 'Private Beach' and put up a razor-wire fence to stop you passing through. Far too many huge private villas whose snarling Dobermans snap hungrily at the muscled bottoms of hikers as they walk the coast. Teach them a lesson. Give Spain back to the people. Agreed. But its hardly the scenario as when in good faith you've invested your life savings in a modest place on the coast after being assured by both the builder and the Town Hall that everything was kosher and then ten years down the line one morning you find a bulldozer revving outside backed up by the Guardia Civil waving a court order for demolition of 'Casa Mia', your bolthole to the sun.

And, as in the case of Ampuriabrava, a Venice clone (canals not buildings) on the Costa Brava, things get complicated. La Vanguadia this week ran an article about how owners of houses built canalside would have to demolish parts of their property to allow people access to walk along the canals. Now that would be bad enough if it only meant the public walking through a slice of your ex-garden, but in many cases it's more than that. It's a question of say, the shallow end of the swimming pool, or half the  boat garage you built, or in the worse case scenario your extra bedroom where, in the future, Joe Public will be able take a shortcut on his morning walk to get his Daily Mail or Rheinische Post and croissants. It's also not clear who would  pay for the removal of any such 'obstacles'. You, the owner, or the Town Hall .

Another complicating factor in the Ampuriabrava case is that many owners over the years, pre and post 1988, without consulting either lawyers or the Town Hall, have taken it for granted they could extend their properties 'just a few metres' and join their moorings up to the gardens - and naturally local construction companies were 'glad to help'. After all Helmut from Hamburg and Gunter from Giessen on either sides of the house have done it and they've been here for years so it must be OK, mustn't it!

 Lots of things seem to be unclear with regard to the application of La Ley but what is certain is that it looks like the Battle of Ampuriabrava - and any others like it - will be long and drawn out, since the vast majority of these prime properties are owned by people who can pay afford to pay lawyers so they are not going to take invasion of their privacy lying down. You can sympathise with both owners and the public. Both sections have rights but both want the opposite. The owners want privacy and the public access. Whose side are you on?

Footnote/Link Mark Strickland's site in English which explains the main clauses of La Ley de las Costas and which shows how open to interpretation many clauses could be.

http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/buff/spain/faq/ley-de-costas-coastal-law/

Tit for tat: WikiLeaks in Spain

Long live John le Carre! May all my favourite espionage novel-writers like Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton, Frederik Forsythe, Ian Fleming ( Oh, right he's dead isn't he?) come out of the cold. There's plenty of work for film stars that played their characters too - the spy specialists of whom we never tire - the Pierce Brosnans, Michael Caines, Matt Damons, Tom Cruises, George Clooneys and the like. And why? Cos the Cold war is back!  In El Pais newspaper today we read about a reverse Spanish Xmas Log gesture where the Russian Government have just sent home on Xmas Eve two Spanish diplomats for activities 'over and beyond their official brief', ie spying? In fact political adviser Ignacio Cartagena and First Secretary, Borja Cortes-Breton, were expelled probably for nothing more than the fact that in November the Spanish Government on the advice of the Spanish CIA ( the CNI or the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia) sent packing two Russian diplomats accused of dire offences of a similar vagueness. In other words a-tit-for-tat expulsion. But then who knows what goes on in the grey and murky area of diplomatic intercourse between countries of once opposing ideologies.

It's incidents like these that make increasingly complex espionage films so popular and even make for 'Spy 3' sequels - think of Bourne and Bond for example. They also give rise to spoof spy films which take the piss out of not only the 'espionage' type films but also the concept of ever taking spying seriously. It might as well be Mars where the action is played out, the whole thing is so alien to normal life. Complex plots used to be played out in Berlin before The Wall came down, the divided city which separated the Western from Eastern bloc countries, then the action shifted to any countries which were vaguely near to China or North Korea. London, Washington and New York even Dubai and Delhi have always been favourites and of course Paris, the most sought after location for agents and ex-agents and killers of agents and ex-agents. particularly of a Middle East background or affiliation But Spain? Not really.

But yet perhaps there is a link with Madrid and this film world spy thing. It's in the 'spoofers', the spy films that satirise spy films. And let's face it many of which have been as highly successful. as the films they satirise even their titles strive to be amusing. I mean take the French 'The Tall Blonde Man with One Red Shoe' and its sequel and equally intriguing 'Return of the Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe' or surely the longest title for a (spoof) spy film, 'How to destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent in the World' as played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Full of cliches was the punniest of all, the American 'Spy Hard' with its hero, Dick Steele or Agent WD-40 playing out as so many do the myth of the irresistible sexual potency and attraction of spies.

So it's here that the link with Spain and Spy movies is, in the spoof variety. The meeting of the two 'Mr Beans' one called Atkinson and the other called Zapatero, the A-Z of the spy world as it were. One of the unfortunate aspects of the Spanish leader is his remakable ability to look like he's an understudy for Rowan Atkinson when the latter is  playing the role of Johnny English in the film of the same name - a spy hero who commits incredible gaffes yet gets away with them (mostly). The film satirises the way that 'serious' films project for the public what they think 'real 'spies do. Spain has politicians who commit the most incredible gaffes too and in general get away with them. One wonders if this is what real politicians do?

You could say then that PM Zapatero has about as much chance of lifting Spain out of the current mess it's in as Johnny English had of exposing and defeating Britain's spying enemies, the film's baddies, off his own bat. However it's important to both to keep things appearing 'complicated' as it is the key word that joins the two. I have watched 'Syriana' twice, once in Spanish and once in English and decided that in neither version was I able to decipher what the hell George Clooney and Matt Damon were doing. When I read the Spanish newspapers I get a similar view of political leaders whether they be Spanish, American - or Russian.

Ronaldinho: a footballer more sinned against than sinning

Certain overpaid  -and underworked - categories of people keep the tabloid newspapers filled with their detrius and drivel: their marriages, infidelities, divorces and their tantrums. Pop stars and professional sports stars are two glaring  examples - witness the Tiger Woods Story of recent months and the endless George Michael saga. Both categories spawn latter-day gods who make obscene amounts of money, yet too often they reveal themselves as humanly flawed, less than God-like with their unsuccessful attempts to reconcile private selves and public obligations.  And when that happens the paparazzi  pounce. As we ordinary mortals all know, happiness doesn't sell papers, dirt and disasters, whether public or personal, do.

This week's Spanish  newspaper sports pages are no exception. Most featured a new episode in the checkered career of  ex-BCN resident and player, the 30 year-old Milan club's footballer Ronaldinho who is rumoured to have been a bad boy yet again. Not too long ago he was a Barça player and in trouble with their Christ-reborn figure, trainer and saviour Pep Gardiola, for not training hard enough and enjoying the Barcelona night life too much. Despite his obvious talent as a footballer (and entertainer) after a couple of seasons as the club's rising star, he was starting to fit the new Barca team philosophy like the Lion King would Lady Gaga's bikini.  Eventually Milan (or Berlusconi the club's owner) decided he might have a future in Italy after he gave the businessman/politician a promise to play there 'till he hung up his boots'. As with Barça he initially fitted in well even regaining some of his old flair, but latterly he had been seen more on the bench than the pitch, a non-starter for most of the important Champions League matches and he's reportedly had several arguments with Milan's trainer, the aptly misnamed Allegri. A case of deja vu!

This week when in Dubai for the club's winter training sessions he not only missed training (for stomach problems again!) but was also reported coming back to the hotel late after going to discotheques (hardly  Barcelona or Milan quality but enough to keep him out till 7am.) He reportedly (!) left the team without even saying 'goodbye' and boarded a plane to Brazil. He was last seen sunbathing at a beach resort. Rumour has it he wants to play for a  Brazilian team, probably Gremio, where he first started his career.

Ronaldinho's case is an example of a young red-blooded man whose personality doesn't fit a hardline approach, (known as the 'philosophy') of a club,  in the case of Barça and Milan ones that are making a lot of money out of him. If off-field exploits make players perform less well, teams start to lose matches and shareholders money for after all football is a business. It's not easy for an individual with  such talent and flair as Ronaldinho to accept being treated like a schoolboy and being told off by the 'headmaster'. Some players can take it,  realizing that their careers as footballers don't last for ever. Ronaldinho can't.  Messi his equally brilliant Argentinan ex-teammate at Barca seems to be able to. I suspect much of the problem hangs on your personal relationship with your trainer. If that's bad you may as well leave.

However there another side to this coin to consider. Money. There's a strong arguement that top football players morally should give 120% on and off the field since they are paid such huge salaries. In sport unlike with pop stars who also earn huge amounts, wide differences in character and attitude are frowned upon. Pop stars are expected to ruffle the establishment's feathers, to wear outrageous clothes, to take drugs, to wreck hotel rooms, to fuck fans. The bad-boy image sells disks.  Sports stars wear suits and blazers when they travel together as a team. They eat together, play together while the Big Daddy manager takes care of everything. Step over the line and party too much however and you get slapped down.

Legal contracts bind  players to clubs and their philosophy. In Ronadlinho's case at Milan we're talking an eight million euros a year contract.  Maybe like Barça, Milan have a right for that amount of cash to expect him to toe the line more. English Premier Club team Blackburn Rovers are said to have offered him 20 million over three years if Milan would sell him in the January sales or 'transfer window' as they call it.  Milan want eight million euros since he has one year left of his contract - not out of the question for Blackburn's  ebulliant chicken based economy but certainly too much for lowly Brazilian club like Gremio who he seems to want to return to even though he'd play for a fraction of what he now gets at Milan.

Football has always had and will continue to have its casualities and its successes. George Best spent all his money on whiskey and women and died broke. Paul Gascoyne had his fight with alcohol and Madona his with drugs. Stars like Ronaldo and Beckham have their heads screwed on better and have remained successful. Or have agents with their heads screwed on better to make sure they remain so.  Ronaldinho's agent is his brother and he also has his sister and mother working for him. Perhaps it's a mistake to mix family and business. Maybe he's made enough money and at thirty wants to enjoy himself before settling down. Maybe he was just an example of a player who wanted to samba through life and the football field was just another dance hall for him. Kinda sad though to see the end of a player who enjoyed playing. His goofy smile and brilliant individualism will be missed by the fans but not by trainers who wanted to wipe it off his face. Adios amigo.

Tobacco Road: the smoking ban

Ten days to go and the puff-smoke-in-yer-face game will be over. Spain is set to bring in the La Ley del Tabaco, making it one of the last countries to be a bastion for smokers in 'old' Europe to do so. January the second will be 'T Day'. Like all changes it has been fiercely resisted to the bitter end by bars and restaurants who deny surveys that show they won't lose clients and revenue. For God's sake if the Italians can do it, anyone can!

The immediate effect of the law - apart from a less-polluted atmosphere all round - will be that barmen and waiters for example will be able to breathe more easily and live longer - 1,000

of them a year die through tobacco-related illnesses. No longer will they confront a crowd of dragon-like patrons puffing obnoxious fumes in their faces. More importantly future generations may also survive longer - smoking will seem less the norm if totally banned in public places, including children's playgrounds.

Over the last five years the Spanish government has dragged its feet over implementing Brussel´s recommendations. It's almost taken pride in being the last to make changes, citing possible loss of earnings for interested parties: tobacco sellers, kiosks, bars, pubs, eating places and inveterate smokers all protested and you could count on one hand the places displaying No Fumar stickers on their doors when the smoking ban was 'voluntary'. Really though it was all about votes. Offend one section of the population too much by tampering with their freedom of choice and come election time you're burnt toast - appropriately so in this case!

And true to form even with the new law in place it will still allow certain sections to smuggle in fags through the back door as it were, although there could be some method in this madness. Prisons and psychiatric institutions will be able to designate 'smoking rooms' since so many of their clients are addicted - (and if deprived of tobacco could be violent?). Smoking Clubs - whatever they are -will also be exempt as long as they restrict smokers to members and guests. Having many years ago got a whiff of the atmosphere in the smoking room in Singapore's Changi Airport (one of the anti-smoking pioneers) I feel the allowing such exemptions are a subtle way of exterminating problem people - a kind of societal euthenasia or 'ethnic cleansing' as it's termed in some countries.

Some things are not clear about the new law ban, however. Who for example who is going to check on whether businesses are sticking to the law - will we see a huge army of civil service workers come into being, called 'Smoke Detectors' perhaps?; what do you do if a customer who might be paying a huge bill for a blowout in your restaurant whips out a fag and lights up? If you turn a blind eye you're liable to get a heavy fine, particularly if 70% of the clients eating are likely to be non-smokers and might rat on you.

Write in and say whether you feel Barcelona will overnight become smoke-free and where smokers will now go.

Wikileaks conspiracy theories

Not only do we live in dangerous times, but also we Barceloneses live in a dangerous place according Wikileaks. Thanks to Mr Leak himself, Julian Assange, we know all about the cables sent from the US Madrid Embassy to Washington saying why Barcelona would be be an ideal place to set up a multi-agency counter-terrorism and crime-fighting centre.


Some cynics might regard the setting up of such a place as stemming from a conspiracy theory cos I wonder how many of us - except perhaps sharp-eyed Americans - have seen the 60,000 dangerous male and single Pakistanis who, according to Wikileaks, move around BCN unimpeded. On a quick random count on a Metro carriage (jam-packed, Line 3) Pakistanis scored nil. Perhaps I was travelling in a different carriage to the Embassy staff. I did see a few walking up and down Las Ramblas and manning the souvenir shops but 60,000. Come on!

Because of these high numbers of Pakistanis and a big Arab population, the Embassy suggests that Catalan cities constitute 'a Mediterranean region of jihadist activity, with BCN as a hub', supposedly used as a crossroads for people and goods moving to and from Rabat,Tunis, Algiers and the south of France.

The reports state the Pakistanis and many other Muslims 'live on the margins of BCN society' (unsurprisingly since who can afford the bloody sky-high rents here!) and that they 'don't speak the language.' Well, most of the ones I've heard in shops put all us expats to shame with their fluency. Moreover they are all deemed 'resentful since they don't have places to worship in' - ie mosques. I can understand why Catalans might be resentful with Allah Wakbar bellowing out five times a day from a digital speaker near you, but aren't we all constantly deafened by the 24 hour monster cacophony created by traffic, drunks, car stereos, over-loud club music, ambulances, slamming doors and paraqueets so who'd notice an immam or three shouting from the rooftops.


But perhaps there's lots of hard evidence somewhere else to make this conspiracy theory a reality. Newspaper archives for example. Yes, well they certainly show dangerous terrorists are on the loose here - especially the right-wing La Vanguardia: in 2008, fourteen (out of the reputed 60,000 Pakistanis that's 0.02% by the way) with ties to jihad groups back home were arrested and sentenced for planning an attack on the BCN Metro. The suspects had stolen passports, some of which the Mumbai terrorists were using when captured last year. (Why did they carry passports?) One (yes, you heard correctly) one passport stolen in Barcelona was used by the head of the Unit which organised 9/11; last week seven more 'terrorists' (that's 0.01%) were arrested in the city again with ties to terror groups back home. Of course there would have been many more arrests but police admit that the Pakistani community is 'very difficult to penetrate'. Should the police should start learning Urdu with so many around? A few Salaam aleekums and handshakes wouldn't go amiss either.


Then it's the 'organised crime' aspect then which provides a stronger reason for basing a US Crime Centre in Barcelona? Well, yes, there are more tangible signs for the existence of that. South American and Eastern European drug cartels market are said to operate freely here; Mafia gangs launder their money in the region's businesses so it's no wonder the Barcelona region has 25% of Europe's 500 euro notes circulating around its shops and shops; Albanians, Chinese, and Romanians people-traffic through Gerona and El Prat bringing in sad women to work the streets and clubs. High-profile Italian mafioso seem to be on permanent vacation here with their life of luxury only occasionally disturbed by the odd arrest now and then. But does it have to be an American Crime Centre? Don't they have their own problems to deal with over there?


But all this theorising might seem to be irrelevant as the idea may not even get off the ground. The Americans forgot there's a political problem to consider. Although the Spanish Government in principle is favorable to the idea of helping out Los Yonquees, it's not so happy ceding powers of national security to Catalunia. Well what's new? Back to square one again with its petty inter-regional squabbles. What did the cables recommend to get round them I wonder?



Actually the whole affair smells a bit fishy, as if America is looking for a reason to set up some kind of holding centre here for terror suspects and is usingthe high level criminal in Europe thing as an excuse. We need to remember Cuba and Guantanamo Bay are not so politically correct these days. The whole thing smacks of a desperate need for control, control and more control. Whether PM, Mr Bean, will give in to pressure from the White House remains to be seen.


Are you as a resident like me un-affected in your day-to-day-life by terrorism and crime apaprt from the occasional pick-pocket or bag heist attempt? Or do you pound the pavements of Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal with your heart in your mouth fearful that every brown-skinned man (or female) you pass could be a suicide bomber? If you thought Barcelona is bad, mosey on down to Palau Virreina and take a look at the exhibition of crime scenes by a French photo journalist from Nice. Now there's a place place to set up this Super Crime Centre.

Doping: a case of mistrust

Spain yesterday was hit by another scandal when Marta Dominguez the country's most famous athlete and world 3000m steeplechase champion was arrested. She is being investigated for supplying performance-enhancing drugs to other athletes - though not taking them herself. Others, well known trainers and medical people in the world of athletics, have also been arrested. Her arrest follows on from other investigations into the world of sport for doping this year and going back to 2006. In the cycling world, Spanish Olympic rider, Alejandro Valverde, was banned and another, Alberto Contador, is under provisional suspension.

Another separate but related piece of news is that several middle-management police officers have also been arrested in Cataluña for alleged connection to the importation of cocaine through Barcelona's port. They belong to the home-grown Catalan Police Force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, but other police forces are implicated, including the Guardia Civil and the National Police. They have been on the take, it seems, receiving 'gifts' of various types and value for 'favours' given. Apparently there are also connections to the Italian Mafia and Columbian drug cartels with certain criminal investigations concerning drugs and prostitution having been 'discouraged' or 'blocked' by senior policemen.

The first item is kind of sad in that athletes and sportmen need to resort to underhand tactics to achieve fame and success - especially as younger sportsmen look up to people like Dominguez. But now what's the point of training to get to the top, what's the point of this respect when she - and others like her are maybe cheating their way to the top? Where will it stop. Will the world of football be next? Imagine if folk heroes Messi and Ronaldo were caught up in this type of sordid cheating by taking drugs to enhance their stamina! Luckily the world's major sport seems to monitor drug-taking better than most - match-fixing seems to be a greater danger. However, implications have been made by a Spanish sports doctor in the French magazine L'equipe, Eufemiano Fuentes, that both Barca and the Spanish world champions are 'not so clean' - immediately denied by Del Bosque and Iniesta.

The second item has much wider implications than the first in that it affects all sections of society. It suggests that Spanish police are in danger of becoming like Mexican and South American police, making as much as they can out criminals while they can and letting criminals make the rules. It means very dog has its price and drug dealers seem to know who to get to in order that blind eyes are turned at the right moment and in the right place. It could mean that law and order as we know it could be in danger of disintegrating with corruption across the board. You'd expect such a situation in a Third World country where police salaries are pitifully low, but this is Europe for God's sake, so it's greed not need as the motive.

I'm not sure what the answer is. In some countries non-corrupt police when they exist have a short career or even life span and family members even shorter when threats not gifts are used by criminals, And who do you complain to when the barrel is full of rotten apples? Who do you shop a corrupt colleague to? Who can you trust? This dilemma is the theme of countless films across the globe. In many cases the answer seems to be: no one.

The first case ('Operation Galgo' or 'Greyhound') seems to be escalating - you only need to turn over more stones. Yes, it is bad but it's about sport and that's it. Society won't collapse and just a few personalities will lose respect. After all many of the tattooed iron pumpers I see everyday in my gym are on pills and powders of various kinds. To date only 14 people have been called in for questioning only two of them top athletes: Alemayehu Bezabeh, European cross-country champion and Nuria Fernandez, European 1,500m gold medalist. However if it does spread further maybe the jargon word 'contagion', used lately to describe a financial 'disease' countries can catch, might then be applicable here. How many more athletes will be 'touched'? We can only wait and see. Meanwhile in the early stages an atmosphere of political correctness reigns - the Spanish athletics captain, Manolo Martinez, has stressed that if people are guilty they should be punished and if not they should be exhonorated. Well chosen words - meaning nothing.

At least the doping affair is manageable and out in the open - all you need do is have more random tests at high levels. Police and political corruption are not so manageable, not so easy to root out and cause much more damage.

Saga Louts: UK pensioner crime

Only the Guardian newspaper could come up with such an outrageous pun - do they still have sit-down comedians to write all their headlines? The phrase 'Saga louts' recalls the 80's phenomenon of young gun Brits fuelled on gallons of high-strength lager loutishly wrecking property and people in Britain and abroad - Spain with places like Loret del Mar and Torremolinos were a prime casualities. Latterly young people in the UK seem more likely to wreck themselves at the weekend though they still manage to create no-go areas for the rest of us leaving stations, town centres and carparks awash with vomit. Luckily today's teenagers seem more concerned with how many times they can throw up in a night rather than how many fights they can pick.

But 'saga louts'? OK, saga rhymes with lager but there have to be other similarities? Well it seems there are. An increasing number of Saga members, the over 60's, are taking the law into their own hands. Financial crime, drug and weapon crime and sexual offences (must be all these purple pills available on the Internet) are on the up for pensioners, so much so that elderly prison wings are going to be the thing to go for in penal institutional architecture, fitted out with stairlifts and wheelchair ramps. Plus prison staff will also need to learn how to deal with prisoners who suffer from dementia problems and don't know why they are there or even just Why?. Will that sad infirmitythat become a legitimate and genuine defence in court? "My client doesn't remember a thing about the night of the 11th , mi lud."

The Guardian suggests the reasons for this significant increase in older-person crime could be because pensions aren't enough to live off in today's climate of increased VAT and fuel bills. The Internet makes scams easier to set up and courts are getting tougher on older criminals. It also points out that it's not only Britain where the phenomenon exist : the same has been happening in Holland, Japan, France and Israel. Increased customers on Saga Holidays and Cruises another reason then?

No figures exist as far as I know for penioner pugilists in Barcelona, though I did once see an irate abuela almost club a pink shirtless tourist to death with her brolly as he crossed the Ramblas with his mates. But things are clearly changing. Published crime figures show that a highly respecatable area of Barcelona like Sarria is now statistically regarded as a high crime area even though it's mainly populated by the over 70's. Gym chain, Dir, have classes every morning for the Evergreens in its upper Diagonal area premises. Maybe it should stop training them in Body Balance, Karate and Kick-boxing though. It's obviously putting ideas into their heads and over-toughening their aging bodies.

Soon young people will have to move downtown to safer places like Cuitat Vell and Trinitat where there will be fewer chances of being robbed and violated. Or run down by wild pensioners gunning their Porsches and Ferraris. Soon we'll also have 70 year olds whispering psst! as you walk up Via Augusta while pulling out plastic wrapped comforters from their shopping trolleys. A perfect cover. It's going to play hell with the city's demographics in a year or two. Its clubs and bars will be full of randy old greybeards fuelled on Viagra and Cialis leching after young women and swigging Hot Chocolate cocktails. What? They already are? OK forget that then. Certainly you can expect to see an increase of leather-jacketed Segway riders hanging out in L'Illa, sporting labels on their backs like "Turro Park Grannies" or "Les Corts Angels.
It's not going to be pleasant then for us good law-abiding types working our nuts off - I'd hate to be a Mosso in the next two or three years if Spain follows the current trend. But then maybe there's no need to worry yet as the country is always the last one to follow norms and trends. It will be the last to observe smoking bans in public places so why should it send its glamorous grannies to solicit on las Ramblas?