It's been cold and rainy for the last week here in Barcelona. I'm not complaining, this is January, and Spain's had several years of drought recently. Since this winter has been unusually wet, we can expect a summer with fewer forest fires and no restrictions on washing your car or watering your golf course.

Speaking of forest fires, I assume you've noted that the PP is playing the incompetence in the face of a natural disaster card on the PSOE. Last summer a forest fire in Guadalajara province killed eleven firefighters, which is what I call a tragedy that you can't really blame anybody for. Sure, the Socialists could have done a better job, but attacking the government over something like this is Monday-morning quarterbacking, armchair generalling, and jailhouse lawyering. The PSOE was just as guilty of attacking the PP over the Prestige incident, though, and so I suppose payback is only fair. Still, I'd like to see the PP move away from negative campaigning.

Heard this joke the other day. "Did you hear that Zapatero made a deal to give Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco? In exchange they're going to give us back Santa Coloma, Sant Adria, and Viladecans." Those are three Barcelona suburbs with heavy Moroccan populations.

Down at the bar a few nights ago while I was watching the Barça match, the house loudmouth, who enjoys provoking people, started shouting at the crowd watching the game, "Doesn't it embarrass you that a nigger is wearing the Catalan flag?" Ronaldinho had become on-field captain when Puyol left the pitch, and so was wearing the captain's armband, which for the Barça is the colors of the Catalan flag. Now, several of the people there told him laughingly to shut up, but the point is that this was considered within the acceptable range of soccer fans' banter. Agreed, this bar is a dump that attracts working-class borderline alcoholics, but nobody threatened to kick the loudmouth's ass, and the bartender didn't threaten to kick him out. Of course, I did nothing, since as a foreigner it would have been out of my place to have intervened seriously in a bantering dispute. What I should have done was say something positive and non-threatening like "We should all be proud that a guy like Ronaldinho is wearing the Catalan flag," but I never think of the right thing to say at the right time.

I should point out that there are several bars in the neighborhood that do not attract loudmouth alcoholic uneducated men, and where such behavior would not be tolerated, but none of them have pay-per-view soccer. I normally patronize these other places.

In 2005 Spain was in third place in the world in amount of cocaine confiscated by police, after Colombia and the United States. Casual drug use is very common in Spain. 40% of Spaniards between the ages of 15 and 29 have used cannabis in the past year. In comparison, 80% have consumed alcohol within the last year.

I saw Catalan Communist leaders Joan Saura and Imma Mayol at one of the civilized bars down in the Plaza Rovira on Sunday morning while I was drinking coffee and reading the paper. They live on my street and are seen around the neighborhood living normal, everyday lives. They couldn't do this if they were PP leaders in the Basque Country, who are accompanied everywhere by bodyguards and must limit their movements for security reasons.