Then there were five

There are five bantam chicks; no bigger ones, though. Those did not hatch. All five are doing well. Daddy - the human one - tends them assiduously. Mummy - the chicken sort - does likewise. Granny - she is not their mummy - will take some pictures when she can. Beloved borrowed her camera a while back, and threw away the rechargeable batteries. 'You never told me they were rechargeable,' he says. 'Oh yes I did. I said you'd have to wait while I charged them, or use some others.' Granny says. She is still waiting for the replacements. She will get them, never fear and then you will see the five balls of fluff, two of them striped. Cheep cheep cheep they go. Oh the pretties.

The Ley de Costas saga continues. Mr Jonah succeeded in nobbling the MP for the island; he will ask questions in the parliament in Madrid. And once again there is some doubt whether the law applies to merely 20 metres from the sea, in this case, rather than 100. If so, Beloved's house at least is clear. Which is no comfort whatever to all the other poor buggers with property inside the 20 metres. What a gas.

Meantime the fight against corrupt building, in general, is getting under way at last in Spain, sparked by this, seemingly. Oh the delight of it: Putin complaining about the attacks on Russia for not living up to European democratic standards, given the scandals around Spanish town halls. We know all about those here, don't we? Today they say 100,000 illegal homes will be knocked down in Andalucia; buying them in good faith is no excuse; people should always check the records before they buy. Of course lawyers are supposed to do all that. But as we know - I know - Spanish lawyers don't. Not sure what that will do for Beloved's case. We shall see.

To work. See you later, alligators. 'Sta luego' as they say here. Good night, sweet dreams, or a very good morning to you.