Subsidiarity at Work

School over 10 days ago, many left at once for the seaside, battling through rain and braving windswept beaches. But they have their reward now as every evening the main news shows them all lounging and eating, and paddling in blue seas. Still, the village is deliciously deserted of small boys kicking footballs in stone canyons while we tell one another they're only playing, and our houses boom like Lambeg drums.

The hills are alive with courting couples and their attendant guardoni so we really have the place to ourselves in the evening. Whatever change the election of Mr Berlusconi may have brought, it hasn't reached here yet.