The North-South Divide.

I went on a bit yesterday about stereotypical differences between the north and the south, differences which seem to exist in all countries. Well, the news has given me a different angle on the north-south divide.

First of all, at the northern end there’s the chap who was found alive in his snowbound car somewhere in Sweden after spending two months there. It seems that the snow covering the car turned it into a kind of igloo and because he had decent clothes and a good sleeping bag he was able to stay alive, eating next to nothing except snow. There is some speculation about whether he was a actually trapped for two months. Some people seem to think he may have been living in the car anyway before the notional date in December when he claims he got stuck. Either way, he has been found by off-duty policemen on snowmobiles. Quite a lucky chap by all accounts, if rather skinny now. That’s quite a drastic way to lose weight, if you ask me.

At the other end in Ivrea, in Northwestern Italy, an area that has probably also had some pretty cold weather recently, they appear to have got over the cold snap and have been throwing oranges at each other. This coincides with carnavale in other parts of Italy but, I understand, also serves to commemorate a medieval uprising against a domineering landlord. The peasants fought against the ruling families and won. Now they re-enact the uprising with teams from different parts of the town acting as peasants or nobles but they use oranges as weapons. Fortunately, as well as their fancy costumes, they also wear helmets with cages to protect their faces from serious orange damage.

What is it with these southern countries and their obsession with throwing food at each other?

In Spain in August you have the tomatina in Buñol. As the name suggests, they all throw tomatoes at each other. However, they make no claims to be re-enacting any historic occasion. It all began way back in 1944 but there is no known religious or political basis for it. Some people guess it began as a food fight among children or that local townspeople chucked tomatoes to show their dislike of a local politician. Whatever the case, the event caught on and has happened every year until the dictator Francisco Franco banned the festival for "having no religious significance." However, the town resumed the event after Franco died in the '70s. Maybe they also realised that there was a certain money-making potential as people flock there from all over the world to throw tomatoes.

Meanwhile, back in the present day, carnaval , aka entroido, has also been going on in Vigo, despite our absence and today, instead of eating pancakes – a very English tradition - they will be burying the sardine.

And this year, in the Puerta del Sol, they are also burning an effigy of Angela Merkel, shown as a puppeteer jerking the strings of Mariano Rajoy. The country may be in crisis but satirical comment is not yet dead.