In fourteen hundred and ninety two...

Last Monday was Columbus Day, another one of those non-holiday holidays in that it's a public holiday if you happen to work for the government, but not if you happen to work for me.  To be honest, I would be inclined to go easier on myself when it comes to these extra public holidays, if it wasn't for the fact that Mrs Walles doesn't get them off either.

Anyway, Columbus Day marks the discovery of the Americas by an expedition led by an Italian and paid for by the Spanish government.  The significance of his discovery depends on your perspective.  The majority of Americans treat it as an absolutely pivotal moment in the foundation of their nation.  Native Americans are probably agreed on the pivotal nature but, one imagines, have rather mixed feelings about the outcome.  Europeans  decimated the indigenous population with their diseases even before they got stuck in with the swords and guns.

Meanwhile in Spain (and Italy, come to that) people must get a pang of nostalgia when they're reminded of times past when they could, you know, pay for things.

That's one European disease America has yet to succumb to, and hopefully it will stay that way.