Spanish Bid for El Fresco Respect Lands Police in Hot Water

Somewhere near the top of the long list of unspoken Spanish rules - gin and tonic should not be drunk before a meal, chorizo has no place in the vicinity of a paella, and children's bedtimes cease to apply in the summer - is the silent injunction that forbids any effort to alter the habits of the country's cherished older people.

- Sam Jones

It was unfortunate, then, that police in the small Andalucian town of Santa Fe chose the photograph they did to accompany a request for people not to disturb the peace by sitting in the streets late at night.

Rather than showing a rowdy bunch of over-refreshed, guitar-strumming illicit barbecuers, they opted for a shot of six older women sitting on chairs on a pavement, engaging in an ancient and convivial ritual familiar in towns and villages across the hotter regions of Spain.

An outdoor sit-down and a chat with friends and neighbours as the heat of the day gives way to the cool of the evening is known as tomando el fresco - taking the cool air.