NEWS SNIPPETS FROM VALENCIA - POPULATION = 4.8 MILLION

2008 Fallas Queens Gloria Martinez and Victoria Blazquez, presided the Firecrackers Show or "Mascleta" that takes place daily in the main square outside the Town Hall of Valencia.

Senior and Junior Queens, Gloria Martinez and Victoria Blazquez, and their respective Dames of Honour, pose here with Erasmus students from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, who were received in the Town Hall of Valencia by Felix Crespo, Town Hall Counsellor of Fiestas and Folklore, and by Emilio del Toro, Town Hall Counsellor of Education.

Emilio del Toro, Town Hall Counsellor of Education, received a group of teachers and students from the Sismondi College in Geneva, Switzerland.

Angelica Suchs, Valencian Government Councillor of Tourism, hosted a lunch for Fallas Senior and Junior Queens, Gloria Martinez and Victoria Blazquez, and their respective Dames of Honour, in the Tourism Centre for Professional Training - CdT, in Valencia.

A group of members of the Valencian Association of Sommeliers - ASVASU, led by chairman Rafael Perez, and a number of oenologists - among them Rafa Galvez from the La Matandeta Restaurant, met for dinner to discuss ways to foment wine culture and use. Bruno Murciano, a Valencian from Caudete de las Fuentes, and chief of the team of sommeliers in the Hotel Ritz in London, was also present at the dinner.

M. Luisa Martin, Ambassadress of Champagne in Spain, led a group of sommeliers and restaurateurs from Valencia, on a tour of Champagne, France, where they visited a number of champagne producers and were invited to sample a wide range of the bubbly refreshment.

We advise our readers that a fault in the electronic system of the gear shift of Fiat automatic drive cars, causes sudden stoppages that can produce whiplash to the driver. This has been the experience of our editor while driving an automatic Fiat Stilo Abarth. The stoppages are also highly dangerous if they take place when passing out another vehicle, or in heavy traffic.