Be still my heart

Lunch today in Llado, a very pretty little place in Alt Emporda whose ajuntament has done a very good job in preserving the charm of the centre with its little alleys and lanes ,stone walls and archways leading to some impressive 15th Century cloisters.

Equally impressive, tucked away in one of the arched vennels was this shiny new defibrillator, the partial result of a recent health initiative concentrating on preventative medicine. This has shown itself in marked walking paths around most of the villages, fitness parks in some of the others and placing of defibrillators for when all else fails.

LLado is a village of only 507 people, its near neighbour Maia de Montcal has only 336, but it too has a defibrillator in its centre. An example of how localism and devolving decision making and spending as far down as possible in all areas of civic life can be effective even in times of recession.

Just as an aside, lunch in the restaurant in the Square was really good value, omelette, paella, lovely home made cake for pudding, wine,water, bread, all for ?10 . Bit heavy on the salt but comforting to know that around the corner sits a defibrillator!