This is a little bit of a mystery to me. I must confess that I don't use my mobile much, since it is office-issued, and they will charge me up the wazoo if I use it for personal calls, and I don't want to have to carry around two mobiles if I were to get a personal one. Also, up to now, I haven't really found the need to have a mobile since I have a fixed line at home.

However, everywhere I go, I see Madrileños of all ages gabbing away on their mobiles, especially young Madrileñas. What's up with that? If mobile calls are so expensive, do I just happen to see the independently-wealthy users? Or is Papa paying the bills?