Then, as now, the whole resources atmosphere was highly charged, with commodity prices surging into the stratosphere and forecasts abounding that the excitement would continue.There is no doubt that the world is short of many basic materials and, unless alternative forms of energy are found, an oil crisis looms. But with shares of the industry giants already fully valued, I decided to chance my arm among the small fry. When I descended on Oil Quest, the shares were 16.5p; they are now around 26p.There is a strong element of good fortune about my success. Of course, my criticism is not aimed at the giants of the industry.

And any company that actually produces a few barrels or nuggets and therefore has an income stream could also escape my ire. Now for a nice glass of rioja to celebrate.s.ogrady independent.co.uk. I am not a fan of junior exploration companies. The resources business is littered with no-hopers that seem to spend most of their time destroying shareholder value. That too would add value.So I have decided to put a little of the money I've received from one Spanish takeover - O2/Telefonica - into another prospective Spanish venture, BAA.Another chunk of cash is going into a business that, having sampled it, I have a good feeling about: the Spanish tapas chain named La Tasca, quoted on AIM. Why, in other words, did it take Grupo Ferrovial's announcement that it was mulling over a bid for BAA to lift the shares out of their doldrums?The best that can happen is that the spurt that BAA shares put on at the end of last week will continue until we see the shares breach the £9 or £10 mark.

That would be valuing BAA at well over £12bn, so it's a lot of money to raise, but really peanuts when you consider the magnificence of BAA's assets, especially the triple jewels of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. The trouble is that I can't really help wondering why, as usual with these takeovers, if these Spanish business people and investors think that some of our great companies are such wonderful investments, the rest of us can't see things that way as well. By the way, I never knew until a few weeks ago that Philip was Elizabeth 's brother-in-law. Families, eh?Still, things are friendlier now and, as I say, in the case of O2 and now BAA, I do have to thank the Spanish for pushing up the value of my holdings.

Most of this is profit, as it happens, because I bought most of my O2 shares after the great telecom and technology share crash four years ago. Takeover speculation then stated to buoy the shares, although the gossip never seemed to amount to much until Telefonica came up with the money I even got cash rather than shares. So my thanks to the Spanish.Come some to think of it, most of the recent action in my portfolio - and my life - has had a Spanish edge. I had a letter I didn't understand about opening a bank account with Grupo Santander, whose shares I accepted when they took over Abbey National, and, of course, the big corporate news of the last week, potentially at least, is the possible bid for BAA by Grupo Ferrovial, which is, in case you didn't know or haven't guessed by now, Spanish.I don't quite know why there seems to be such a flood of Spanish capital coming into the British market just now, but it's the biggest invasion since Philip II decided to send his little Armada over here to try to upset Elizabeth I's rule over England. I've received my shares in QinetiQ and should get the rest of the money I put down but failed to convert into shares soon. The shares have been fairly steady, trading on a 10 per cent premium to their issue price over the past week or so.