Every now and then, in this country that moves at a slightly slower pace than elsewhere, something happens with such speed and efficiency that one is left slack-jawed in amazement. Having decided this week to have a medical check-up, I presented myself at the local hospital and within 5 minutes was being examined by a remarkably informal doctor. Blood tests were taken the next morning – again very efficiently and affably – and the results were ready for discussion that evening. Admittedly, this was a private hospital – it being obligatory for me to have medical insurance in order to get Spanish residence – but I can’t imagine BUPA being so quick about things. Plus I got a clean bill of health. Which leaves me hoping that they really were as efficient as they were rapid!

It is, incidentally, one of the many joys of Spain that people who attend to you are rarely officious and never surly. Outside the ranks of government funcionarios, I mean. These, of course, are the same the world over.

In the Spectator this week, a contributor to the section on Modern Luxuries complains that it’s hard to get the likes of pig’s spleen and chicken necks these days. He should come to Galicia. Here they are laid out – prepackaged – on the supermarket shelves. The locals favour them because they are not long off being poor. Here the equivalent of Sunday roast is a stew which contains [along with a token vegetable] parts of animals I have never even heard of, never mind eaten. Popular as these dishes are, I guess it would amuse the Galicians to know that they are comprised of luxuries. They reserve this label for the goose barnacles [percebes] that often prove fatal to collect and which I saw on sale in a Santiago restaurant last week for 120 euros a kilo. Personally, I find them as repulsive as gizzards and tripe. But, then, I have always been a fussy eater. Needless to say, they are reputed to have aphrodisiacal qualities.

The Prince of Asturias – heir to the Spanish throne – gets married on Saturday, to a rather lovely ex-TV presenter. I wouldn’t know this except that 3 of the 5 national channels appear to be giving round-the-clock information about the event and the happy couple. You can easily imagine, I suspect, the barrel-scraping that this compels.