I was complaining to a Spanish friend that my favourite quiet café was occasionally turned into a children’s playground by inconsiderate young mothers. Her dismissive response was effectively, “No noise, no life!”. In this I suspect she represents the majority Spanish opinion, though I don’t know about Latins at large. I do know it’s not a pan-Iberian attitude as the Portuguese are even quieter than the English. Which is one of the reasons why the Spanish look down on them.

The word pareja in Spanish means couple or pair. And the word sentimental means, well, sentimental. An unmarried couple living together is called una pareja sentimental. A discusión means not discussion but argument. I tell you all this in case, like me, you come across the expression discusión sentimental. For, contrary to appearances, this doesn’t mean an affectionate little chat but what the British police call “a domestic”. In other words, a blazing row.

I mentioned yesterday a Portuguese airline had sent me a letter giving an impossible deadline for use of my air miles. This was worrying enough but I later discovered that they’d also misquoted their own website. However, they did thank me by return for my email advising them of this. So at least we know that, if anything does go wrong with any of their planes, the response is likely to be quick. And civil.