It’s often said in Spain that 80% of undergraduates are only at university to have a ball, amply supported by the ability to retake exams for years on end and by boundless parental indulgence. The other 20% work as hard as anyone in the world. I think I must have one of the latter as my piano teacher. After 7 hours of lessons, I know an awful lot about the musculature of the arm and quite a bit about harmonics. And I’ve even learned a few scales. But as for tunes – there’s nothing on the horizon. And this is despite me telling him at the outset that I just wanted to be able to play a little blues and boogie.

As I approach roundabouts [circles], I frequently wonder how on earth the driver in front passed his or her test. Now I know that it’s quite possible they didn’t. The police have arrested driving school principals all across the country, having discovered a nationwide fraud aimed at helping those with more cash than intelligence to sail through at least the theory exam. This centred on the simple ruse of sending answers to mobile phones. Given this morality, it’s easy to imagine some impersonation going on for the practical exam.

Galicia is a truly beautiful part of the world but it’s a sad fact that human aesthetics still lag behind those of nature. My local paper reports today that the various building laws introduced since 1985 have done little to stem the tide of ugliness. One of the main problems is that, until not so long ago, the ground floor in Galician homes was dedicated to animals. And it seems that the locals can’t shake off this concept, meaning that a [relatively] handsome first floor often sits atop a ground floor of raw brick and metal. I’ll be putting one or two of these monstrosities on my web page in a day or so.

Final word - my elder daughter tells me that the statistics about Spanish students quoted above apply equally well to British kids these days. O tempora, o mores.