There’s a special driving school in Pontevedra for those having difficulty acquiring the knowledge needed for the theory exam. A newspaper article today helpfully explained that students with ‘learning difficulties’ included illiterates, dyslexics, immigrants and gypsies. Intriguingly, the owner tells us that the last mentioned often arrive late because they’ve had difficulty parking their cars. “They can all drive’, she added “but they can’t understand the signs and have difficulty with sentences beginning ‘You can’t…’”. As there are two permanent gypsy encampments on my side of the river, I can’t say any of this came as much as a surprise. Except the bit about them wanting to pass the exam.

I see that one can now buy a zapper which will [surreptitiously] switch off every TV in the world, though not all at once of course. It’s called TV-B-Gone and seems ideal for Spanish cafés and bars where no one is watching the intrusively loud box in the corner. Or even where they are.

My Spanish lady friend has complained that everyone gets mentioned in this blog except her. So there you have it, folks. Nelson Mandela next, I suppose.