More curiouser and curiouser, said Sky News. The police in Galicia have arrested 4 fire-fighters for starting forest fires. A private job creation/retention scheme, presumably.

Yet another early morning road tragedy. This time the driver left the nightlife district of Foz at 6.15am, missed a bend and drove straight into the sea. He managed to escape through an open window but his passenger wasn’t so lucky. The really scandalous thing about these deaths is that many could be avoided by a police presence. My friend Andrew drives to his bodega around 7.30 in the summer months and regularly sees drunken youths getting into their cars outside the local discos. Our suspicion is that, in an area now dependent on tourism, commercial considerations prevail.

Down the hill, the 3rd phase of the installation of road bumps has seen the sole remaining single bump being given a partner. You may recall the other single bump was removed a couple of weeks ago, during phase 2. So, in terms of safety, we’re back where we started, albeit moving more slowly.

In both English and Spanish, the standard expression of regret is normally truncated. With English, the briefest form is just ‘Sorry’. Whereas, in Spanish, the equivalent is ‘Lo siento’, or ‘I feel’. So, in English we have just the adjective and in Spanish just the verb. I wonder what this tells us about the respective cultures. Almost certainly, absolutely nothing at all. But what’s the point of asking questions if you can answer them all?

Talking of words, I’ve decided – for this week, at least - that the defining adjective for Spaniards is ‘casual’. It’s a small word but it bristles with meanings and nuances. All of them apposite.