My elder daughter, Faye, has long maintained that the weather changes up here along the Galician coast alter her sleep and activity patterns. Basically, she claims she’s more lethargic when the pressure falls and the humidity rises. I’ve long poo-poohed this but now have to admit that my senior moments – such as forgetting to put water in the coffee pot – do seem to occur when, like this morning, the barometric pressure has plummeted and we’re looking out on a thick blanket of fog.

Which reminds me, this is the last day in Galicia of my younger daughter, Hannah, before she returns to the UK. We are all removing to Madrid tomorrow morning for 3 days, meaning that the fog should have disappeared to reveal the sun by midday tomorrow.

I see the shorts I bought in M&S last year have ‘Relaxed Fit’ stamped inside them. This put me in mind of earlier tags such as Easy Fit and Comfort Fit. I guess they all just mean baggy. It could be worse; it could mean that the waistband was elasticated. You know you’re getting old when this doesn’t seem as bad as it once did.

The French President yesterday confirmed he wants France to again be great, under the umbrella of the European superstate he says he’s always dreamed of. On the same day, the French government announced it’s going to stop foreigners taking shares in what it considers to be companies in vital national industries. The Spanish press has pointed up the ‘flagrant illegality’ of this, set against the backcloth of government assistance to French companies [such as France Telecom] wanting to take over Spanish companies [such as Amena]. Brussels has pronounced sternly that it ‘trusts that the French government will comply with EU law’. And that flying lessons will shortly be compulsory for all EU pigs. Plus ça change….