I give a conversation class once a week to a group of English teachers from one of the town’s main colleges. This is so enjoyable, I really should pay them. Last week, when the only male member of the group was absent, I asked the four women to define the positive and negative characteristics of Spanish men. On the plus side, they felt their male compatriots were friendly, outgoing, easy to talk to and relatively good with their kids - though the ladies baulked at my suggestion that Spanish men were well-mannered and chivalrous. On the downside, Spanish men were labelled [good humouredly] macho, sexist, jealous, possessive, undomesticated and immaturely prone to run away from problems. Thanks to the insights provided by the Galician Gadfly, I’m now half-convinced this stereotypical image all us foreigners have of Spanish men was deliberately fostered by Franco. Though God knows why. With one daughter living in Madrid and another thinking of moving there, I’d be relieved to be told it’s not true of the ‘real Spain’.

Incidentally, I thought it was interesting that all the positive male traits could be attributed to women as well. In fact, I suspect they’re the first things that spring to mind when foreigners want to describe Spaniards in general. In a nutshell, Spanish men and women are alike when it comes to their positives and differ only when it comes to their negatives. Not that I have yet discovered any negatives about Spanish women. Except for the snotty Pontevedra pijas who regularly walk across my path as they exit the town’s numerous boutiques as if they owned the pavements.

A Spanish professor of politics has said the concept of ‘nation’ favoured by Spain’s separatists is a mixture of medieval and 18th century notions. Or in his words – ‘The idea of nation held by the separatists is at one and the same time both medieval and yet based on a future which is utopian’. What this means, of course, is they look fondly backwards and forwards at the same time, without taking much stock of the present and its actualities. That should go down well with my favourite Catalan, Basque and Galician correspondents.

Which reminds me – the Galician Gadfly has sent us what he says will be his last message. What a shame. The more he wrote, the more I laughed. And, just like Alexsu, he’s arrogant enough to think I take his imbecilic and histrionic views seriously and am angered by them. Or would want to stop the rest of the world enjoying them. Priceless. The shame is they both speak excellent English and could be using it in a much more productive way. But then Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin slaughtered thousands of Russia’s intelligentsia, after they’d murdered millions of peasants, of course. So things could be worse. Anyway, Goodnight Gadfly. And good luck for when you leave your parents’ house and have your first taste of non-theoretical independence. Final word of advice – follow your nose and stick to the small circle of people who read the proceedings of the III International. You’ll be a much happier camper.