At the end of a tumultuous week on the world’s stock markets, we are – it seems – back where we started. Our only gain appears to be a list of jokes about French banks and stock brokers. Otherwise, the world has possibly moved back in the direction of sanity. Or, as one British columnist puts it this morning – “Anyone wanting to borrow money now has to prove they can pay it back”.

Here in Spain, the latest bit of bad news is that, after four years of continuous decrease, unemployment stopped falling at the end of last year. However, Galicia bucks this trend as it’s still going down around here.

Better national news is that Spain not only had a million more tourists last year but they also spent more than ever. Most visitors came, as ever, from Britain and Germany but the largest increase was in respect of Scandinavian sun-seekers, followed by [North] Americans. In terms of popularity, here’s how the ‘regions’ ranked:- 1. Cataluña 2. the Balearic islands 3. the Canary islands 4. Andalucia, and 5. Valencia. We’ve a long way to go to get on this list. Thank God.

I suppose it’s because they’re going deaf that the formidable grandmothers in my favourite café/bar shout when they talk. And they do this simultaneously because they’re Spanish. Lacking the filters all Spaniards are born with, I yesterday asked the waitresses if they could suggest to the owner that the place be divided into three zones – one for smokers, one for non-smokers and one for said grandmothers. Alternatively, I added, there could be one little zone just for me. I think they thought I was joking.

Entry into Spain’s blocks of flats is normally protected via an inter-com system but I’ve often wondered how easy it would be to gain entry to at least the mail-boxes in the hall by, say, pressing all the bell buttons at once and gruffly muttering ‘cartero’ [mailman] into the speaker. Delivering some stuff to my friend Andrew when he was out last week, I confirmed the challenge wasn’t too tough.

I fancy I see more chubby kids each month on the streets of Pontevedra. And now I know why - Spaniards are getting taller and heavier. In fact, average height here is now greater than in both the USA and the UK. And average weight is up around US levels, way above that of the UK. Which comes as a surprise, given how large all young British women seem to me these days. Maybe I’m just fattist. As well as elitist.