I wrote a month or so ago that the longer one lives in a culture, the less unusual its norms come to seem, as an internal cogency reveals itself. This thought struck me again this morning as I was re-reading yesterday’s post to check for typos. Entertaining at home is not a big thing in Spain, where people very much prefer to eat out with their friends. This seems odd for such a sociable people but, of course, if you’re going to go to the trouble of making a dinner for eight and, say, three turn up, this can be rather irritating. As I can attest. Much easier to forget it about it and go to a restaurant. Plus it’s much less work per se. Always important in Spain, where it isn't always seen as dignifying.

The Sky weather-woman this morning advised that the UK would today see a “fair amount of showers, rattling their way through”. Forecasters are, of course, renowned for their inaccuracy and this was no exception. As you’ll all have appreciated, what she should have said is “a fair number of showers”. Anyway, tomorrow’s batch of showers will apparently be useful in keeping the pollen count low. Thank God.

And talking of the weather, here in Galicia the Atlantic Blanket departed overnight, allowing the sun to smile on us today. A sharp contrast to yesterday, when parts of Galicia were hit in one day with double their usual quotient of rain for the whole of July. I was, as you know, enjoying myself up in La Coruña but here in Pontevedra it must have been fun for the tourists weaving their way through all the road and pavement works between the cloudbursts. I wonder if they’ll be rushing back next year.

The population of Galicia now stands at 2.73 million souls, a mere 1.5% up on nine years ago. And each passing year sees a further drift away from the rural, upland provinces of Lugo and Ourense to the coastal provinces of Pontevedra and La Coruña. I suspect this can only lead to a continuing reduction in the percentage of Galicians who use Gallego as their ‘vehicular’ language, as they say here.

As in other parts of Spain, we have two official languages here – Castillano (Spanish) and Gallego (Galician). They have equal standing, though one could sometimes be forgiven for not knowing this when it comes to dealing with the regional government and local councils. In many public places, signs are in both languages but this occasionally lends a surreal aspect to life. Sitting on the train in the station at Villargarcía de Arousa yesterday evening, I noticed that every single one of the signs was exactly the same in both languages – Ascensor: Acceso vías; Paso inferior; and Información. That said, the sign for the station itself was only in Gallego (Vilagarcía), whereas that for the exit was only in Castillano (Salida, not Saída). As I say, I guess it must all make sense to someone.

Even odder was the fact that when the recorded messages on the train advised us we were about to arrive at our destination, the Gallego term A Coruña was used for both the Castillano and Gallego announcements. Which were, incidentally, both in the same Castillano accent which infuriates my Gallego-speaking friends. Or that’s how it seemed to me at least.

Finally . . . I referred yesterday to the Koran. I anyone wants my overview of this, it can be found here.