The George Borrow Society this morning has the pleasure of a private guided tour of the Unamuno museum in here in Salamanca. It was no great surprise to find he had copies of Borrow’s works in English on his library shelves. But I was rather taken aback to see there a tome entitled “Spanish Grammar”. However the highlight of the morning was the gentlemen who began translating the speech of the Society’s President from English into English. And, once the good-natured laughter had died down – proceeded to do it again. I felt it would have been worthy of a sketch by Monty Python but wouldn’t go so far as a fellow member’s comment that it would be particularly amusing if the speaker were American and the translator British.

Walking Salamanca’s pavements (sidewalks!) is as much a joy as ever but crossing the roads is the same nightmare it is in most Spanish cities at the moment, as the government tries to stimulate a more-than-flagging economy via a raft of public works.

And, on this subject, for those of a sound constitution, here and here are Edward Hugh’s latest commentaries on said economy. Yesterday’s El País returned to its attack on the Spanish President, Señor Zapatero, for his mismanagement of the country during both the good times and the bad times. They must be seriously worried he’s going to lose the Left the next election; for the inevitable conclusion is the paper – and the media empire behind it – is trying to provoke a palace coup.

And talking of palaces, I see that the lovely Letitia is in Salamanca this afternoon. I’m keeping a space in my diary early evening for when she responds to my invitation to a tapa or two at my favourite place. I know she’s a faithful reader. One of the anonymous Followers, in fact.

Finally . . . I’ve managed to access Prospect magazine at last. So here’s the article on public contributions to radio and TV news programs.