Well, it’s almost November and our summer just refuses to go. It’s still shirtsleeve weather here, even during the evening. And yesterday’s temperature of 28 up in Ferrol was only fractionally below that of Sevilla down in the south. If this is Global Warming, there’s something to be said for it.

If one breaks a formal law, then one is doing something illegal. But what if you only break a rule? ‘Unruly’ doesn’t, of course, fit the bill and so the English language seems deficient in respect of a description which would certainly come in handy in Spain. So, how about ‘unruley’ to fill the lacuna? OK, it’s a homonym but English is full of these. So one more won’t make much difference.

But back to ‘unruly’ . . . I see that the Voz de Galicia described all the Liverpool fans at the match with Manchester United on Sunday as hooliganes, without meaning to imply violence. So I assume this word is now a Spanglish generic for ‘supporters’.

And talking of football . . . One can’t help noticing that all Real Madrid’s massive expenditure on new galacticos doesn’t seem to be helping them very much. Earlier this week, they were unceremoniously dumped out of the big cup competition by lowly Alorcón. In a game watched, if the paper is to be believed, by only 4,500 hooliganes. Which must be all Alorcón’s ground will hold. No wonder there’s speculation that the last manager of Spain is set to take over from the hapless incumbent.

The Madness of Britain - Chapter 358: In order, it’s said, to protect children from paedophiles, more than 11 million Brits – including my teacher daughter – face having to have to be checked out by a government body called the Criminal Records Bureau. As if this wasn’t crazy enough, it now seems that this is a low estimate. For some commercial genius has realised he/she can give his/her company a competitive edge by advertising that all its employees have been screened, even if this wasn’t necessary. Sure as night follows day, there’ll now be a stampede to get this seal of approval. As someone has written, “We are developing a poisonous culture of suspicion that discourages adults from stepping in to help children in trouble for fear of being considered a potential molester or of being reported to the police.” And I thought the place was mad 10 years ago! Read more here, if you can bear it.

Finally . . . I’ve admitted I may overdo the citations of zebra crossing adventures. But what can one do when one reads that a prominent local politician has been run over and killed in, as they say here, “circumstances yet to be determined”? But “close to a pedestrian crossing”. I rest my case.