To the west of Madrid – visible from the grounds of the royal palace – there is a huge park, the Casa de Campo. During the day, this serves as a recreation area for the Madrileños but come the night it is the domain of, reputedly, thousands of working women of all races. Reading tonight an excellent book about the Great Fire of 1666, I have learned that the seventeenth century equivalent in London was Moorfields. This was London’s first civic park and was strategically situated – just outside the city walls - between the artillery practice ground and the Bethlehem [Bedlam] Royal Hospital for lunatics. For more on this – and the intriguingly entitled Bawdy House Riots of 1668 – I refer you to Adrian Tinniswood’s By Permission of Heaven.

Perhaps it is a fashion of which I am unaware, but last year Ethiopian babies were the most favoured for adoption by Galician couples, followed by Colombians and Chinese. Nationally, Russian and Chinese babies head the list, followed by Ukrainian and then – a long way behind – a ragbag of others. Try as I might, I can’t think of a link between Galicia and Ethiopia. Perhaps one of the religious orders has an orphanage there.

Another statistic which is troubling me – the Spanish are reported to use 40% more energy than equivalent homes in the rest of Western Europe. What on, for God’s sake? It certainly isn’t home entertaining. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the fact that TV viewing peaks at midnight and goes on well beyond. Or perhaps it’s all the illegal downloading of films and music, in which the Spanish are the acknowledged European leaders. Or both.