This is actally last night's blog, posted in error to another of my blogs. Another one tonight.

It was hot today. Quite possibly hotter than yesterday, when I saw 38 degrees registered on one of the town’s gauges. So, naturally, my friends and I decided to have our annual round of golf this afternoon. And quite delightful it was too, up on top of a nearby mountain on a near-empty course. There must have been something good on the TV this afternoon and this evening..

Hot as it was, I doubt the temperature ever reached the level I saw on the gauge by the bus station at 7.30 yesterday morning. An astonishing 77 degrees. Celsius. Mind you, I recall it registering this in the middle of winter too.

Notaries loom very large in Spanish life. Which is odd if you’re British because you’ve almost certainly never come across one back home. Here, though, they’re inescapable for one reason and another and – unlike lawyers – they have a very high status. I’m prompted to write this by reading of their latest incarnation – as reliable witnesses to the campaigns being run by supermarkets around ‘genuine’ price reductions. It seems no one will believe these unless a notary formally confirms the claims are true. But I don’t suppose it’s beyond the bounds of possibility that there are one or two crooked notaries in Spain.

I’m constantly astonished at how docile the dogs are of the ragged ‘musicians’ who slaughter tunes on penny whistles around town in the summer. Perhaps they’re as doped up as their masters.

Which reminds me . . . I was interrupted by one such panhandler yesterday as I was taking my lunch in Vegetables Square. Having seen him regularly en route to and from the gypsy encampment up near my house, I felt compelled to tell him that, if I wanted to spend money on buying drugs up there, I was perfectly capable of doing it directly. Which seemed to do the trick.

Finally . . . Another betting tip. There are eight matches in the current round of the World Cup and the first six have all been won by the team in the left-hand column. For the final two matches tonight, the left-hand teams are Paraguay (against Japan) and Spain (against Portugal). Go for it.