One of our local papers has had an unusual Sunday offer over recent weeks – medals of the numerous virgins that populate Spain - Del Foro. De la Barca. De la Franquicia. De la Esclavitud. Del Rosario. De las Cabezas. etc. etc. Having never met any example of the mythical virgin creature, I’m tempted to subscribe for at least one medal.

After ten days in which neither my fellow pilgrims and I nor my house-minding daughter and her friends saw anything but sun along this coast, the last six days have seen nothing but rain and much-reduced temperatures. But we’ve got off lightly compared with other regions of Spain. And even those parts of deepest Galicia where there’s been torrential rain and serious floods. The good news – for me - is that the huge volume of water last winter has killed the awful (Bermuda?) grass which had colonised my rear lawn. This is said to be very sun and drought-resistant but can’t tolerate a lot of liquid, it seems.

Finally . . . A correction. The people who operate as self-appointed attendants at public parking areas are “gorrillas”, not “gorilas”. From the word ‘gorra’, for (baseball) cap. I had wondered about this and a couple of readers kindly put me right.