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This is my partner from last year’s stint as hospitalera in Ponferrada. He and his wife, Esmeralda, met me for a walk around the open market and the antique shop district. Well, walk around?

At certain moments if I had been that sort of person, a panic attack could have set in. The crush was tremendous! Thank goodness Gilberto was wearing a shirt of striking red tartan and his sleeves were my beacon of hope!

It seems Gilberto is an avid browser of antique shops and he led us to places with pretty extraordinary stuff. How about this for a garden ornament?

As we wandered along marvelling at a pair of lamps one featuring an image of Napoleon and the other of Josephine, or a six-foot golden grandfather clock, or chandeliers with pendants of every colour and size, I began to wonder what had happened to the people who owned these things…. Gilberto meanwhile was buying a strange sort of antique blowtorch that works with gasoline! “For welding” …,have the fire extinguisher ready, Esmeralda!

The fair had this and just about anything you could imagine from underwear of every size and colour to brass sculptures of Hindu goddesses. I was very happy when my friends suggested “ a beer” which turned out to be a large meal of salad, stuffed oysters, calamari, grilled chops and potatoes…. And they tried to make me have dessert!

My determined attempts to pay my share ended up in a wrestling match refereed by the waiter so I gave up in the name of genteel Canadian behaviour. Luckily there was a flower stall along the way back to the metro and I bought a nice bouquet for Esmeralda to save face.

Back to the meeting place where I bid a fond goodbye to my friends with thanks for their understanding of my idiosyncratic Spanish ( I tend to throw in Greek and French words when put on the spot! )

The outing was a taste of the crowds, the diversity, the noise, the surprises that are involved in walking down the street in this wonderful if rather overwhelming city. Tomorrow, off to Ponferrada.