My husband has just been to a professional conference in La Rioja. Why do doctors feel they confer better in places renowned for wine? I was allowed along for the ride, although it meant that even when we had a delicious dinner (those bream with gold-painted noses and bits of animals that would make Digby Anderson’s heart glow) it was to the accompaniment of conversation about ventilation and macabre things done with butterflies.
There was a poor Chinaman at a neighbouring table with never a grain of...

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