In Madrid on the express train a man handed me a package and quickly darted from the platform before I could stop him.
I consulted my Spanish phrase book I’d brought along with me. Hmm, best I could make out he said, ‘please take this package’.

I sat down on a nearby bench and carefully opened the package.
Inside were two glass porcupine figures. Hmm, I thought, curiouser and curiouser.

What to do with the package. I couldn’t carry it around all day, as it might break and they looked valuable. I decided to take a digital photo of them so when I told everyone back home, I’d have a picture. But I was out of AA batteries. So I wrote AA batteries on a post-it-note to remind myself ( I love post-it-notes, so handy and they stick to things).

An attractive Spanish woman walked up to me as I was writing the note, “Perdoname, senorita, pero su nombre es Umblefumble Jones?â€?
Consulting the phrase book: ‘Pardon Miss are you.. it translated to, “Si”, I said, and she took the package and ran away.